Penarth Dock, South Wales - the heritage and legacy

Index to Volume Seven - The People - Dock Family Trees - Railway and Dock Company Officials . . .

James Edwards - (1837-1892)

Mr James Edwards was also the agent for the Shipwrecked Mariners Society at Penarth as the following newspaper reports testify : 1891 - Two Rescued Sailors Landed at Penarth - 'The Norwegian barque Pioneer landed at Penarth Dock on Saturday night two sailors, named John Watts and Thomas Barnes, rescued on Thursday last from the ketch Alberta, bound from Par to Gloucester with china, clay, which was fallen in with about 6 p.m. in a sinking condition about thirty miles N.N.W. of the Seven Stones light-ship. The master of the ketch unfortunately was lost in being hauled from one vessel to the other. The men had suffered much exposure and exhaustion at the pumps. They desire to publicly return thanks for the great kindness shown to them by Captain Nielson and all on board the Pioneer. The he wants of the shipwrecked men were promptly attended to by Mr. James Edwards, hon. agent for the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society at Penarth, and railway warrants given to frank them home.' - The Western Mail [164] [361] 17th March 1891. 1891 - Loss of a Whaler — 'On Saturday morning last the Gazelle, from Halifax, landed at Penarth the crew of a whaler, which was wrecked by icebergs in Davis Straits. Mr James Edwards, the local agent for the Shipwrecked Mariners' Society, provided the crew with the necessary nourishment, and sent them to their homes at Peterhead, Scotland.' - Barry Dock News [140] [361] 18th December 1891.


'To mark Penarth History month, Penarth Town Council spoke with local historian Chris Riley, who sheds some light on the history of West House, home of the Penarth Town Council. West House farm was perhaps the biggest farm in Penarth, at one point over 400 acres. It can be traced back to at least the 17th century. Later it was in the hands of Edward Edwards, the alleged Penarth smuggler, who became one of the area’s first Methodists. On its land he built the Penarth Head Inn. By the mid-19th century much of the farmland had been built over by the docks and new streets of the town. No longer needed as a farmhouse, West House was leased by James Edwards, an important official in the Penarth Docks, chairman of Penarth Local Board and a man who did much to get the town its pier. He vacated it around 1880.' Penarth Town Council [990] 24th September 2018

According to the booklet ' Rhondda - Servants to Steam', [1363] James Edwards was born in May 1837 at Ebbw Vale and died at Penarth, in December 1892 and was buried at St. Augustine's Church, Penarth. He came to Cardiff with his parents in 1844 and in 1851 he started at the office of the Chief Superintendent of the then Taff Vale Railway Company at Cardiff Docks. In 1862 he was the accountant to the Company. In 1865 on the opening of Penarth Docks (under the T. V. Railway Company) he was appointed the Chief Collector of Dues and subsequently became the first Dock Superintendent there. He was closely associated with the development of the town of Penarth and was Chairman of the Council.

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