From the Hay Parish Magazine June 1876
The following was published in the Hay Parish Magazine in 1876 but the main part was recorded 100 years before that date i.e. the material is now getting on for a quarter of a century old. Please note the spellings and capitals are as originally recorded so don't blame my proof reader!
"PARISH BUSINESS AT HAY 1OO YEARS AGO.
Our readers will probably be interested in perusing a series of extracts from an old Parish Book, which contains a record of the proceedings at Meetings held from 1780 to 1795. Those which we give in this number show the mode of conducting the Meetings. The orthography is sometimes very amusing.
"At a Parish Meeting Held in the Church Porch Pursuant Two Notice given on Sunday the 22nd. Instant for that Purpose after Devine Sarvice it is ordered that this Meeting be Rejourned to ye Cock Inn in this Town to be heald on Thursday next the 26th of Octob 1780."
"November l2 1783 Att a parrash Meetin held A cording to Notes geaving on Sundy in Church itt is A greed thatt this Meeting is Rejurnd to bee held this Eavng att John Phillips at the Red Lyon."
"29 Febry 1786 Att a Parrish Meeting held the Vestry Room persuant to Legal notice given after Divin Servis it ordered that meeting be A jourd to the House of Hugh Baylis nown by the sighn of the Bear to be held Immediately."
It appears from the above that the church Porch served as the Vestry Room; but as this may possibly have been a breezy place, it was very usual to adjourn to one of the Inns. The results of this are illustrated in the following:-
At a Meeting held 27thMay,1783, and adjourned. to the 'Golden Lyon'
"That two shilling be paid for liquer at this Meeting."
At a Meeting held 3rd October, and adjourned to the Seven Stars.
"That five shillings be paid for the charges of the attendance of this meeting."
At a Meeting adjourned to the house of John Powell, known by the name of the Fountain, and held Feb. 1lth, 1785.
"That five shillings be paid for ale drank at this meeting."
At a Meeting adjourned to the Bear on April 8th, 1785.
"It is also order'd that the Expenses of this meeting amounting to twelve Shillings be paid by the Overseers as several respectable Householders of the Town have absconded after having taken a Belly full of Ale."
At a Meeting held July 27th, 1795.
"That every Man pay his reckoning at a Parish Meeting and no Money to be spent at a Parish Meeting in future at the expence of the Parish as no such Charge shall be allow'd in future exceeding four shillings.""
The Rev. J A Smith of Swansea, Hay and St David's
St. Mary's the main parish church in Swansea is a fine example of a large late 19th century church designed by the well-known architect Sir Arthur Blomfield (1829 -1899) and built by local builders Cornish and Gaymer between 1895 and 1898. Although the original building was destroyed by fire during the bombing of the city in February 1941. The church building was faithfully restored after the war to its former impressive condition.
The vicar who was responsible for creating this church in place of the old inadequate building was a dynamic man Dr James Allen Smith (1841–1918). He held the Swansea living from 1884 to 1902. Dr Smith had been vicar of Nottingham, before coming to Swansea with his wife Charlotte Isabella, nee Linton, (1837-1900) and his three children Martin (1869-1950), Charlotte Precilla (born 1878) and James Duncan (deceased 1901)
In 'A History of Hay' edited by Geoffrey Fairs, published in 1972. the Rev. Doctor Smith's name appears in the list of vicars of Hay for one year 1902. Possibly the only doctor of divinity to be a vicar of Hay. 'The Swansea Church History Our Ladye Church of Swanesey', a history of St Mary's, published by the Friends of St Mary's in 2007,.simply records that James Smith was overcome by work and by the death in 1900 of his first wife Charlotte, followed by that of his son James Duncan a year later when swimming at St David's.
The Rev. Dr Smith had built up during his Swansea ministry a close connection with St David's Cathedral which in those days served a vast diocese stretching from the Irish sea to Hay-on-Wye. Both Swansea and Hay parishes were included in the Brecon Archdeaconry. Dr Smith was appointed Canon Chancellor of the Cathedral in 1897 and Chaplain to its new Bishop John Owen (Bishop 1897-1926) - both posts he relinquished in 1903 on becoming Dean.
With the retirement of Archdeacon William L. Bevan the then parish patron Lord Glanusk offered the living to James Smith, who held the appointment for one year prior to moving to take up the preferment of Dean of St David's Cathedral. The latter preferment he held until his death in 1918. The living at Hay passed to a well connected young Welshman the Rev. John Jeffries de Winton who was to remain at Hay for a further 30 years.
It is not known if the Rev. Doctor Smith actually came to live in Hay. He may well have had a curate acting for him as had his predecessor William Bevan. James Smith's son Martin Linton Smith, (1869-1950) who was educated at Repton and Hertford College, Oxford proved to be a very restless man. He entered the church, from Oxford, following his father in gaining higher degrees with a Doctorate in Theology in 1913. He married Kathleen Dewe , they had a son and a daughter. Martin Smith served, in turn as a curate in four parishes, then as parish priest in a further three parishes including a chaplaincy in Egypt. Much of Linton Smith's ministry was in the relatively new diocese of Liverpool where he held an honorary Canonry and served as Chaplain to its Bishop Francis Chavasse ( bishop 1900-1928)
In 1915 Linton Smith enlisted as Temporary Army Chaplain 3rd Class in April 1915 going to France in November that year seeing service at first at Brigade level and then with 30th Division in the bitter fighting on the Somme July and October 1916, Arras April 1917 and 3rd Ypres July 1917. particularly with the Manchester and Liverpool "Pals" battalions. He was mentioned in Despatches. He received the Distinguished Service Order for his outstanding war service. (London Gazette, in the New Years Honours 1.1.1917). He held the 1914 -17 Star. To receive the DSO he would have had to attained the rank of Major. This was held by contemporary writers to be his best ministry. He left the army in 1917.
On his retirement from his Army Chaplaincy he was appointed the first suffragan bishop of Warrington (1918-1920) in the Liverpool diocese, and subsequently translated to be bishop of Hereford 1920-1930. In Hereford he was faced with the adjustments required of the Church following the war and also in Hereford of the diocese' loss of its Welsh parishes to the recently disestablished Church in Wales. (1920). There being a strong local opposition to this. Bishop Linton Smith was translated to Rochester 1930 – 1939. Thereafter he retired to Cheltenham and then Swansea.
There is a fine painting of Bishop Linton Smith in the Bishop's Palace Hereford.
I am indebted respectively to the archivists for Hereford and St David's Cathedrals, Rosalind Caird and Nona Rees for their helpful suggestions and also the Royal Welsh Regimental Museum, The Watton, Brecon.
Karl Showler
Last Laugh
This elderly old woman was arrested for shoplifting in a supermarket.
When she went before the magistrate he asked her, 'What did you steal?'
She replied, 'A can of peaches.'
The magistrate then asked her why she had stolen the can of peaches, and she replied that she was hungry.
The magistrate asked her how many peaches were in the can.
She replied that there were six.
The magistrate said, 'Then I will give you six days in jail.'
Before the magistrate could actually pronounce the punishment, the woman's husband stood up, and asked the magistrate if he could say something.
The magistrate said, 'What is it?'
The husband said, 'She also stole a can of peas.'
Submitted by Eric Pugh