PUB SERIES - DIC PENDERYN

RMT helpline 0800 3763706 :: february 2009 :: RMTnews 36 “A martyr of the Welsh working class” is how Dic Penderyn (1808-1831) is described in a plaque unveiled by then TUC general secretary Len Murray opposite this pub in 1977. Penderyn was hanged for inflicting stab wounds on a soldier, who was quelling riots against wage cuts. The soldier never died and did not think it was Penderyn who stabbed him. Yet as one of the leading rioters against wage cuts at a time of increasing food prices the authorities decided to make an example of Penderyn. A banner showing the rioters soaking white flags in calf’s blood is inside the pub. It symbolises the slogan “bara neu waed” (bread or blood) and is one of the origins of the red flag representing working class struggle. Dic moved to Merthyr Tydfil at the age of 11 when he and his father became ironstone miners. At the age of 20 he was sacked for his outspokenness against inhuman working conditions. He was fond of his drink and was known as a strong debater on behalf of rights for working people, which sometimes got him into fights. Once, for example, he thrashed the parish constable (John Thomas) which helped make him a marked man when the authorities were looking for someone to punish for the riots. Wage cuts were imposed on the miners in 1830, and then by a further 40 per cent in May 1831 when bread prices were rising. A mass meeting of 3,000 workers, some carrying red flags, voted almost unanimously to go on strike. When bailiffs attempted to seize their property the rising began on May 31 and spread like wildfire. Soldiers were brought in and based themselves at the Castle Inn (now the Castle Cinema, opposite the Dic Penderyn pub). Dic was part of a delegation that met the employers seeking higher wages. When this failed the crowd attempted to disarm the soldiers. In the fracas 16 soldiers were wounded, but when they fired on the crowd 24 workers were killed, and 70 wounded. About 300 to 400 armed rebels drove the military out of town, however, and Dic was in charge of blocking the road with boulders to prevent army reinforcements getting through. The workers held the town for four days and were only defeated when an extra 800 soldiers were brought in. Dic was among the 28 deemed to be ring leaders who were arrested. The main witness who claimed to have seen him stab the soldier was someone who had a grudge against him after being beaten by him in a fight. The testimony of 13 witnesses (including a chief constable) that Dic was not at the front where the crime took place, was ignored in the verdict. Even the judge obviously had doubts as he recommended a reprieve of the death penalty, which he was compelled to order. But the Home Secretary, Lord Melbourne, was determined to make an example of him and ruled it out. There was a short stay of execution, when over 11,000 people (almost the entire population of the town) signed a petition for a reprieve. But on August 13 he was publicly hanged in Cardiff. After his death the town became one of the strongest centres of Chartism in Wales. DIC PENDERYN 102-103 HIGH STREET, MERTHYR TYDFIL PEOPLE’S PUBS - Words by Mike Pentelow, Picture by Peter Arkell