Glo - National Museum Wales

Gwaed ar
lawr y parlwr
Ganed George
Preece yn Sir
Benfro ar 10
Rhagfyr 1880. Pan oedd
yn ei ugeiniau,
symudodd gyda’i rieni i
Abercynon er mwyn
chwilio am waith, a
chafodd swydd yng
Nglofa Abercynon. Ym
1909, cafodd ei daro
gan dram lo o dan
ddaear ac fe’i cludwyd
ar stretsier dros dro i’w
gartref yn Aberdare
Road, tua dwy filltir i
ffwrdd. Roedd ganddo
anafiadau difrifol, ac
roedd cymaint o waed
ar lawr y parlwr ffrynt
fel na allai’r teulu ei
George Preece a’i goesau artiffisial
George Preece with his artificial legs
The parlour floor
was covered in blood
George Preece was born in Pembrokeshire on
10 December 1880. He moved with his
parents to Abercynon when in his twenties
looking for employment and got a job in Abercynon
Colliery. In 1909 he was run over by a coal dram
underground and had to be carried home on a
makeshi stretcher to his home in Aberdare Road,
which was a distance of around two miles. His injuries
were very severe and the front room parlour floor was
so covered in blood that the family 'couldn't mop it
all up'. e doctor told the family that it was a good
job he wasn't a drinker or he would have died – it was
a miracle he survived! He was then put on a train and
taken to Cardiff Infirmary (reputedly having only one
olchi’n lân i gyd. Dywedodd y meddyg ei fod yn dda
o beth nad oedd yn yfwr mawr neu fe fyddai wedi
marw – roedd yn wyrth ei fod yn dal yn fyw! Yna,
cafodd ei roi ar y trên a’i gludo i’r Inffyrmari yng
Nghaerdydd (gyda dim ond peint o waed ar ôl, yn ôl
pob son) lle torrwyd un goes ychydig o dan y penglin
a’r llall fymryn uwchben y pen-glin. Cafodd
fadredd (gangrene) wedyn, a bu’n rhaid torri un o’i
goes i ffwrdd yn llwyr. Cafodd ddwy lawdriniaeth
arall yn ddiweddarach oherwydd madredd. Ni
weithiodd fyth wedyn.
Prin y defnyddiodd y coesau artiffisial sydd
ganddo yn y llun hwn am eu bod yn drwm ac
anghyfforddus; roedd hi’n well ganddo fynd a dod yn
ei gadair olwyn. Ar ôl y ddamwain, dysgodd sut i
grosio gan Susan Lilly Smith ei gyfnither, a oedd yn
byw yn yr un stryd, fel rhan o’r broses o wella. Roedd
yn hoff o drin tun hefyd, a defnyddiai hen duniau
llaeth cyddwysedig i greu cwpanau yfed i blant lleol.
pint of blood le) where one leg was taken off below
the knee and the other one just above the knee. He
later contracted gangrene and some more of one of
his legs had to be removed. He later had two more
operations due to gangrene. He never worked again.
He very rarely used the artificial legs he wears in
the photo as he found them heavy and uncomfortable;
he preferred to get about in his wheelchair. Aer the
accident he was taught crocheting by his cousin Susan
Lilly Smith, who lived in the same street, as part of his
rehabilitation. He also liked working with tin and
made the local children drinking cups from used
condensed milk containers.
Fy namwain
angheuol
gynta
Hanner ffordd drwy
si y bore, fe
glywsom ni waedd
ar hyd y ffas wal hir – ‘mae
Harry wedi’i gladdu’. Dyma
Doug, cydchwaraewr rygbi
Harry, yn rhuthro heibio cyn
i ni ymuno â’r gweithwyr eraill
i geisio achub Harry; ond yn
anffodus, roedd wedi’i gladdu
am ormod o amser. Anfonais
rywun i nôl stretsier a
blancedi, a chyda chymorth y
dynion eraill, lapiais Harry a’i
glymu ar y stretsier cynfas.
Wrth i’r dynion ddechrau’r
daith o filltir a hanner yn ôl i
grombil y pwll, bu’n rhaid i mi
fynd i nôl fy nghot o’r ffas lo cyn
ymuno â nhw.
Ar y wyneb, roedd meddyg yn disgwyl amdanom
mewn adeilad bychan gan nad oedd baddondai pen
pwll na chanolfan feddygol yng Nglofa Llanhiledd ar
y pryd. Wedi iddo archwilio’r corff, dywedodd wrthyf
am fynd â Harry yn ôl i’w gartref yn yr ambiwlans a
safai i fyny ar y ffordd fawr. Gyda chymorth dyn a
oedd newydd ymuno â dosbarth hŷn Urdd Sant Ioan,
aethom ryw ddwy filltir i gartre’ Harry, sef tyddyn
bach ar y mynydd uwchben Crymlyn.
Dyma ni’n rhoi Harry, a oedd yn dal yn ei ddillad
gwaith llychlyd, ar fwrdd cegin prysgoed lle bues i’n
ei folchi a rhoi crys glân amdano. Rwy’n cofio sylwi ar
gard o amgylch y lle tân glo yn y gegin, a chewynnau
babi ychydig fisoedd oed yn sychu arno.
Pan gyrhaeddodd mam Harry o Lanhiledd i fod
yn gefn i’w wraig, gadewais i a’m cynorthwyydd er
mwyn cerdded tair milltir yn ôl adref i newid o’n
dillad gwaith. Wrth fynd dros y mynydd, dyma ni’n
aros wrth nant fach er mwyn i mi olchi fy nwylo a
’ngwyneb. Yna, eisteddais i lawr ac agorais fy mocs
bwyd i fwyta brechdan. Yn sydyn, dechreuodd y dyn
arall gyfogi, ac ar ôl iddo ddod ato’i hun dywedodd,
‘Sut ar y ddaear alli di fwyta ar ôl popeth sy’ newydd
ddigwydd?’ Dim ond dwy ar bymtheg oed oeddwn i,
cadét Sant Ioan, ond doeddwn i ddim wedi cynhyrfu
o gwbl ar y pryd. Ond, yn ddiweddarach, dyma’r
cyfan yn fy nharo i ac allwn i ddim cysgu’r noson
honno wrth ail-fyw popeth.
Arthur Lewis OBE
Dealing
with my
first fatality
It was the early half of the
morning shi and along
the longwall coalface came
a shout – “Harry’s buried”.
Doug, a rugby colleague of
Harry rushed past me as we
joined other workmates to
recover Harry; unfortunately
Harry had been buried too
long. I sent out bye for the
stretcher and blankets and,
with help, I wrapped Harry
and secured him on the
canvas stretcher. As the men
began the one and half mile
walk back to pit bottom I had
to go back down the coal
face to get my coat before
catching them up.
On the surface a doctor was waiting in a small
building as there were no pithead baths or medical centre
at Llanhilleth Colliery at that time. He examined the
body and said for me to take Harry to his home in the
ambulance waiting up on the main road. With the help
of a man who had recently joined the Senior St John’s
Ambulance class, we travelled some two miles to Harry’s
home which was a small holding on a mountain
overlooking Crumlin.
We laid Harry’s body, still in his working clothes and
covered with coal dust, on a scrub topped kitchen table
where I bathed him and put a clean shirt on him. I
remember noticing that the coal fire in the kitchen was
surrounded by a guard on which there were napkins
drying for the baby which had been born a few months
earlier.
With the arrival of Harry’s mother from Llanhilleth
to support Harry’s wife, my helper and I le to walk the
three miles home to change out of our working clothes.
On the way back over the mountain we stopped by a
stream so that I could wash my hands and face. Having
washed I sat down and opened my tommy box and
started to eat a sandwich. e man with me was
immediately sick and, when he stopped retching he said
“How on earth can you eat aer what’s happened?” I was
seventeen years old and still a St John’s cadet but I felt
quite calm at the time. However, the reaction set in later
and I couldn’t sleep that night reliving it all.
Arthur Lewis OBE
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