0:00:02 > 0:00:04Coming home and swapping the Hollywood Hills
0:00:04 > 0:00:09for the hills of South Wales, is actor John Rhys-Davies.
0:00:09 > 0:00:11Here in search of his Welsh ancestry.
0:00:11 > 0:00:13RAIDERS OF THE LOST ARK THEME PLAYS
0:00:13 > 0:00:14To a new generation of fans
0:00:14 > 0:00:17he's courageous Gimli in the Lord Of The Rings.
0:00:17 > 0:00:21But in a career spanning over 50 years and 100 movies,
0:00:21 > 0:00:25he will always be most fondly known for his many hair-raising
0:00:25 > 0:00:29adventures starring alongside Harrison Ford
0:00:29 > 0:00:33in the epic series of the much-loved Indiana Jones movies.
0:00:35 > 0:00:37And in all that time,
0:00:37 > 0:00:41John Rhys-Davies has never forgotten his Welsh roots.
0:00:41 > 0:00:44And especially his Welsh grandmother
0:00:44 > 0:00:47from the former coal mining town of Ammanford in Carmarthenshire.
0:00:47 > 0:00:50Sarah Emily was my grandmother.
0:00:50 > 0:00:54She was the only grandparent that I knew.
0:00:54 > 0:00:59She was the only grandparent that was alive at my birth.
0:00:59 > 0:01:02So John knew his grandmother well,
0:01:02 > 0:01:06but is particularly keen to know more of his grandfather, William,
0:01:06 > 0:01:09someone he never had the chance to meet.
0:01:10 > 0:01:14It's here in Carmarthenshire that the journey begins,
0:01:14 > 0:01:17as John Rhys-Davies is coming home.
0:01:21 > 0:01:25John Rhys-Davies was born 1944 in Salisbury, Wiltshire,
0:01:25 > 0:01:28to Welsh parents, Rhys and Phyllis Davies.
0:01:28 > 0:01:31His early childhood was spent in Wales
0:01:31 > 0:01:35before his family later moved abroad but for John,
0:01:35 > 0:01:39it's the town of Ammanford that's always felt like home.
0:01:39 > 0:01:42And it's here, in the centre of town,
0:01:42 > 0:01:45that he's come to a very special place for his family
0:01:45 > 0:01:48to meet with genealogist Mike Churchill Jones.
0:01:49 > 0:01:54- Hi, John. Welcome to Christian Temple, in Ammanford. Christian Temple Chapel.- Yes, indeed.
0:01:54 > 0:01:59- Familiar to you, I understand? - Very familiar.
0:01:59 > 0:02:02I was christened here. My mother was married here.
0:02:02 > 0:02:05All by the same man, the Rev Teglan Davies.
0:02:05 > 0:02:08Right. I've been researching your family tree.
0:02:08 > 0:02:11And this is what I've come up with. On your paternal side
0:02:11 > 0:02:15- you have deep Welsh roots in the Swansea Valley.- Very good.
0:02:15 > 0:02:18Deep Welsh roots in Camarthenshire.
0:02:18 > 0:02:21John can also trace a long line of Welsh ancestors
0:02:21 > 0:02:23on his mother's side of the tree
0:02:23 > 0:02:27and straightaway Mike can reveal that on his maternal line,
0:02:27 > 0:02:29John comes from generations
0:02:29 > 0:02:32of traditional Welsh wool spinners and weavers,
0:02:32 > 0:02:37beginning with his great, great, great grandfather, Evan Humphreys.
0:02:37 > 0:02:39He was born in Llanover.
0:02:39 > 0:02:43- And he was a wool weaver by trade. - Very good.
0:02:44 > 0:02:49Evan Humphreys married Margaret Hoskins in 1824.
0:02:49 > 0:02:52She was recorded as being a pauper.
0:02:52 > 0:02:55Evan and Margaret had a son, Thomas Humphreys,
0:02:55 > 0:03:00who was also a weaver and spinner and was born in Monmouthshire.
0:03:00 > 0:03:02Monmouthshire?
0:03:02 > 0:03:05The lives of Thomas Humphreys and his wife Mary
0:03:05 > 0:03:09will be an important story for John to follow in the tree.
0:03:09 > 0:03:14But there is also one family legend John would love to try and resolve.
0:03:14 > 0:03:16There is a clock
0:03:16 > 0:03:23that my...Auntie Vi inherited
0:03:23 > 0:03:25and she passed on to Janet, her daughter,
0:03:25 > 0:03:28who may already have passed it on
0:03:28 > 0:03:33that, legend had, was made by someone in the family.
0:03:34 > 0:03:37There is plenty for John to discover on his journey
0:03:37 > 0:03:40but there is one other person on the tree
0:03:40 > 0:03:44with whom he had a very special bond, his late father, Rhys Davies.
0:03:46 > 0:03:48Rhys, my beloved father.
0:03:50 > 0:03:53Born in 1909 in Ammanford.
0:03:54 > 0:03:58I think, not just one of the strongest men
0:03:58 > 0:04:00that I ever met,
0:04:00 > 0:04:06but I think, in some ways, the greatest man.
0:04:06 > 0:04:11John was christened Henry John Davies, but later, as a stage name,
0:04:11 > 0:04:17he adopted his father's name of Rhys Davies, to become John Rhys-Davies.
0:04:17 > 0:04:20Clearly they had a very close relationship.
0:04:22 > 0:04:24I have never admired a man...
0:04:26 > 0:04:29- ..so much.- Indeed, indeed.
0:04:29 > 0:04:33He showed me what moral courage is.
0:04:36 > 0:04:39For the first visit on John's journey, he's off to discover
0:04:39 > 0:04:42his mother Phyllis' side of the family tree.
0:04:44 > 0:04:45John is heading west.
0:04:45 > 0:04:49He's learnt that his great great grandfather, Thomas Humphreys,
0:04:49 > 0:04:51was a wool weaver and spinner.
0:04:51 > 0:04:56For an insight into this industry, once commonplace right across Wales,
0:04:56 > 0:04:57he's come to Drefach Felindre,
0:04:57 > 0:05:00an area once known as "the Huddersfield of Wales",
0:05:00 > 0:05:06with 21 woollen mills in the area, producing flannel cloth from wool.
0:05:06 > 0:05:09To try and get an understanding of what life was typically like
0:05:09 > 0:05:12for Welsh spinners and weavers at this time,
0:05:12 > 0:05:14he meets with historian Hedd Ladd Lewis
0:05:14 > 0:05:17who has been researching Thomas' story.
0:05:17 > 0:05:22He worked in the weaving industry and he would have lived, probably,
0:05:22 > 0:05:27in a small cottage similar to these weaving cottages here.
0:05:27 > 0:05:31Are weavers and spinners interchangeable terms?
0:05:31 > 0:05:37In many ways, they are, but they were actually two distinct skills.
0:05:37 > 0:05:41But very often the spinners would become weavers.
0:05:41 > 0:05:43How old was he?
0:05:43 > 0:05:49He was 21 when he married. And, which was, I suppose, fairly young.
0:05:49 > 0:05:51He was illiterate, because we can see
0:05:51 > 0:05:56on his marriage certificate that he marked his name with a cross.
0:05:56 > 0:05:58His wife, as well, marked her name with a cross.
0:05:58 > 0:06:02And he would have had a hard life.
0:06:02 > 0:06:05He obviously came from a very poor background.
0:06:05 > 0:06:09Thomas's mother, Margaret, was recorded as being a pauper.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11She died in 1872.
0:06:11 > 0:06:14You know, being a weaver was not an easy job.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17They worked long, long hours in miserable conditions
0:06:17 > 0:06:19in very damp cottages,
0:06:19 > 0:06:22and you know, these cottages, they look lovely now
0:06:22 > 0:06:25but I should imagine, 150 years ago...
0:06:25 > 0:06:29- They would've been cold and damp. - Yes, yes.
0:06:29 > 0:06:34Quite possible, you could almost describe them as being hovels.
0:06:34 > 0:06:38The life of a weaver was hard.
0:06:38 > 0:06:42Long, long hours, working in a dark room, and you can imagine them,
0:06:42 > 0:06:46you know, plying their trade, day in, day out,
0:06:46 > 0:06:48and really working for a pittance.
0:06:48 > 0:06:53Flannel weaving in Wales can be traced back to the Middle Ages.
0:06:53 > 0:06:57A way of life that would barely change until the 19th century.
0:06:57 > 0:07:01Traditionally, hand loom weavers and spinners would produce
0:07:01 > 0:07:05their flannel from home, but by the mid 19th century,
0:07:05 > 0:07:08this traditional way of life was under threat.
0:07:10 > 0:07:12That threat was mechanisation.
0:07:14 > 0:07:16At Wales' National Wool Museum,
0:07:16 > 0:07:19social historian Peter Hill explains more.
0:07:19 > 0:07:23So, John, you can see here we have a spinning mule.
0:07:23 > 0:07:28The version we have is, a Welshman, Richard Roberts, from Newtown,
0:07:28 > 0:07:32created this, which is one of the first automatic machines,
0:07:32 > 0:07:33so really transformed the industry
0:07:33 > 0:07:36when it was introduced from the 1830s onwards.
0:07:36 > 0:07:40From the early 19th century, these machines and earlier versions
0:07:40 > 0:07:44were coming into force in Wales and across the United Kingdom.
0:07:44 > 0:07:48And you can see, we have a lot of spindles here.
0:07:48 > 0:07:55And making one, we've now got hundreds...
0:07:55 > 0:08:01All driven by a single belt drive on this lovely long shaft there
0:08:01 > 0:08:04that really covers the entire factory.
0:08:04 > 0:08:09It is so simple, and yet, it is genius. It is genius, really.
0:08:09 > 0:08:11But, of course, destroys the livelihood
0:08:11 > 0:08:14of my great, great grandfather.
0:08:14 > 0:08:17Yeah, well... This one has 400 spindles.
0:08:17 > 0:08:22And it doesn't tire. And it doesn't want to go on strike.
0:08:22 > 0:08:27No, and you'd often only have two people running this machine.
0:08:27 > 0:08:30- So that's a good few hundred hand spinners out of work.- That's right.
0:08:30 > 0:08:34And initially, when you had machines like this and other machines
0:08:34 > 0:08:36coming into play in the early 19th century
0:08:36 > 0:08:39groups like the Luddites would go round
0:08:39 > 0:08:42smashing up these machines because, quite rightly,
0:08:42 > 0:08:46they saw it as a real threat to their livelihood.
0:08:46 > 0:08:49The Luddites may have taken direct action to try and destroy
0:08:49 > 0:08:53machines like these, but what of Thomas and his family?
0:08:53 > 0:08:57Their fate would also be sealed by this revolution.
0:08:57 > 0:08:59But before John learns of this, he can't resist seeing
0:08:59 > 0:09:02this extraordinary spinning machine in action.
0:09:02 > 0:09:05You'll see this machine works in the same way
0:09:05 > 0:09:07as that wheel used to - it moves out.
0:09:07 > 0:09:11And it's just... These spindles put that twist and spin into it,
0:09:11 > 0:09:12and it moves back in.
0:09:12 > 0:09:14Can we actually get it running?
0:09:14 > 0:09:17- Yeah, sure. Get it going now. - Let's have a look.
0:09:19 > 0:09:23As a keen amateur engineer himself, John is definitely in his element.
0:09:25 > 0:09:27What do we do?
0:09:27 > 0:09:30So, we're just going to slot that, slide it across.
0:09:30 > 0:09:32And then slide this one?
0:09:32 > 0:09:34- Yeah, there you go.- Across?
0:09:35 > 0:09:40So just how did this revolution, ushered in by this spinning machine,
0:09:40 > 0:09:45affect John's great great grandfather Thomas Humphreys and his family?
0:09:45 > 0:09:50By 1851 Thomas Humphreys had moved to Pontardawe near Swansea.
0:09:50 > 0:09:55Still at the Wool Museum, historian Hedd Ladd Lewis can reveal more.
0:09:58 > 0:10:03- Very, very interestingly, we have the 1861 census here.- Right.
0:10:03 > 0:10:07And if we look very closely, we see Thomas Humphreys here.
0:10:07 > 0:10:10- That is.- The head.
0:10:10 > 0:10:13And he now owns a woollen factory.
0:10:13 > 0:10:18So the man who was born in poverty...
0:10:18 > 0:10:22now employs five men in a woollen factory.
0:10:23 > 0:10:28- Very good.- He's taken advantage of his situation, obviously his skills
0:10:28 > 0:10:32and he now, in Pontardawe, owns a woollen factory.
0:10:34 > 0:10:35Good for him.
0:10:36 > 0:10:39Which is a wonderful story in itself, isn't it?
0:10:39 > 0:10:43- Extraordinary achievement. - Yes, and...
0:10:43 > 0:10:46we've found a photograph of his mill.
0:10:46 > 0:10:48How wonderful!
0:10:50 > 0:10:52And you can see, it's at the edge of the stream.
0:10:52 > 0:10:55- Yes, yes. - And you can see the building here.
0:10:55 > 0:10:56It's a very early photograph.
0:10:58 > 0:11:00What a remarkable fellow.
0:11:03 > 0:11:06And if we move on to...
0:11:06 > 0:11:10Slater's Commercial Directory of 1871...
0:11:10 > 0:11:15Yes, so this is ten years after we've discovered
0:11:15 > 0:11:19- that he's become a mill owner.- Yes.
0:11:19 > 0:11:22Well, he's now also a beer retailer.
0:11:23 > 0:11:28Now, if you can imagine, Pontardawe, in the Swansea Valley...
0:11:28 > 0:11:30It was developing by then, there were coal mines,
0:11:30 > 0:11:32there were factories.
0:11:32 > 0:11:35And, of course, there were a lot of thirsty workers.
0:11:35 > 0:11:36Very, very good.
0:11:36 > 0:11:39So, here we have an individual who's taking advantage
0:11:39 > 0:11:41again of the situation.
0:11:41 > 0:11:46- See a need, fill it.- He's seen a need and he's now a beer retailer...
0:11:46 > 0:11:47as well.
0:11:47 > 0:11:51I hope he's not the man that waters the miners' beer, though.
0:11:51 > 0:11:52We can but hope.
0:11:53 > 0:11:58But further down the line, at the end of the 1870s,
0:11:58 > 0:12:01he also owned a candle factory.
0:12:01 > 0:12:02Good lord!
0:12:02 > 0:12:06Thomas and his wife Mary had nine children.
0:12:07 > 0:12:10But in the midst of this great business success,
0:12:10 > 0:12:13Mary died aged just 46.
0:12:15 > 0:12:17In later life, Thomas would re-marry
0:12:17 > 0:12:20and Hedd has this marriage certificate.
0:12:20 > 0:12:26He was 78 by now and his wife was 72.
0:12:26 > 0:12:28But what's interesting, if you remember back
0:12:28 > 0:12:31when we looked at his marriage certificate, he was illiterate.
0:12:31 > 0:12:32That's right, yes.
0:12:32 > 0:12:35- He's now signing his own name. - Good lord!
0:12:38 > 0:12:40That is wonderful, isn't it?
0:12:40 > 0:12:42- And he's got a fine hand too.- Yes.
0:12:44 > 0:12:47So he's now taught himself to read and write as well.
0:12:49 > 0:12:50Very, very good.
0:12:52 > 0:12:53That is wonderful.
0:12:53 > 0:12:55What a remarkable man.
0:12:59 > 0:13:01Still on his mother's side of the family tree,
0:13:01 > 0:13:05John is travelling back another generation.
0:13:05 > 0:13:07He believes there may be someone who was
0:13:07 > 0:13:10a clockmaker amongst his ancestors.
0:13:10 > 0:13:13And now he's about to find out if this could be true.
0:13:16 > 0:13:20Rees Hopkin was John's great-great-great-grandfather.
0:13:20 > 0:13:25Born in 1797 in the village of Llanarthney near Carmarthen.
0:13:25 > 0:13:27He was the son of a farmer.
0:13:28 > 0:13:31Wool had made Carmarthen prosperous and with this wealth
0:13:31 > 0:13:36came the demand for other trades, including watch and clock making.
0:13:36 > 0:13:39John's hoping Carmarthenshire County Museum may be able
0:13:39 > 0:13:43to give him some insight into the clockmaking business.
0:13:43 > 0:13:45If Rees was a clockmaker, he would typically
0:13:45 > 0:13:48have started his working life as an indentured apprentice.
0:13:48 > 0:13:51Historian Ed Cloutman can tell John something
0:13:51 > 0:13:54about how this indenture would have worked.
0:13:54 > 0:14:00You were taken by your father to see your future master clockmaker.
0:14:00 > 0:14:02The two of them would have signed an indenture
0:14:02 > 0:14:07and on signing that, the clockmaker would have promised
0:14:07 > 0:14:11to teach you the art of clockmaking.
0:14:11 > 0:14:15Typically, the apprenticeship would have lasted seven years.
0:14:15 > 0:14:17During his apprenticeship,
0:14:17 > 0:14:21he would have had to have known how to make all the individual bits.
0:14:21 > 0:14:25- Yes, yes.- Because, for instance, if he had a damaged wheel,
0:14:25 > 0:14:29then he would have had to know how to put in new teeth.
0:14:31 > 0:14:34At this time, many of the parts were made by hand,
0:14:34 > 0:14:37requiring great skill from the apprentices.
0:14:38 > 0:14:40John lost the top from his finger
0:14:40 > 0:14:43whilst attempting some of his own amateur engineering
0:14:43 > 0:14:47and really admires the skills of these early clockmakers.
0:14:48 > 0:14:52But what of his relative, Rees Hopkin, did he make clocks?
0:14:52 > 0:14:54Ed has managed to track him down.
0:14:56 > 0:15:01Rees Hopkin and he was a master clockmaker.
0:15:01 > 0:15:05Apprenticed in 1814.
0:15:05 > 0:15:08So he would have had an indenture
0:15:08 > 0:15:11and in 1814 that would have been granted to him...
0:15:13 > 0:15:15..as a qualified clockmaker.
0:15:17 > 0:15:21You'll need a few more fingers than I seem to have got at the moment.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24It's great... It's a great craft.
0:15:25 > 0:15:29Shortly, John will be learning of a colourful character
0:15:29 > 0:15:33on his father Rhys Davies' side of the family tree,
0:15:33 > 0:15:38but before that he's heading even further back in the mists of time,
0:15:38 > 0:15:41to Carreg Cennen Castle in Camarthenshire.
0:15:43 > 0:15:46It was here, in the 15th century, that two opposing families -
0:15:46 > 0:15:50the Lancastrians and the Yorkists -
0:15:50 > 0:15:52did battle in a war to settle the throne of England.
0:15:54 > 0:15:56In this, "the War of the Roses",
0:15:56 > 0:15:59Carreg Cennen played an important role.
0:15:59 > 0:16:02John has been researching the events that took place here
0:16:02 > 0:16:04because of a family legend.
0:16:05 > 0:16:09The story tells that John's Welsh ancestors were caught up
0:16:09 > 0:16:10on both sides of this battle.
0:16:12 > 0:16:15He's here with Ammanford historian Terry Norman
0:16:15 > 0:16:18to see if there could be any truth in this family legend.
0:16:20 > 0:16:22Is there any...?
0:16:22 > 0:16:25Any justification at all for that, as far as your research...?
0:16:25 > 0:16:27Well, it's highly possible
0:16:27 > 0:16:29because most of the landowners here were Lancastrians,
0:16:29 > 0:16:32but during that period where the Yorkists were on the throne,
0:16:32 > 0:16:34- many of them changed allegiances. - Yeah.
0:16:34 > 0:16:38People switched from Lancastrian to Yorkist and back again.
0:16:38 > 0:16:40Very much so.
0:16:40 > 0:16:44Unless you were one of the major landowners - major gentry -
0:16:44 > 0:16:47- you profited very little out of it.- Yes.
0:16:47 > 0:16:48Yes, it's highly possible.
0:16:49 > 0:16:51In the battle that raged here,
0:16:51 > 0:16:55the Lancastrians lost Carreg Cennen Castle to the Yorkists
0:16:55 > 0:16:58and, deemed to be too much of a threat,
0:16:58 > 0:17:00the castle was later partly demolished
0:17:00 > 0:17:05by the Yorkist men, leaving it the dramatic ruin it is today.
0:17:05 > 0:17:10These were dangerous and violent times, whichever side you were on.
0:17:10 > 0:17:12But it was not a time to be...
0:17:13 > 0:17:15You know, to be a peasant, is it?
0:17:15 > 0:17:17No, not at all.
0:17:17 > 0:17:20Every major family lost one, two, three sons.
0:17:20 > 0:17:25The amount of remarrying people who had killed somebody you know.
0:17:25 > 0:17:28- That's right.- Plenty of the nobility remarried the man
0:17:28 > 0:17:32- who might have killed their father or their husband.- Yes.
0:17:32 > 0:17:37Well, it's about alliances and it's about preserving the family.
0:17:37 > 0:17:39And preserving the family's lands and estates
0:17:39 > 0:17:43and hopefully making the right alliances that will grow.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45But it's nice to know
0:17:45 > 0:17:48that the Ammanford region played its little part.
0:17:50 > 0:17:54Now John is travelling off to meet with Mike Churchill-Jones
0:17:54 > 0:17:56in the centre of Ammanford.
0:17:56 > 0:18:01He's here to learn of someone on his father's side of the family tree.
0:18:01 > 0:18:05John always admired the moral courage of his dad, Rhys Davies,
0:18:05 > 0:18:07but sadly the same cannot be said
0:18:07 > 0:18:10of his great-great, grandfather Evan Davies.
0:18:11 > 0:18:13A shoemaker.
0:18:13 > 0:18:16He married Esther Davies in Llansawel, Carmarthenshire
0:18:16 > 0:18:20but by 1841, was living a long way from home.
0:18:21 > 0:18:22Can you read where?
0:18:24 > 0:18:25- Stockport?- Stockport.
0:18:27 > 0:18:28Good heavens.
0:18:28 > 0:18:34Well, basically, it looks to me as if he's moved -
0:18:34 > 0:18:35could be for work reasons.
0:18:37 > 0:18:39He's taken up with...
0:18:39 > 0:18:40a young lady called Mary.
0:18:43 > 0:18:45- I can't find a marriage. - Oh, right, right, right.
0:18:45 > 0:18:48He's left poor old Esther in Llansawel...
0:18:48 > 0:18:51And gone off with another woman.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53In Stockport. Could he get far enough away?
0:18:55 > 0:18:58Well, yes, well.
0:18:58 > 0:19:02So there's no... Obviously there was no divorce in those days.
0:19:02 > 0:19:04- Not for them anyway.- Indeed.
0:19:04 > 0:19:08HE EXCLAIMS IN WELSH
0:19:09 > 0:19:13But this appears not to be Evan's ONLY extra family.
0:19:13 > 0:19:15But in 1861...
0:19:16 > 0:19:19..we find Evan Davies is here again.
0:19:19 > 0:19:21He's now with a lady called Ellen.
0:19:24 > 0:19:26He's calling her his wife,
0:19:26 > 0:19:29she's not his wife, there is no marriage.
0:19:30 > 0:19:34She has, with her, two illegitimate children.
0:19:34 > 0:19:36Ha!
0:19:36 > 0:19:39And she's actually 28 years younger than him.
0:19:39 > 0:19:41Sin!
0:19:41 > 0:19:44Sin, every one of them sinners.
0:19:44 > 0:19:47I can describe him as the man...
0:19:47 > 0:19:49who's the non-bigamist really,
0:19:49 > 0:19:53he made sure he didn't become a bigamist by getting married...
0:19:53 > 0:19:56- again. - Oh, so he didn't actually marry?
0:19:56 > 0:19:59He didn't marry these two ladies, he just called them his wife.
0:20:01 > 0:20:03And he had two children with the first one.
0:20:03 > 0:20:06It's caught up with him, he died two years after that.
0:20:06 > 0:20:09He died in Stockport in 1863.
0:20:09 > 0:20:11But not in prison.
0:20:11 > 0:20:13Not in prison, no.
0:20:13 > 0:20:16But he is buried in the Municipal Cemetery in...
0:20:16 > 0:20:18- In Stockport?- In Stockport, yes.
0:20:18 > 0:20:21I will have to go look up the old sinner next time I'm in Stockport.
0:20:21 > 0:20:24- Indeed, why not? - Very good, very good.
0:20:26 > 0:20:30Finally, John is on the trail of the family closet to him.
0:20:31 > 0:20:35He knew his maternal grandmother Sarah-Emily very well,
0:20:35 > 0:20:37but never knew his grandfather William
0:20:37 > 0:20:40and has always wanted to know more of HIS story.
0:20:41 > 0:20:46William worked in the Amman Valley as a coal miner during World War II.
0:20:46 > 0:20:48To see what working conditions were like,
0:20:48 > 0:20:51John's come to visit the Neath Colliery Museum.
0:20:51 > 0:20:55Historian Nigel Bevan has been researching William's story.
0:20:56 > 0:21:00What exactly did my grandfather do?
0:21:00 > 0:21:04He was a rider, which meant that he was working in transport.
0:21:04 > 0:21:08Now, at that time, coal was pretty much moved around underground,
0:21:08 > 0:21:10and above ground, in trams.
0:21:10 > 0:21:12- Right, yes.- Trucks like this.- Yes.
0:21:12 > 0:21:15They'd be linked together into a chain,
0:21:15 > 0:21:17- a journey of drams as it was called.- Right.
0:21:17 > 0:21:21And the man responsible for moving them was the rider.
0:21:21 > 0:21:25So, William would have been moving coal supplies in drams
0:21:25 > 0:21:27underground and above ground.
0:21:27 > 0:21:30These things were derailed very easily, the rails were often uneven.
0:21:30 > 0:21:33They were heavy to get back on a rail
0:21:33 > 0:21:37and they were difficult to control if they started moving too fast.
0:21:37 > 0:21:41By 1939 and the outbreak of World War II,
0:21:41 > 0:21:43William was now aged 50,
0:21:43 > 0:21:47but there would be no let-up in the physical demands of his work.
0:21:47 > 0:21:51Throughout the war, 200 million tonnes of coal each year
0:21:51 > 0:21:54was required by the government, to keep the country running
0:21:54 > 0:21:58and power the factories needed for the war effort.
0:21:58 > 0:22:01William was to old to be conscripted into the regular forces
0:22:01 > 0:22:04and would spend his war toiling to supply
0:22:04 > 0:22:07the ever-increasing demand for South Wales coal.
0:22:07 > 0:22:09Second World War was a very difficult time
0:22:09 > 0:22:12for the mine industry in Britain.
0:22:12 > 0:22:15Coal was very much the bedrock of the war economy.
0:22:15 > 0:22:18Coal was one of the vital ingredients for steelmaking.
0:22:18 > 0:22:21All those ships that were needed, the tanks, the vehicles,
0:22:21 > 0:22:25the weapons that were needed to fight the war depended on coal.
0:22:25 > 0:22:311939, we still had 135,000 miners working underground in coal mines.
0:22:31 > 0:22:34- It was big business.- Yes, yes.
0:22:34 > 0:22:36But the industry was in very, very bad shape.
0:22:37 > 0:22:42After Germany had occupied France and taken over their coal fields,
0:22:42 > 0:22:46Welsh coal was all the more vital and as demand surged,
0:22:46 > 0:22:49so conditions underground became ever more difficult.
0:22:51 > 0:22:54So what of John's grandfather William?
0:22:54 > 0:22:57In the winding room of Neath Colliery Museum,
0:22:57 > 0:23:01John can learn more of the details of his grandfather's life,
0:23:01 > 0:23:04with genealogist Mike Churchill-Jones.
0:23:04 > 0:23:06It appears, like John,
0:23:06 > 0:23:09his grandfather was also something of a performer.
0:23:09 > 0:23:13You've obviously been learning about your grandfather William's
0:23:13 > 0:23:16- experiences in Ammanford Colliery. - William Henry, yes.
0:23:16 > 0:23:18- Yes, and especially during the war. - Mm-hm.
0:23:20 > 0:23:24- As you are aware, he died before you was born.- That's right.
0:23:24 > 0:23:27Mike can reveal that William was a leading singer
0:23:27 > 0:23:30with Ammanford and District Choral Society.
0:23:30 > 0:23:35"He took a keen interest in singing and possessed a sweet tenor voice."
0:23:36 > 0:23:40Sadly, Michael also has more to share with John
0:23:40 > 0:23:44and the reason why he never got to meet his grandfather William
0:23:44 > 0:23:46with that sweet tenor voice.
0:23:48 > 0:23:50"Victim of colliery accident.
0:23:50 > 0:23:52"We deeply regret to announce the death,
0:23:52 > 0:23:56"which occurred at the Morriston Emergency Hospital...
0:23:56 > 0:23:59"of Mr William...
0:23:59 > 0:24:02"Henry Jones, 28 High Street.
0:24:02 > 0:24:03"Deceased.
0:24:03 > 0:24:07"Was a rider employed at the Ammanford Colliery.
0:24:07 > 0:24:11"Received serious injuries when he was crushed between trams.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15"During many years of employment underground,
0:24:15 > 0:24:18"he had met with eight major accidents."
0:24:19 > 0:24:23Despite being involved in these eight, separate mining accidents,
0:24:23 > 0:24:26William went back to work in the mines each time.
0:24:27 > 0:24:33He clearly was a brave man, doing his bit for the war effort.
0:24:33 > 0:24:35"Aged about 52 years.
0:24:36 > 0:24:39"He leaves a widow and family.
0:24:39 > 0:24:41"The funeral takes place today, Thursday."
0:24:43 > 0:24:45- Very tragic end for him.- Yes, yes.
0:24:45 > 0:24:49What's your thoughts on those eight previous accidents?
0:24:49 > 0:24:50"EIGHT major accidents."
0:24:54 > 0:24:55Well, you know, it was...
0:24:57 > 0:25:00I mean, it was really difficult.
0:25:00 > 0:25:01It was hard work
0:25:01 > 0:25:04and he would have been working pretty solidly
0:25:04 > 0:25:06during those war years in particular,
0:25:06 > 0:25:09trying to put in the extra hours
0:25:09 > 0:25:12to get the coal out of the ground and...
0:25:13 > 0:25:16It's when you're tired those wretched accidents happen.
0:25:18 > 0:25:20William's death certificate...
0:25:20 > 0:25:24officially records he died from shock.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26And they put it down as shock.
0:25:28 > 0:25:30Perhaps they thought he was recovering and then...
0:25:30 > 0:25:31the shock kicked in.
0:25:33 > 0:25:37After the war, the bravery of William,
0:25:37 > 0:25:40like so many of the miners of that generation,
0:25:40 > 0:25:43would receive no formal recognition,
0:25:43 > 0:25:45no posthumous medal or memorial.
0:25:46 > 0:25:49William's wartime sacrifice would be forgotten
0:25:49 > 0:25:51by all, but his widow Sarah...
0:25:53 > 0:25:58..and now the full story has finally been shared with her grandson John.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03William is a hero, isn't he, in his own way.
0:26:03 > 0:26:07He's working at the age of 52/53 doing manual work
0:26:07 > 0:26:11that is backbreakingly hard, he's working long hours,
0:26:11 > 0:26:14especially because it's part of the war effort.
0:26:14 > 0:26:18The amount of coal that's been taken out of the mine is dropping
0:26:18 > 0:26:24and the only way to compensate it is to get more for men...
0:26:24 > 0:26:25More out of the mines by men.
0:26:25 > 0:26:28Basically, it's an exchange, isn't it?
0:26:28 > 0:26:32We plant men in the ground in return
0:26:32 > 0:26:35for a diminishing amount of black gold.
0:26:39 > 0:26:43John's journey into this Welsh ancestry is coming to an end.
0:26:44 > 0:26:48It's been an emotional return to Ammanford and to Wales,
0:26:48 > 0:26:51after many years of working and travelling the world over.
0:26:53 > 0:26:56John's grandmother, Sarah-Emily, continued to live out her days
0:26:56 > 0:27:02in Ammanford and it's in Ammanford, that he wants to end his journey,
0:27:02 > 0:27:06to say hello and goodbye to some very special people.
0:27:06 > 0:27:09He's here to pay his respects to his parents.
0:27:11 > 0:27:13And here they are, Mum and Dad.
0:27:18 > 0:27:20My father...
0:27:20 > 0:27:22I loved so much.
0:27:22 > 0:27:25And my mother... Well, frankly...
0:27:25 > 0:27:29it was her determination that I should not be...
0:27:30 > 0:27:33That I should rise a class into the middle class.
0:27:35 > 0:27:38For Rhys and Phyllis, from their son John,
0:27:38 > 0:27:40who owes them everything.
0:27:49 > 0:27:51With John's journey now at an end,
0:27:51 > 0:27:55how does he feel about his experience of Coming Home?
0:27:55 > 0:27:57Well, I want to thank you guys for...
0:27:57 > 0:28:00having me on the show...
0:28:00 > 0:28:02It's been an eye-opener, a revelation and...
0:28:05 > 0:28:07It's pretty marvellous, isn't it?
0:28:07 > 0:28:10It is a coming home, and one realises the...
0:28:16 > 0:28:17The strength...
0:28:19 > 0:28:22..and endurance and stamina of our people.
0:28:23 > 0:28:27I'm very proud of those Welsh boys and girls.
0:28:28 > 0:28:31They did well, those people.
0:28:31 > 0:28:32Now it's up to me.
0:28:36 > 0:28:39Subtitles by Red Bee Media Ltd