Striving for a world transformed by justice and peace - a TL from 1827

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The Galway East by-election caused by the resignation of John Blake Dillon and his election to the Irish Parliament was held on 20 October 1879. It was held by the Irish Nationalists with a majority of 56.0% over Commonwealth, reduced from 59.6% in the June 1878 general election.

The Limerick by-election caused by the resignation of Michael Davitt and his election too the Irish Parliament also took place on 20 October. It was held for the Commonwealth Party by Mrs Caitlin Healy with a majority of 26.4% over Irish Nationalist. up from 18..9% in June 1878.

Mrs Healy was a dessmaker. She was 49 years old and married to Daniel, a carpenter. He wss 55 years old. They had four daughters aged 13, 16, 26 and 28, and two sons aged 20 and 23. (1) She was the first female Commonwealth MP elected in Ireland.

(1) Fictional characters.

 

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In 1865 the Pope appointed John Henry Newman as Archbishop of Westminster, and made him a cardinal in 1871. He was canonised in 2003.

In 1878 Newman authorised the buildng of Haggerston Oratory in Shoreditch in the east end of London. It is on the west side of Queensbridge Road, north of Dunlop Street in the heart of a working class community.

 

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Maire Griffiths gave birth to a girl on Sunday 12 October 1879. She and Aneurin named her Elisha. She was their sixth child and fourth daughter.

The Ballad of Merlin by Aneurin Griffiths was published in Welsh and in English on 11 March 1880. It was a great critical and popular success, particularly in south Wales. Merlin was supposed to have been born near Carmarthen, in Welsh Caerfyrddin [Merlin's City] and made many prophecies about the town.

 

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After a poetry reading in a public hall in Swansea in the evening of 10 April 1880, an attractive young woman asked Aneurin for his autograph. He gave it to her. She told him that she very much liked The Ballad of Merlin and his other poems. She shared that her name was Sian Owen, that she worked as a clerk for Swansea Borough Council, was single and lived in Swansea. She had brown hair and brown eyes, and was fairly short and plump. She was 23 years old.

Nye and Sion talked for a bit, then he told that he had to go to the railway station to get the last train to Ferryside to go home to his wife and six children. Sian hid her disappointment well and asked his wife's name. She said she would like to meet her and their children.

Nye suggested that she comes to see them the next day, Sunday 11 April, and that he will be waiting for her at Ferryside station at 2.25 pm to meet her off the 1.05 pm train from Swansea. She said she was looking forward to going to Ferryside and would be on the train the following afternoon.
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Nye caught the 8.35 pm train from Swansea which arrived at Ferryside at 9.45 pm. When he gor home he told Maire about Sian who said she would be delighted to meet her.

 

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On Sunday 11 April 1880, Aneurin Griffiths met Sian Owen off the train from Swansea at Ferryside station at 2.25 pm. They walked to his and Maire's house. When they arrived Maire greeted then warmly. Her and Nye's six children and her sisters Mairead and Siobhan were also there. Siobhan was visiting her sisters and brother in law. Maire and Nye showed Sian their garden.

Later in the afternoon, the three adults together with Elisha and Thomas, the two youngest children, went for a walk by the River Tywi. The others stayed at home. When it was time for Sian to leave, Nye walked with her to Ferryside station for the 4.25 train back to Swansea.

 

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Aneurin Griffiths very much fancied Sian Owen. When they were walking to Ferryside station he asked her if she would like to meet hiansea m again. She eagerly said she would and they arranged to meet the next day in Swansea. Before they parted they hugged, but did not kiss.

Nye and Sian met every day from Monday to Friday in their lunch hour. Although he was a
published poet he still worked as a reporter for the Cambrian Daily News. On Friday 16 April 1880, they arranged to meet the following afternoon at 1pm when they had finished work for the weekend. Nye told Sian that he loved her and they kissed passionately on the lips

When they met on the Saturday afternoon, Nye suggested that they get a train to the village of Oystermouth on the western side of Swansea bay. (1) When they arrived in Oystermouth they explored the village and the ruined castle built in 1280, and visited
the medieval church dedicated to All Saints. In the village they saw a cottage with a 'To Let' sign in the window. Nye knocked on the front door and asked the man who answered how much the rent was. He told him that it was seven shillings a week and he was the landlord. He showed Nye and Sian round the cottage. It had a living room and kitchen on the ground floor and two bedrooms on the first floor. It was furnished. There was a small back garden with a privy. Nye told the landlord that he would like to rent the cottage and gave him twenty-eight shillings for the first four weeks rent.

(1) For Oystermouth see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Oystermouth.

 

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When they had finished looking round the cottage, Aneurin and Sian walked down the hill to the seaside resort of Mumbles. (1) There they had afternoon tea in a cafe on the sea front. Then they walked holding hands to Mumbles Head, and along the cliff path around the headland to Langland Bay. (2) Sian was wearing trousers. There in a secluded place they cuddled and kissed. Sian told Nye that she loved him and let him caress her ample breasts, covered by her blouse. They both became sexually aroused.

Nye told Sian that the cottage in Oystermouth was for them to use on Saturday afternoons and weekend evenings when they had time. They walked back to Mumbles and Oystermouth and got a train to Swansea. From there Nye caught a train home to Ferryside.

In the following afternoon, Sunday 18 April 1880, Sian. visited. Nye and Maire and family at their house in Ferryside. The two lovers hid their for each other from Maire and the children.

(1) For Mumbles see http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mumbles.

(2) For Langland Bay see http://www.gowerlive.co.uk/beaches/langland-beach.

 

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Aneurin and Sian went to their cottage in Oystermouth on most Saturday afternoons and a few weekday evenings. They became more intimate. They kissed and cuddled and masfurbated each other. On Saturday 7 August 1880, they made love for the first time and Sian lost her virginity. When they went to the cottage on later dates they sometimes made love. All this time Nye was living with Maire and their children in Ferryside and sleeping with her. Sian visited on Sunday afternoons.

Nye gave Sian love poems he had written to her. These were not published until after he and Maire had died, and have been controversial since then. Nye died on 18 April 1933, age 80. Maire was 87 years old when she died on 1 February 1938.

 

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In August 1880 the allocation of the bedrooms in Aneurin's and Maire's house in Ferryside was as follows:
Largest room - Aneurin, Maire and Elisha
Smallest room - David and Thomas
One middle room - Eithne and Mairead
Other middle room - Orla and Roisin.

Mairead O'Brien was Maire's youngest sibling. She left school at the end of the summer term in July because she became fourteen on 11 August 1880. The school leaving age was thirteen. She got a job as a maid at the only hotel in Ferryside, but still lived at home.

 

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The Prime Minister, George Cowell, died on Monday 14 June 1880. Tributes were paid to him in the House of Commons. He is also remembered in Preston, where a statue of him is in the city centre, and a park, a public hall and streets are named after him.

 

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The successor to George Cowell as leader of the Commonwealth Party and Prime Minister was elected by Commonwealth MPs. Nominations closed on 22 June 1880. In alphabetical order, the candidates were as follows:
Robert Applegarth, Chancellor of the Exchequer
Godwyn Barmby, a backbencher and one time First Commissioner of Works
George Potter, Foreign Secretary
Thomas Rankin, Home Secretary.

Barmby was on the far left of the Commonwealth Party, while Potter was on the right. Applegarth and Rankin were on the centre to centre to centre left.

The number of votes for each candidate in the ballot on 29 June were as follows:
Applegarth: 164
Rankin: 67
Potter: 41
Barmby: 33.

Applegarth having received an overall majority of the votes, he was elected leader of the Commonwealth Party and became Prime Minister. He was 41 years old, having been born on 26 January 1839.

Applegarth made the following changes to his cabinet:
Thomas Halliday from President of the Board of Trade to Chancellor of the Exchequer
William Chadwick from President of the Board of Education to President of the Board of Trade
Lady Margaret Roberts from First Commissioner of Works to President of the Board of Education.
William Morris joined the cabinet as First Commissioner of Works.

 

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Aneurin's poems were well received by eminent poems like Robert Browning, Arthur Hallam and Coventry Patmore.

In mid March 1881, Sian told Nye that she was pregnant with their baby. She had spent Sunday 26 December 1880 (Boxing Day) at his house in Ferryside with him and Maire and their family. When Maire and the children were in Swansea for Mass, she and Nye made love on the marital bed and she conceived. She had been using a vaginal sponge, but for the previous few weeks she deliberately had not because she wanted to have a child by Nye.

 

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In March 1881 Maire Griffiths' nineteen year old brother Sean O'Brien was a postman in Swansea, where he was living in lodgings. Her sister Brighid O'Brien was a seamstress at the Good to Wear Co-operative workshop in Swansea. She was seventeen years old. Maire's sister Siobhan O' Brien, who was twenty-one years old, was a singer at the Star Theatre in Swansea. She was also active in the Commonwealth Party and Commonwealth Women's Fellowship in Swansea. She and Brighid shared lodgings in Swansea.

 

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Caitlin O'Brien, a younger sister of Maire Griffiths, married Stephen Kelly on 12 September 1874, eight days after her seventeenth birthday. She had difficulty in conceiving, but she gave birth to a girl on 22 September 1876 She and Stephen named her Gwyneth. On 18 March 1878 their first son was born, and they gave him the name Roderick. Their second son, Thomas, was born on 11 September 1880.

Maire gave birth to a son on 6 May 1881. She and Aneurin named him Ifor. He was their seventh child and third son.

The result of the Preston South by-election on Saturday 24 July 1880, caused by the death of George Cowell, was as follows (1878 general election):
Ann Hewitson (Commonwealth): 65.7% (68.3%)
Conservative candidate: 21.5% (17.9%)
Liberal candidate: 12.8% (13.8%)
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Commonwealth majority: 44.2% (50.4%)
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Hewitson had been Commonwealth Party MP for the neighbouring constituency of Ribble Valley from 1874 to 1878. She was a weaver in a large cotton mill in Preston South.

Also on the same day there was the by-election in St.Pancras North, caused by the appointment of William Morris as First Commissioner of Works and his promotion to the cabinet. The result was as follows:
William Morris (Commonwealth): 51.7% (53.1%)
Conservative candidate: 34.6% (30,8%)
Liberal candidate: 13.7% (16.1%)
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Commonwealth majority: 17.1% (22.3%)
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Sian Owen's baby bump grew larger and larger. She hid it with the clothes she wore. She visited Aneurin and Maire at their house in Ferryside on Sunday afternoons.

On Sunday 4 September 1881, Siobhan was at the house visiting her sister and brother-in-law. She asked Sian when they were alone:
'Is Aneurin still shagging you?'
'How do you know!' Sian asked.
'It's obvious that you're pregnant.' Siobhan said.
'I love him and he loves me.'
'Have he and you got a love nest somewhere?' Siobhan asked.
'Aneurin is renting a two bedroom cottage for us in Oystermouth, We go there on Saturday afternoons and whenever else we have time.' Sian admitted.
'We're going to find Maire and Aneurin.' Siobhan told Sian.

They found them sitting in the back garden. Siobhan looked Nye in straight in the eye.
'Sian has told me that you have been shagging her and that you have both got a cottage in Oystermouth. How could you cheat on your wife? You disgust me.' Sian spoke angrily.

Then she asked Maire,
'Did you know that Nye was shagging Sian?'
'I have known for a couple of months that she was pregnant. That is not something women can hide, especially not one on the plump side like Sian. I have guessed that Nye is the father of their child.' Maire said.
Then she asked Sian,
'How many months gone are you!'
'A little over eight months'.
Then Maire turned to Nye and said,
'I love you darling. How could you cheat on me? I am your wife. We made solemn vows at our wedding.'
'I am so very sorry'. Nye said.
'Sian must not come her anymore. Do you love each other?'
'We do very much'.
'I know it will be hard for you, but you must end your intimacy.'

'Then Maire asked Sian,
'Where are you living now?'
'I'm living in the cottage in Oystermouth. My landlady threw me out about a month ago when she saw that I was pregnant and not married. Sian told her.
'Are you still working for Swansea Council?'
'I am. But I will be leaving my job in the next week or two,'
'You can stay in our cottage in Oystermouth, and I will visit you when our baby is born.' Nye told Sian.
'I would like that very much.' She said eagerly.
'You must not visit Sian alone. There must always be someone with you..' Maire told Nye.
'That's alright.' He said.

Later that afternoon, Maire walked with Sian to Ferryside railway station, On the way she asked her if Aneurin was her first lover.
'He is.' She said
'When I met Aneurin I was a dolly mop. Hundreds of men have shagged me who didn't love me. I will never condemn you for sinning against chastity.'
'I'm so sorry. Please don't hate me. Please forgive me.' Sian pleaded and broke down in tears.
'Of course I don't hate you and I forgive you with all my heart. Maire said and comforted Sian.
'I hope we are still friends,'
'Yes we are.'

They reached the station, and as Sian's train was coming into the platform, she and Maire hugged each other and said goodbye,

 

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On Monday 5 September 1881, Sian Owen told her line manager at Swansea Borough Council that she would be leaving her job at the end of the week, on the Saturday.

On 13 September when Maire and Nye visited Sian at the cottage in Oystermouth, she told Maire that her labour pains had begun, Nye went to fetch Elizabeth Kelly , Maire's midwife. When they got back, Nye left them.

After a long, difficult and painful labour with Maire comforting and reassuring her, and Mrs Kelly using all her midwifery skills, Sian gave birth to a healthy baby boy in the morning of 14 September, She named him Rhys , Rhys Owen. She and Nye had previously agreed that if their baby was a boy, his first name would be Brian. She insisted that their child's surname would be Owen, not Griffiths.

Nye agreed to pay Sian six shillings a week until she returned to work. He also paid the rent for their cottage in Oystermouth.

 

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Neither Aneurin nor Sian told Maire about the poems he had written for Sian. He continued to visit Sian at their cottage in Oystermouth by himself.

Alexander MacDonald, the Lord President of the Council and Leader of the House of Commons and Commonwealth Party MP for Kilmarnock, died on 31 October 1881. In the subsequent cabinet reshuffle the Prime Minister, Robert Applegarth, made the following changes:
Thomaa Irvine Rankin from Home Secretary to Lord President and Commons Leader; Donald Mackenzie from Secretary of State for Scotland to Home Secretary ; (He is a fictional character); John Murdoch from Parlianentary Secretary Board of Trade to Scottish Secretary.

The Argyll by-election caused by the promotion of Murdoch to the cabinet was held on 12 November 1881. The result was as follows (1878 general election);
John Murdoch (Commonwealth): 53.8% (57,7%)
Conservative candidate: 24,1% (26,2%)
Liberal candidate: 22,1% (16.1%)
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Commonwealth majority: 29.7% (31,5%)
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The result of the Kilmarnock by-election, also on 12 November, was as follows:
John Ferguson (Commonwealth): 68,2%) (73,2%
Liberal candidate: 16,4% (7,1%)
Conservative candidate: 15,4 (19,7%)
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Commonwealth majority: 51,8% (53.5%)
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In this TL Felix Mendelssohn did not die in 1847 as in OTL, but lived until July 1881. He composed many more musical works such as symphonies, concertos and string quartets.

His last major work was the oratorio Abraham. It was first performed in April 1880 and was a great success. It is scored for full orchestra and choir with solo singers (soprano, mezzo soprano, alto, tenor and bass). Abraham is a bass, Sarah a soprano, Isaac a tenor, Hagar an alto, Ishmael a bass, Rebecca a mezzo soprano and Lot a tenor. The text is taken from Genesis chapter 11 verse 27 to chapter 25 verse 11. It is a popular festure of the choral repertoire, though less so than Handel's Messiah .

 

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Nia Price gave birth to a son on 17 March 1879. She and her husband Thomas named him Rhys. On 9 February 1881 she had a baby girl. She and Thomas named her Cerys. They now had seven chidren - four boys and three girls. They lived in a four bedroom council house in Swansea.

John Ruskin founded the Society for the Protection of Ancient Buildins (SPAB) in 1876. The Ancient Monuments Act 1880 provided for the acquisition or guardianship of scheduled monuments by the Commissioners of the Board of Public Works. These monunents ranged from prehistoric to medieval. William Morris, as parliamentary secretary to the Office of Works, steered the bill through the House of Commons. The First Commissioner of Work, Margaret Roberts, was a Peer.

 

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Myfanwy Price left school in July 1881 and immediately started working in the Hafod Copperworks in Swansea.

In February 1880 the Irish Nationalist government in Ireland changed the names of Queenstown and Kingstown to Cobh and Dun Laoghaire repectively, and Queen's County and King's County to Leix and Offaly respectively. It also ordered that all public notices and signs must be bilingual in Irish and English. Also it made the teaching of the Irish language compulsory in all schools.

Those constituencies in Ulster which voted Conservative in the Irish general election of October 1879, did not accept the authority of the Dublin Parliament.