JAMES BETHELL 1~ was born in about the year of I 771in the reign of George the Third. In the year 1790 he lived in Bodenham, a village to the north of Hereford in the county of Herefordshire. and worked as a labourer in this farming community. Also living in the village was a girl of the same age Eleanor Dolla (or Dalla with ~ born he had a relationship such a relationship that on _{16th December 1790 a son, James, was born to Eleanor. An illegitimate child was viewed with alarm by the parish councillors who administered the poor relief from the parish coffers and at the beginning of January 1791 an enquiry was held into the circumstances of the birth. Eleanor either didn’t want or could not afford to keep the baby so, on 19th January 1791, an order was made by the Justices of the Peace for the county of Herefordshire declaring that, with no evidence to the contrary, James Bethell was judged to be the reputed father of ‘the said bastard child’. James was ordered to pay one shilling per week towards the ‘keeping, sussentation and maintenance of the said child for and during such time as the said bastard child shall be chargeable to the parish of Bodenham. The same order decreed that Eleanor should pay or cause to be paid to the Church Wardens and Overseers of the poor of the parish of Bodenham the sum of sixpence per week so long as the child be chargeable to the parish of Bodenham ‘in case she shall not nurse and take care of the said child herself. Parish records show that James and Eleanor paid one shilling and sixpence per week jointly at least until 1799 when the child was eight years of age. The child, who was named James after his father, was boarded out from birth under the name of James Dolla with a James Laurence of Leominster.}

At some time after the birth of his son, James moved away from Bodenham and found work as a farm worker, or husbandman, in Huntley in Gloucestershire. Eleanor moved to Canon Frome, another Herefordshire village to the east of Bodenham, from which Huntley was 17 miles by road to the south. Distance didn’t end their relationship for on 28th July 1793 Eleanor gave birth to James’ daughter Eleanor in Canon Frome. This time there was no Bastardy Order but the Parish Officers had clearly had enough of James and Eleanor and set out to regularise their relationship. James didn’t seem to agree, though, as he took off and the parish officials of Canon Frome were forced to chase after him on horseback, finally finding him in Hay-on Wye. Parish records show that

Thomas Spencer, the Constable. Church Warden and Overseer of the Poor, together with another three men, went after James and brought him back to Canon Frome to stay for five days in Thomas Spencer’s house, Whitehouse Farm, before James moved to be with Eleanor in Canon Frome. The next stage was to obtain a ring and a Special Marriage Licence from the Bishop of Hereford. On 2nd September 1793 James signed a document stating that he, being of the age of 21 years and upwards and a bachelor’ did intend to marry Eleanor Dolla aged 21 years and upwards and a spinster’, that he knew of no impediment to their marriage and that they both had lived in the parish the four weeks. Permission was granted by the Bishop of Hereford for the marriage in Canon Frome. subject to the forfeit of £100 by James Bethel! and Thomas Spencer if the marriage did not take place. The records show that James and Eleanor were married on 3rd September 1793 much t the relief of Thomas Spencer! No records of any further children of James and Eleanor have been found

JAMES BETHELL 11 does not appear to have lived with his parents when a child but moved back to Bodenham when he married Sarah Field on _{14th February 1814. The records show that they had three children as follows:~}

William born in Bodenham  October 1820 died 23 rd January 1907 John born 1823 died 1823

Henry born 13th January 1847 died  26 th February 1925

Mary Ann born 6th March 1859

HENRY BETHELL at the age of 22 married Elizabeth Sergeant, who came from the neighbouring village of Bowley, on 23~ December 1869.They appear to have moved around the North Hereford area during their married life until settling once more in Bodenham having produced seven children, including twins who died as babies:­

Sarah Alice born in Leominster _{26th June 1870}

Thomas James born in Bodenham 30th August 1873 to 11Lh October 1873

William Henry born in Bodenham 3oth August 1873 to 15th February 1874

Annie Louisa born in Bodenham 1875

Henry William born in Ludlow 27th November 1876 died 29th September1956

Herbert Thomas born in Ludlow 1877

Edward born in Leominster 26th November 1879

in their later life Henry and Elizabeth moved to Pant-y-Graigwen, Pontypridd to live next door to their son Henry William.

HENRY WILLIAM, like his brother Herbert who became a builder, broke away from the traditional farming occupations of the Hereford area.. There is a family story that Henry lied about his age and enlisted in the army as a drummer boy, serving in South Africa during the Boer and Zulu uprisings. Be that as it may, he didn’t seek a living in the Hereford area but joined the building trade which took him to the populated South Wales towns. When in Cardiff, he met Mary Jane Williams the daughter of a sea captain, whom he married on 14th April 1900. 1-lenry was 24 and Mary was 26. At the time of their marriage Henry was classed as a ‘journeyman mason’ i.e. working for another on a day rate basis but, by the time his first Sons were born, he was a master mason i.e. qualified in his trade.

Henry and Mary began their married life at 2 Bank Cottages, Pant-y­GralgwelL a hamlet lust north of Pontypridd. with Henry s parents living next door. On the birth of Henry and Mary’s twin boys, Elizabeth took over the care of Alfred while Mary tended to the eider, William Henry. In all, there were six children of the marriage:-

I was born on _{19th June 1935, and christened Margery Gay Bethell, Gay being my grandmother’s maiden name. Again, Harriet, my grandmother, who I called Nana, managed the house and looked after me with the help of a young girl, Doris, who had just left school. Times were so hard that Doris didn’t have a dress presentable enough to be seen out walking the baby, so my mother had to buy her one. Nana trained Doris in house keeping in September 1939 life changed for everyone. Nana had taken me away to Weston super Mare to visit friends when war was declared. She told me of the panic to get home, convinced that the Germans were at the gates! However, it was no laughing matter and Nana, who remembered the tragedy of the First World War was justified in her concern My}

William Henry born _{24th January 1901 died 24Lh February 1969}

Alfred born 24th January 1901

Mary Annie born 15th November 1902

George Arthur born I May 1904

Evan born 29th august 1905

Robert Alec born 25&h November 1909 died 27(11 J~ 1910

Henry’s business thrived, only interrupted by his service in the Royal Engineers during the First World War from 1914 to 1918. He was obviously well respected in the Pontypridd area as he was presented with a solid silver cigarette case in March 1918 by the Pontypridd and District Club, no doubt in recognition of his war service. In later life Henry and Mary moved to The Parade, Church Village where they ended their days. It is interesting to note that their great grandson., W. Goodlield, Mary Annie’s grandson, and his family still live in Church Village, at 10 Lewis Street.

WILLIAM HENRY. the eider of twin brothers, grew up to be tall, thin and energetic while his brother Alfred was short and placid. They were obviously not identical twins. At the age of 12 both boys were put to work underground in a local colliery. Alfred remained a miner for the rest of his working life but William soon left and found work in the grocery trade. He worked his way up, eventually becoming the manager of a branch of the Direct Trading Company. Pontypridd. He, like his father, was a motorcycle enthusiast in the days when motor cars were only for the well-off and in his time owned some really powerful cycles to which sidecars were often attached for the comfort of the ladies of the family. in the early 1 930s he met Nancy I Davies who worked as a cashier in one of the Pontypridd businesses and subsequently married her on 6th June 1932 at St. Matthews Church, Pontypridd. The wedding reception was held at I Pleasant View, Pontypridd, Nancy’s home, and the chief memory of that reception is of the vicar getting drunk in the huge walk-in pantry!

William (who was always called Bill, except by his mother who called him Will) and Nancy began married life at a very troubled time for the country. All through the 1 920s there had been great unemployment and industrial unrest in the aftermath of the First World War when the promised ‘jobs fit for heroes’ did not materialise. The miners’ wages and hours were cut by the mine owners resulting in the men going on strike. in 1926, the workforce in many other industries downed tools in sympathy with the miners and the country suffered under the General Strike which

father, together with all other men had to present themselves for a physical examination to assess their fitness for the forces. In view of the fact that he was a grocer. (a reserved occupation along with mining ) and did not pass A I for fitness he was not called up for duty. instead he had the worry of finding stock to feed his registered customers, who had had to choose a grocer with whom to deposit their ration books. Every Sunday he had to assemble all the food coupons from that week to present them to the Ministry of Food before he could get more supplies. Nevertheless, he organised things so that he saved up the precious rare tins of fruit and salmon for his customers to have a treat for Christmas . (I know ii seems ridiculous, now~) Many years later, one old customer told me that my father was a honest man in that he could, like many during the war, have made a fortune on the black market overcharging for goods in short supply, but he only charged the correct price. Not a war medal but a statement I am proud of.

The war ended in 1945 and Caerphilly was lucky to have escaped lightly. The only frights we had were when German bombers overshot their target of Cardiff docks and flew over Caerphilly mountain and over us. Occasionally they dropped flares to try to see where they were and also dropped the odd bomb, though fortunately on farm land. The year before peace was declared, American soldiers arrived in the town, en route for the D day operation. The sergeant of one platoon took over my bedroom while I moved in with my grandmother. We were very lucky to have Joe Cabana from Leominster, Mass. staying with us. A quiet bachelor, he and my father became good friends. It was tragic that, after surviving D day and the rest of the war, he died shortly after returning home. His aunt, with whom he had lived, corresponded with my parents for many years until she too, died.

Life gradually returned to normal and the business flourished, though not without hard work and long hours. By 1968 my father’s health was failing and he retired, unfortunately only to have one year of leisure as he died on _{24th February 1969 when a car skidded on an icy road and collided with his Morris Traveller.}

Margery Gay Jones 18th February 2004