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Name	Age	Address
Annie Pittard Ralph Melville Lewis Mabel Beatrice Pennell Charles William Miles Elizabeth Edwards Maggie Davies Gwendoline Gertrude Morgan Frederick William Mathias Eleanor Harris Annie Harris S. Archibald Biddle Maggie May Williams May Williams May Watkins Annie Dumayne David Benjamin Jones Aneurin Tudor James William John Harris Mabel Florence Howell Thomas David Jones David George Davies David Howell Morgan Thomas Osborne Morgan David Arthur Morris John Cledwyn Jones Thomas George Jones Rhoda Mary Pardoe James D Rees Ivor Anderson Bryant Thomas John Williams Wyndham Lisle Frederick Walter Canter Lilian Lewis John Margaret Jane Thomas Hannah Jane Worthing John Thomas Worthing Rachel Davies Lilian Heppell Jack Stanley Mackintosh Edith Margaret Morgan Rachel Charles Joseph William Rowland William Coslett Morris John Henry Morgan Katie Jenkins Alice Daniels Lena Davies Maud Victoria Mathias Margaret May Jones Olive Lilian Thomas Bessie Williams Nellie Goodwin Ethel Mary Davies Hannah Richards Thomas Davies Arthur Rhys Davies Gomer Griffiths Bertie Lewis Trott Lewis Jacobs Gertrude Winifred Jones Morgan James Nicholls Mary Lizzie Williams Sidney Jones Leyshon Lewis	14.7 12.1 14.8 16.2 13.0 13.7 13.9 13.4 13.0 14.3 14.1 13.2 12.2 15.1 13.3 13.4 12.6 15.7 11.0 12.8 12.6 12.8 14.0 12.7 13.3 11.8 13.1 11.6 13.0 12.3 13.1 11.5 12.0 12.0 11.3 13.7 14.9 11.0 11.9 13.1 13.5 12.5 12.3 14.0 13.2 14.5 14.0 12.5 13.2 11.5 13.4 13.6 14.8 13.4 14.5 12.4 13.2 14.3 13.2 12.4 13.6 12.3 15.1 15.1	Talwyn Cottage, Trecynon Gadlys Isaf, Aberdare 35 Monk St, Aberdare 27 Victoria Square, Aberdare 21 Merthyr Rd, Hirwain 12 Belmont Terrace, Aberaman Mount Pleasant Hotel, Mountain Ash 9 Commercial St, Aberdare 6 Stuart St, Aberdare 6 Stuart St, Aberdare 47 Commercial St, Mountain Ash 34 Richmond Road, Mountain Ash 56 Victoria Terrace, Aberaman 16 Club Street, Aberaman 9 Forge Row, Aberaman 24 Windsor Villas, Trecynon Swan Hotel, Aberaman 6 Stuart St, Aberdare Greenhill, Aberaman Tanybryn, Mountain Ash 47 Gadlys Rd, Aberdare Canal Head House, Aberdare Canal Head House, Aberdare Rheola St, Penrhiwceiber 16 Cardiff St, Aberdare 4 Bute Terrace, Hirwain 14 Tirfounder Road, Cwmbach 17 Curre St, Aberaman Queen Victoria Inn, Cwmbach 1 Gwawr St, Aberaman 66 Bute St, Aberdare 14 Jenkin St, Aberdare 34 Mount Pleasant, Trecynon Bwllfa Cottage, Hirwaun Ynysfawr Cottage, Penderyn Ynysfawr Cottage, Penderyn Trewgarn, Ystradfellte Fforchneol House, Cwmaman Highland Villa, Aberdare 36 Albert St, Aberdare 2 Gospel Hall Terrace, Aberdare Rock Villa, Mountain Ash 16 Oxford St, Aberdare Bwlch, Ystradfellte Post Office, Ystradfellte Myrtle Cottage, Hirwaun Commerce House, Aberdare 9&10 Commercial St, Aberdare 21 Griffith St, Aberdare Berthlwyd Cottage, Hirwaun 24 High St, Aberdare 15 Tudor Terrace, Aberdare 7 Unity St, Aberdare 26 Glannant St, Aberdare 11 Merthyr Rd, Llwydcoed 13 Whitcombe St, Aberdare 9 Seymour St, Aberdare 7 Victoria Square, Aberdare 14 Cardiff St, Aberdare Albion House, Trecynon 2 The Green, Hirwaun 21 Brecon Road, Hirwaun 16 Oxford St, Mountain Ash 13 Cross St, Hirwaun

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 1899 the school recruited pupils to higher Forms, as well as to Form 1, so for example, Leyshon Lewis would have entered directly into a higher Form.

 

Ralph Lewis lived in Gadlys Isaf. This was a large house sandwiched between Elm Grove and the playground of the Gadlys secondary school. The house was originally occupied by one of the owners of Gadlys ironworks. Ralph’s father Charles M. Lewis was a bank manager.

Mabel Pennell’s family came from Shropshire and Worcestershire. Her father was a coal inspector with the GWR.

Charles Miles was a son of R.H. Miles a prominent businessman in the town who was a butcher. The success of the butchery business led Miles, senior, to open shops at 8 Cardiff Street, 18 Canon Street, and 56 Jubilee Road, Aberaman as well as a restaurant and confectioners at 2 Canon Street.

May Watkin’s father was a pattern maker, which suggests that he worked in an iron foundry.

Mabel Florence Howell of Greenhill House. Her father was John Howell an auctioneer. Greenhill House stood at in a field sandwiched between Brook Street, Aberaman, and the Dare-Aman branch railway line.
Greenhill was the home of John Howell, his wife Mary Ann (Davies) and their 10 children, plus 3 servants. Both husband and wife were Aberaman born and bred. A former pupil of the National Schools in Cardiff Street, John Howell began his working life as a boy collier in the mines, where he stayed for 10 years, before embarking on a varied career that included a few years as a clerk at the Abernant Works under Richard Fothergill. In the 1891 census the Howell family were at the Lamb and Flag, Cardiff Road, but later as a butcher, in Lewis Street, and finally as an auctioneer. He evidently moved up in the world and was in Greenhill House in the 1901 and 1911 census returns. He was High Constable in 1900, and was for many years a local councillor for the Blaengwawr Ward. He died in 1919 in his 73rd year.

Frederick Walter Canter was the grandfather of John Canter, the accomplished violinist, who was at ABGS 1964 to 1971. John’ father Wilf also attended the school, arriving in 1927.

The Worthing siblings lived between Hirwaun and Penderyn. Ynysfawr is located almost opposite the entrance to Ty Newydd Country Hotel on the A4059.

Lilian Heppell lived in Fforchneol Farm, also known as Fforchneol House. This 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 the dissolution of the Board 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 in 1909, dying there two years later. He was returned to Aberdare for interment at Aberdare Cemetery.

Olive Lilian Thomas is listed as living in Berthlwyd Cottage. This was probably associated with Berthlwyd Farm that was located to the north and east of Hirwaun Station.

Bessie Williams was the daughter of a coachbuilder, later a motor engineer, with premises in High St near where the library is now situated. She left school in 1903 and entered Cardiff Training School of Domestic Science. After three teaching posts in England and south Wales, she was appointed as a founding member of staff at Aberdare Girls Intermediate School in 1913 to teach domestic subjects. She remained at the school until about 1943.

Lewis Jacobs was one of the fifteen children of Morris Jacobs, who started off as a pawnbroker in Mountain Ash and Aberdare. The business developed into a clothier and outfitter. Morris played a significant role in the Aberdare synagogue, serving at different times as its secretary and president. Although Morris and his family moved to Cardiff, the shop at 14 Cardiff St, on the corner of Merchant St, continued trading into mid-1980s. The shop specialised in school uniforms, as well as cubs, brownies, scouts and guides outfits.

Amongst the parental occupations of the 1899 intake, there was a bank manager and a relieving officer, as well as 4 railway workers, 1 butcher, 7 men working in the coal industry, 3 hoteliers/innkeepers, 4 grocers, 3 insurance workers, 1 jeweller, 3 tailors, 1 contractor, 1 pattern maker, 1 policeman, 1 auctioneer, 1 minister of religion, 1 cattle salesman, 1 haulier, 1 blacksmith, 2 masons, 1 gamekeeper, 2 farm bailiffs, 1 farmer, 1 colliery manager, 2 drapers, 1 marine engineer, 2 clerks, 1 shoemaker, 1 coachbuilder, 1 carpenter, 1 boilerman, 1 china merchant, 1 pawnbroker and 1 chemist.

 

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