The bard celebrates two other fine practitioners of the art, and laments a lost brewer
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Working-class hero
SUE TURNER recommends the first full biography of the 1831 Merthyr Rising martyr and icon of the Welsh working class, Dic Penderyn
(L to R) The grave of Richard Lewis, known as Dic Penderyn in St. Mary's Churchyard, Aberavon, Wales; A depiction of the Merthyr Rising of 1831 by Hablot Knight Browne in The New Newgate Calendar, 1887
[John Lord/CC]
This right-wing conspiracy theory is used to justify the coercive measures against gender, race and labour rights that best serve capitalism, attests GAVIN O’TOOLE
KENNY MONROSE recommends a new exhibition that highlights the significance of Black British music
ANGUS REID is bowled over by an exuberant film about the making of Keith Jarrett’s legendary concert
MARIA DUARTE, FIONA O’CONNOR and ANDY HEDGECOCK review Savage House, Enzo, Madfabulous, and Erupcja
CHRIS SEARLE recommends a work of love and deep admiration for a great musician
Dic Penderyn — The Man and the Martyr
by Sally Roberts Jones
Y Lolfa, £9.99
FOLLOWING the 1831 Merthyr Rising, 23-year-old miner Richard Lewis, known as Dic Penderyn, was publicly hanged for a crime he didn’t commit, thus becoming a martyr for the nascent Welsh labour movement.
The Merthyr of the early 19th century was the centre of the newly founded south Wales coal and iron industry with four huge ironworks employing 14,000 men.
Unrest would flare up intermittently due to low wages and rising prices and also resentment of the truck system; payment in tokens to be spent at the company store, which had a monopoly and charged high prices.
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