Notes

Age on Entry Pupils entering Form 1 were aged 12+ in the early days of the school. There was no Form 2 and the four-year course to School Certificate concluded in Form 5.
In 1898 the school was recruiting pupils for all Forms, as well as for Form 1, so for example Harold Humphreys would have entered directly into a higher Form.
 

Henry Roderick was a member of the large family of Thomas and Elizabeth Roderick of 23 Clifton Street. Thomas Roderick was a well-known architect and surveyor.

Howell girls of Greenhill. Emily and Gwendoline Gertrude Howell were daughters of Mary Ann and John Howell, an auctioneer, of Greenhill House, Aberaman. Greenhill House stood in a field sandwiched between Brook Street, Aberaman, and the Dare-Aman branch railway line. Greenhill was the home of John Howell, his wife, ten children and 3 servants.

Sidney and Wilfred Heppell. Fforchneol Farm, also known as Fforchneol House, was for 17 years the home of W.J. Heppell, (1856–1911), mining engineer and colliery agent. Heppell came from South Shields, but spent the last thirty years of his life in the South Wales coal industry living for almost all these years in Cwmaman. He was managing director of the Cwmaman Coal Company, was a member of the South Wales Coalowners’ Association, and was chairman of that body in 1909. He was for many years a member of the Aberdare School Board and was its chairman from 1901 until its dissolution on September 30th 1903. Mr & Mrs Heppell sent three of their daughters and two of their sons to the County School in Trecynon. Heppell was a life-long abstainer and was an ardent advocate of temperance principles. The family attended St David’s Presbyterian Church in the High Street. Heppell moved to Radyr two years before he died.

John C. Harmston was the son of Albert Edward Harmston who ran the Harmston Music Warehouse at 7 Cardiff St. in Aberdare. John became a musical instrument tuner living in the Mumbles. In 1911 he married Ada, a daughter of F.W. Caunt; he died in Thanet in 1968.
His brother, Willie, became a church pipe organ builder in Sussex, where he died in 1959.
Mr Harmston senior was also a musician and was organist at Green Street Wesleyan Methodist Church. He was the first to play the newly installed Conacher organ in October 1894. (This organ was subsequently replaced in the 1990s by a Sweetland organ, and is played by the current organist Sheridan George, ABGS 1951–58.) The RCT Photographic Archive has an excellent photograph of Harmston senior seated at the Green Street Methodist Church organ; Archive Item Number: 31/b/031.

Beatrice Jones was a daughter of the T.V.R. Station Master. Taff Vale House was in Duke Street attached to the station buildings.

Harold Humphreys of Rose Aman Cottage was a son of the Revd. Thomas Humphreys, the long-serving minister of Seion Baptist Chapel in Cwmaman.

Gladys Hughes was living at The Newlands, which is a large house near the top of Broniestyn Terrace, Trecynon. Her guardian was the Revd. David Jones.

Trevor Flooks was the son of William Flooks the clothier of Canon Street.

The Dovey boys were sons of the publican at the Queen’s Hotel. The building in Canon Street became Montague Burton — ‘The Tailor of Taste’. William Edward Dovey died in 1916, a WWI casualty.

Martha Jane Griffiths daughter of the Green Dragon publican. The Green Dragon Pub in Green St, was first established in 1835. It stood at the far end of Canon St. It was demolished in 1962, when the new library was being built.

Mary Hughes of 6 Park Lane, Trecynon was a daughter of David Hughes, a well-known auctioneer.

A.O. Mander was a son of F.W. Mander, a prominent townsman of Glanynys. Alfred fought in WWI and rose to the rank of major in the British Army. In 1915 he married Marguerite Frances Morgan daughter of Col. Morgan Morgan of Maesydderwen Mountain Ash. He died in Porthcawl aged 41 in January 1930. F.W. Mander was a very successful grocer, living in Commercial St, later Clifton St, then finally Glanynys House off Cwmbach Road.

Ethel Gwen Jones was a farmer’s daughter. Cefndon Farm was near and to north east of Hirwaun railway station.

Josiah and William Edwards were sons of the publican of the Bute Arms in Commercial Place – now called Victoria Square. The pub is still, (2026), in business.

Edith Thomas was the daughter of the publican of the Castle Inn, a pub in the centre of Cwmdare.

Thomas Charles and George Gould Gordon Johnstone of St Cloud, Cwmbach, were sons of Dr David Johnstone and his wife Isabella. Both the parents and children were born in Scotland. Dr Johnstone was a physician & Surgeon. St Cloud was later the residence of Dr Patrick Murphy.

Aenid Picton of Ivy Green was the daughter of Hirwaun accountant Simon Picton. Aenid’s name could be seen on one of the large Honours Boards that stood in the assembly hall – she was awarded a scholarship to UCW Aberystwyth in 1906.

David Llewelyn lived at Penfathor Farm. This is a remote homestead 2km north-east of Ystradfellte. It is unlikely that he made the daily trip from home to school. In the early days of the school there were approved lodging houses for such pupils who came from well outside Aberdare.

Gertrude Jane Davies lived in a rather grand house called The Poplars in Mountain Ash. She was the daughter of a colliery manager

David Thomas was the son of the publican of the New Inn in Rhigos. The Inn is still open and is known for its popular restaurant.

Philip Jenkins was the son of the stationmaster living in the Station House, Mill St. This was the original terminus of the Taff Vale Railway, (Low Level). The terminus was relocated to Duke St., although the tracks to Mill Street remained in place.

William Hamlyn Whiting was the son of a Hay and Corn Merchant living at the Industrial Farm in Trecynon. The farm was associated with the Industrial School and Cottage Homes run by the Merthyr Tydfil Poor Law Union – of which Aberdare was a constituent part.

Evan Howells was a member of the Howells of Maesgwyn family. They were farmers and landowners. The children eventually moved in the early twentieth century to Broniestyn House in Trecynon. Marie Howells the school’s peripatetic strings teacher was related to this family.

Amongst the parental occupations of the 1898 intake, there were an Accountant, Agent, Architect, Auctioneers 2, Blacksmiths 2, Boot Warehouseman, Butcher, Clerk in Holy Orders, Clothier, Colliers 7, Colliery Agent, Colliery Manager, Contractors 2, Doctor, Draper, Engine Driver, Engineers 2, Factory Hand, Farmers 4, Gamekeeper, Goods Guard, Grocers 5, Hay amp; Corn Merchant, Hotel keeper, Ironmongers 2, Jeweller, Labourer, Mason, Mechanical Engineer, Mining Contractors, Ministers of Religion 4, Music seller, Railway Contractor’s Manager, Shoemaker, Signalman, Station Masters 2, Stationer. No occupation 5.

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