The Years of Exploitation
1800 - 1830
Ferment And Insurrection
1830 - 1840
The Aftermath And The Way Ahead
1840 - 1850
Well I'll Go To Cardiff!
1850 - 1860
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NEWS REPORTS:
CHRONOLOGY
Newport First Stop - 100 Years of News Stories
Chronology 1850 - 1899
By Derrick Cyril Vaughan
Click on a year to see News Items:
Palm Sunday - the flowering of graves.
W.C. Webb, Mayor. He built at his own cost the Wesleyan Chapel at Castleton.
Newport Freehold Land Society established.
Dock Street widened.
Clock House, Mill Street offered for sale.
South Wales Railway opened, Newport first stop on line.
Commercial Road completed.
Statue of Sir Charles Morgan Gould erected in High Street.
Western Valleys Railway opened.
Malpas new Church opened.
Clairvoyance at Newport.
Population of Newport 19,323.
Henry John Davies, Solicitor, Mayor this year.
Suspension of business by Newport banks.
Dock Street Congregational Church opened.
Abel Obens and Eliza Dare charged with murder of an illegitimate child.
Reformed Wesleyans purchase Methodist Chapel, Hill Street.
High Street widened.
Primitive Methodists worship at Oddfellows Mall, Mill Street.
Holy Trinity Church, Pill opened.
Newport - Pontypool railway opened.
Stephen Iggulden, landlord of the Carpenters' Arms elected Mayor.
First Star of Gwent Office, 41 Llanarth Street.
Western Valleys Station, Dock Street, opened.
Mechanics' Institute Eisteddfod held.
Navy recruiting in Newport for men to man the "Nations Wooden Walls."
Crawshay Bailey elected for the United Boroughs without opposition.
Election rioting at Newport.
Anti-cholera movement demands supression of nuisances.
Complaints about the water carts and the dust in Newport.
Fire in Skinner Street.
Mill Street Station opened.
Black Ball hoisted at Dock entrance signifying that dock was full.
Pyrotechnic display at Newport.
Death of Thomas Prothero.
Vandalism in Newport.
James Brown the new Mayor and resident of Bryn Glas.
Newport Policemen's Clothes.
Resolution passed at Parish meeting to restore St. Woolos Church.
Newport, Hereford and Abergavenny Railway opened.
First railway bridge built in Malpas road.
Reformed Wesleyan Church, Portland Street, opened.
St. Woolos Vicarage built.
Samuel Homfray - Mayor.
Old Green School playground taken for railway.
Dock Street Theatre built.
Newport and St. Woolos new Cemetery opened.
700 yards of canal to Bolt Street abandoned.
Memorial presented to the Queen requesting that John Frost be pardoned.
Filthy conditon of Newport streets.
Recruiting for the Royal Navy in Newport.
New omnibus to and from the railway stations to the King's Head and Westgate.
Act of Parliament forbidding use of dogs to haul trucks.
Teetotalism campaign at Newport.
Recruiting by the Army for the War in the Crimea.
Newport Chess Club formed.
Soup kitchens for the poor.
St. Woolos Church restored and the Tower Clock removed.
Rev. J.T. Wrenford appointed Vicar of St. Paul's.
Official notice requesting Newportonians to keep to the right.
Mr. Knapp, the Mayor, tries to stop the 5th November celebrations.
Commission of Lunacy held at King's Head.
Newport Band of Hope inaugurated.
Ferry across the Usk from Pill to the east side contemplated.
British School, Stow Hill, erected.
Ragged School opened at 31 Llanarth Street.
Masonic Hall, Dock Street, opened.
Charles Lyne - Mayor.
Gold Tops land let for building purposes.
Christchurch Local Board formed.
Request for the removal of the Stow Hill Turnpike-Gate.
High wall near St. Woolos Churchyard, built.
Infirmary removed to 11 Park Square.
William Williams, timber and slate merchant - Mayor.
Llanarth Street Temperance Hall opened.
Dock Street Theatre pulled down.
Town Crier appointed.
Crumlin Viaduct opened.
1858
Newport's first Drainage Scheme.
Athenaeum removed to Dock Street.
Henry Sheppard, a grocer with a kind and generous nature - Mayor.
St. Luke's Church, Bridge Street, built.
Extension Dock opened.
Custom House, Dock Street, built.
Newport Volunteers organised.
Her Majesty's Levee, Duke of Beaufort and Lord Raglan in attendance.
Victoria Road Congregational Church, built.
Lord Tredegar presented to the Queen on his elevation to the peerage.
Alleged surgical neglect in Newport.
Thomas Gratrax, a banker - Mayor.
Matthew Francis charged with murder.
Public execution of Francis at Monmonth Gaol.
The new gun invented by Mr. John Hughes of Newport.
Newport Commercial Cricket Club's first match.
Exhibition on the Indian Mutiny at the Town Hall.
Death of Isambard Kingdom Brunel.
Deception at Newport by Professor Laurent.
Controversy concerning the Russian Gun.
Mary Allart's mysterious Telescope deception.
No work at the docks due to the icy weather.
Gift of soup for the poor by H. Phillips Esq.
First cabs in Newport.
1860
Messrs Tovey's, Undertaking business established.
Park Square formed.
Friars' Fields taken over by the Corporation.
First Newport Hospital, Stow Hill opened.
St. John's Church, Maindee, opened.
Statue of Sir Charles Morgan Gould moved to Park Square.
Squib Night again the cause of riotous behaviour.
Newport's Annual Wool Fair.
Mud in Newport Streets.
James Brown re-elected Mayor.
Gift of cannon to Lord Raglan.
Dismissal of Constable Gurney for drunkenness whilst on duty.
Dreadful accident to son of John Clarke, Corn Merchant.
Edward James charged with marrying his brother's widow.
James Brown re-elected Mayor.
Snarling, thieving curs traverse the public streets.
Assault on the Rev. Williams.
Death of the Prince Consort.
Population of Newport 23,249.
Co-operative Stores established in Baneswell.
Post Office Savings Bank, established.
Bristol Channel Pilots' Act.
1862
The Sons of Temperance Society excursion to Weston.
George William Jones, Mayor, did much for the construction of the Alexandra Dock.
Stow Hill Parapet Wall built and the Causeway improved.
Grand Review of Volunteers on the Marshes.
Severn Valley Railway inaugurated.
New organ at Bassaleg Church.
Fatal termination of wedding festivities.
Victoria Hall (Lyceum) built.
W.V. Morgan, surgeon - Mayor.
Bridge Street opened.
Stow Hill Baptist Church built.
Queen's Hotel, Tredegar Place, built.
1864
E.J. Phillips, chemist, elected Mayor.
Mill Street's second railway station opened.
Havelock Street Presbyterian Church built.
Slaughter houses, Wyndham Street, opened.
Half Holiday Movement to suspend business on Thursday afternoons.
Rev. Samuel Fox first vicar of Holy Trinity, Pill.
Pressure to save "Fallen Women" from final ruin.
The Christian Sabbath violated.
Band of Hope party for 800 children at the Gaer.
T.F. Lewis, a brewer, appointed Mayor.
Third Newport Market, built by Duke of Beaufort.
Sirhowy railway opened.
Alexandra Dock Act.
Raglan Castle opened to the public.
Temperance Meetings in Newport.
1866
William Graham, Auctioneer and Land Agent elected Mayor.
Mr. Box-Brown's mesmeric demonstration.
St. Woolos Churchyard railed in and closed for burials.
Newport Bridge widened and improved.
Summerhill Baptist Church opened.
1867
First ward of Newport Infirmary opened.
T.M. Llewellin a solicitor re-elected Mayor.
First Newport Regatta held.
First Cheese Market held in Newport Market.
First Drill Hall, Dock Street erected.
Monmouthshire Hunt Dinner at Westgate.
James Murphy the first Roman Catholic Mayor.
Annual meeting of Newport Industrial Home for Fallen Women.
John Frost seen in Newport during the election.
Melancholy occurrence on the sloop "Victoria."
Attempt on the life of H.R.H. The Duke of Edinburgh.
Crawshay Bailey stands down as M.P.
Serious attack upon a Newport solicitor.
Burning mountains around Newport.
Sailors' Home, Dock Street, opened.
General Election, rioting at Newport, woman bayoneted.
Mon. and S.W. permanent Benefit Building Society established.
Christman pantomime at Victoria Hall, Ali Baba and the Forty Thieves
The 6th Royals relieve the 23rd Royal Welsh Fusiliers at Barracks.
Anniversary of Queen's accession, service at St. Paul's.
Thomas Beynott, Mayor, he established Newport's first Free Library.
Newport Licensed Victuallers Association established.
Newport School Board formed.
Newport Chamber of Commerce formed.
Mayor, L.A. Homfray son of Samuel Homfray.
Population of Newport 26,951.
Free Library Dock Street, opened.
David Harrhy - new Mayor - a wine and spirit merchant.
Mill Street Congregational Church re-opened.
Jewish Synagogue opened.
Violent thunder storm in Newport.
General Tom Thumb visits Newport.
Prospects for the proposed Severn Railway Bridge - good.
New Dry Dock opened.
Launch of the "Mary Emily" 800 tons from yard of Messrs Harvey.
Stow Hill Turnpike Road altered.
Works in progress on the Alexandra Docks.
Severn Terrace erected.
Meeting of Newport Board of Guardians.
Science and Art classes started.
First Polo match at Newport.
Annual outing of the Newport Police.
Start of Newport Hockey Club's season.
Wyndham Jones - Mayor. Wife gave birth to a child during his year of office.
Newport Improvement Act.
Nelson Hewertson elected Mayor - robbed of his watch at election.
Tredegar Wharf Schools opened.
Mr. Henry Vincent back in town.
St. Woolos Schools, St. Mary Street opened.
Commercial Road, Reading Room opened.
Parrot Hotel opens music hall at rear.
Benjamin Evans the Mayor - a draper.
Pantomime at the Victoria Hall - "The House that Jack Built."
Marriage of the Duke of Edinburgh, celebrations in Newport.
Election rioting at Newport.
23rd Welsh Fusiliers leave Newport for the Ashanti War.
The Army including the 23rd Welsh Fusiliers capture Coomassie.
Blessing of a peal of bells at St. Mary's R.C. Church.
Thomas Cordes the new M.P.
Contractors commence work in Tredegar Place for the Newport Tramway Company.
Church Parade by the 1st Mon. Artillery Volunteers.
The Police entertained by the Mayor.
Gibbs charged with the wilful murder of his wife.
Thomas Street gates smashed.
Newport Tramways - the first ride.
St. Marks Church, Gold Tops opened.
Caerleon - Pontypool railway opened.
Holy Cross Catholic Schools opened.
Newport Athletic Club organised.
Opening of the Alexandra Docks.
Rioting on "Squib Night" - death of P.C. Turner.
New entrance to Marshes Road opened.
Death of Lord Tredegar.
Royal Albert Hall (Drill Hall) Stow Hill, opened.
H.P. Bolt, the Mayor. He built the Victoria Hall.
Thomas Street level crossing walled in.
Sailors' Home, Dock Street, closed.
Borough Extension Act.
The Mayor, George Fothergill, a tobacconist.
Site presented by Lord Tredegar for the Tredegar Memorial Corn Exchange.
Revision of the Burgess List by the Mayor.
New floor at the Skating Rink.
Death of John Frost, aged 93.
Thomas Street - Mill Street, subway opened.
Athletic Grounds, Rodney Road, opened.
John Moses - shipbroker - Mayor.
Professor A. Graham Bell invents the telephone.
Tailors of Newport in dispute.
The Mayor - Joseph Gibbs a solicitor.
Corn Exchange, High Street, built.
Pant-yr-eos Reservoir completed.
Wesleyan Chapel, Marshes Road, opened.
Duckpool Road Baptist Church opened.
Henry Russel Evans, the Mayor.
Newport Turnpike Gates abolished.
Second portion of Canal to Llanarth Street abandoned.
High Street widened.
The Mayor J.R. Jacob, flour merchant.
Monmouthshire and Great Western Railway amalgamated.
Mill Street and Dock Street passenger stations closed.
St. Julian's old mansion re-built.
Marshes Road Board Schools opened.
First telephone exchange installed by G.P.O. at Newport.
Alteryn Board Schools opened.
Temple Street - Lime Street footbridge erected.
First Starr Bowkett Building Society established.
Population of Newport 35,313.
New Primitive Methodist Church, Station Street opened.
Ragged Schools temporarily used as a free library.
Prince of Wales Theatre (Empire) Charles Street opened.
Thomas Beynon re-elected as Mayor.
Death of the Dowager Lady Raglan.
Women's Suffrage meeting at Newport.
Bicycle race Newport and Cardiff clubs.
Death of Mr. Thomas Spittle.
Mayor's banquet at the King's Head.
Free Library, Dock Street, opened.
Park Square thrown open to the public.
Alexandra Board schools opened.
Board of Trade Offices built.
New wing to the Infirmary opened.
Mayor Oliver Goss - Ships Chandler.
New Dock Street opened, (High Street to Llanarth Street).
Town Hall clock in darkness.
Mayor - J.W. Jones, scrap merchant.
Barnardtown Mission Room, opened.
St. Mark's Mission Church, Marshes Road, opened.
St. Andrew's Church, Liswerry, opened.
Commercial Street, Wesleyan Church closed.
Barnardtown Board Schools opened.
New Railway Bridge, Dock Street opened.
1884
Newport Chamber of Commerce incorporated.
First Rugby International at the Arms Park.
Newport Fire Brigade formed.
Amalgamation of Newport Docks.
St. Stephen's Church, Pill opened.
Charles Lyne re-elected Mayor.
1885
Second Town Hall, Newport, inaugurated.
E.J. Grice - a gentleman of great wealth, elected Mayor.
Crindau Gas Works opened.
Bolt Street Board Schools opened.
Talbot Hotel built on site of the old Parrot Hotel.
Lily Langtree, "Jersey Lily" in play at the 'Vic' in November.
Wesleyan Mission Chapel, Price Street opened.
Entrance to the station from Devon Place constructed.
George Hoskins - Mayor, whose proudest boast was that he was a Pill boy.
Enlargement of High Street Post Office.
Third Westgate Hotel built.
Crindau Glass works opened.
Whit Monday, Royal Marines at Newport Athletic club's meeting.
Sir George Eliot, Tory candidate at Ebenezer Terrace.
Suicide at Brynglas House, the home of Mr. Cordes.
Laying the foundation stone of St. Michael's R.C. Church, Pill.
Accident to Mr. Studt's swinging-boats.
Board of Guardians' Inspector at the Union.
1887
Loss of the Steamship "Brentford" only one survivor.
Stow Park Lawn Tennis Club formed.
The murder of Colonel Roden of Ty Brith.
Golden Jubilee of Queen Victoria, great celebrations in Newport.
Infirmary, Stow Hill, enlarged.
Old "Hope" Chapel pulled down.
Corporation Road opened.
Seamen's Church and Institute, Temple Street, opened.
Slipway, Dry Dock and Wharf, Liswerry, opened.
St. Michael's R.C. Church, Pill, consecrated.
Thomas Pugsley - Mayor.
1888
The Gaiety Theatre, opened, introduction of electric light.
First marriages to be celebrated at St. Michael's R.C. Church.
The Mayor, Henry Faulkner.
Bath and West of England Show held at Newport.
Eveswell Board Schools opened.
Newport Museum, Dock Street, opened.
Newport Waterworks taken over by the Corporation.
Stone Railway Bridge over the Usk constructed.
1889
Fourth Newport Market built by the Corporation.
Servants' Ball at Tredegar House.
Branch Reading Room, Temple Street, opened.
The Free Breakfast Movement.
Commercial Road Branch Reading Room, closed.
Temperance Hall, Dock Street, opened.
The jealousy of Cardiff.
Christchurch Local Board dissolved.
St. Mark's new Sunday Schools, Queens Hill, opened.
Mark Mordey, Mayor.
The question of Married Paupers.
New Harbour Act.
Influenza epidemic.
Gymnasium, Rodney Parade, opened.
Clarence Place ropeworks established.
Corporation Baths, Stow Hill opened. Mayor takes plunge.
The fighting policemen of Newport.
The Mayor - Samuel Batchelor.
Messrs Mordey and Carney's Dry Dock opened.
Model Lodging Houses, Dock Street, opened.
Presentation to Arthur Gould.
Brynglas Rouse on the market.
Population of Newport 54,109.
Mayor - Henry John Davies was Mayor also in 1851.
St. Julian's Church, Durham Road, opened.
Spring Gardens Board Schools, opened.
Newport constituted a County Borough.
East Usk Road Baptist Church opened.
County of Gloucester Bank, High Street, opened.
Magistrates deal with morality of Newport.
Death of the Town Crier.
Newport Camera Club founded.
Mayor - Thomas Jones.
House of Refuge (founded 1410, formerly a school), re-built.
National and Provincial Bank opened.
Congregational Church, London Street, Maindee, erected.
Bridge Hotel, (formerly the Heathcock), demolished.
Church of St. Matthew, Church Road, Barnardtown, opened.
Bible Christian Mission Hall, Hereford Street, opened.
Squib Night violence in Newport.
Newport Bridge "Dip" alteration completed.
Alexandra Dock extension opened.
Hide, skin, fat and wool market established.
Wesleyan Church, Victoria Avenue, opened.
East Usk Lighthouse erected.
General Booth in Newport.
Football ground at Pill opened.
A great crowd on Squib Night.
Maindee bus service commences.
Alarming explosion in Commercial Street.
Mayor - Frederick Phillips.
Public meeting to protest against the Royal Marriage "holiday."
Belle Vue Park opened.
Wales v Scotland at Newport. Wales won by a dropped goal to nil.
Durham Road Board Schools opened.
First tramcar crosses Newport Bridge.
Newport People's Bank (pioneer of the U.K.) established.
Great fire in Commercial Street.
Newport Medical Association formed.
Resignation of Alderman Bachelor.
Tabernacle Chapel, Commercial Street, re-built.
Town Council decides to proceed with electric lighting.
Mayor - James Curtice Saunders.
Battle of the sexes over equality of opportunity.
90th Birthday of Rev. Canon Hawkins, the retired vicar of St. Woolos.
Mayor - J.R. Richards.
Cambrian Road and Arcade opened.
Harrhy Street, off Cambrian Road opened.
Electricity works, Llanarth Street, opened.
Tredegar Hall and Constitutional Club, Stow Hill.
Newport Town Hall extension completed.
United Methodist Free Church, Hill Street, opened.
Electric lighting installed in the Town Hall.
Visit of Spirit Medium to Newport.
Decision of Messrs Lysaght to move from Wolverhampton to Newport.
Proclamation by Gorsedd to hold Royal National Eisteddfod at Newport in 1897.
Last trip of the "Waverley" to Weston in aid of the New Hospital.
Death of the Rev. Canon Hawkins, late Vicar of St. Woolos.
Fatal fire at the Almshouses, Stow Hill.
Edward Whymper, explorer and mountaineer gives lecture to the Literary Society.
Earthquake shock at Newport and throughout South Wales.
Opening of new fire station, Dock Street. Cost £1,950.
Collision of mineral trains near George Street. Driver and fireman killed.
Blackheath v Newport at Rectory Ground, Newport 2 goals Heathens nil.
Fatal tramcar accident in High Street.
First trip to Weston from the new pontoon.
The Victoria Theatre (Lyceum) gutted by fire.
Buckler the Pedestrian walked 4,000 quarters of a mile every 9½ minutes.
Joseph Emery of Newport crosses the Bristol Channel in a coracle.
Opening of Alteryn Infectious Diseases Hospital.
Caerleon Road Presbyterian Church opened.
Liberal Institute, Hill Street, opened.
Intermediate and Technical Schools, Queens Hill, opened.
Parachute disaster near Newport.
Thomas Goldsworthy - Mayor.
Lysaghts come to Newport with their workers, nicknamed "Ioes."
National Eisteddfod held at Belle Vue Park, Fields Park Road opened.
Tredegar Pier, Pill erected.
Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee - muted celebrations in Newport.
The South Wales Argus new offices, High Street built.
Alfred Robert Bear - Mayor.
Scots Guards at Newport Flower Show.
Valuable wedding presents given to R.C. Graham Esq. By Newport Athletic Club.
G.C. Tovey Esq. celebrates his daughter's 21st birthday at the Shaftesbury Hotel.
Thomas Henry Howell - Mayor.
Suspicious dog at Newport.
Municipal Buildings, Maindee, opened.
All Saints Church, Crindau, built.
Catholic Schools, Pill, opened.
Caerleon and Marshes Roads' Tramways opened.
George Greenland - Mayor.
2nd Boer War.
1899
Outcry against young men playing "Pitch and toss" on Sundays.
Pro-Boer lecturer stirs up riot in Skinner Street.
Town Council decide to purchase police helmets from Messrs Wildings.
Newport Operatic Society give concert in aid of Newport Association Football Club.
Organ grinders annoy the Mayor.
Indecent cards sold in Newport.
Lyceum manager invites the 4th Mountain Mule Battery to farce-comedy.
Death of Francis A. McGinn, Newport artist.
Newport v the Watsonians.
1st Mon Volunteer Artillery prepare to go to South Africa.
Horses killed on line near Magor.
New Empire Palace, Charles Street, opened.
St. Mary's Iron Church, Corporation Road, opened.
West Park Post Office, opened.
Lyne Road Reading Room, opened.
Newport Corporation abolish Sunday Funerals.
Cardiff Pure Ice and Cold Storage, Marshes Road, opened.
Population of Newport 67,270.