SwanseaFamilyHistory

CHARLES STARTS OFF THE YEAR WITH AN ARTICLE WHICH FEATURES TWO ARTISTS, AN EQUIVOCATION OF POLITICIANS, AN ACTOR AND A FERRY THAT ARE ALL CONNECTED IN SOME WAY. There is an exhibition at the Glynn Vivian entitled Swansea Stories , which celebrates 50 years since Swansea was made a city. Both paintings mentioned in this article can be found in this exhibition which runs until March. The first artist is Ernst Neuschul , who painted David Rhys Grenfell who sat for him in this painting, titled simply D. R. Grenfell, 1939 (above). The painting was painted in gratitude for what David Grenfell had done for him. Czech born Neuschul , a German Expressionism artist, was, at the outbreak of the Second World War, a Professor of Fine Arts at Berlin’s Academy of Fine Arts. He was placed on the Black List compiled by the Nazis. It was through his friend David Grenfell that the Neuschul family were able to escape on the last train to leave Czechoslovakia bound for the UK. Initially, once...

This month Charles looks at the history of the Mumbles Railway. This article was prompted by a discussion on the work of Archie Williams , late father of Simon , Bay designer. In 1976 Archie worked on a series of illustrations of the Mumbles Railway from its horse-drawn carriages to the distinctive trams of the 20th Century. We recently came across the original pen and ink drawings which you see reproduced here. January 2020 marked the 60th anniversary of the closure of the Mumbles Railway; its last journey was made at 11.42 on the 5th of January 1960. Over the years much has been written on the history of the Mumbles Railway, and I don’t want to cover old ground, but I have found some interesting articles published in The Cambrian and other newspapers which give an alternative history of the railway. Some of these articles may not have been read or heard of since they were published. This article will be covering the first 100 years of the railway. In the early 1800s O...