Volume Eight - Pre-Victorian to the present day - more aspects - Chains at Penarth Dock - Macey, Mules and Wallace Family History . . .

The men decided to black ships trying to come into the docks. Blacklegs, including Chinese workers and men from the Midlands and Liverpool, were drafted in by the owners, and escorted by hundreds of police to try and get the ships in. The police came from London as the local force would not assist.

Tupper organised fairs and boxing matched to raise money for the strikers. A soup kitchen was set up in nearby King Street. After 5 weeks on strike, the owners agreed to increase wages from under £4 a month, to £5. The coal tippers and trimmers led a victory parade through Penarth. William was probably with them. Tupper was hailed a hero.

On the 27th July 1921, Buzz (aged 49), always a character, was at the official opening of the John Angel Gibbs Home for the Children of Sailors, at the bottom of Maughan Street, Penarth. It had formally been a hotel, but had been converted by Gladys Gibbs in memory of her husband John Angel Gibbs, a Major in the Welsh Regiment killed in Flanders. The Home was opened by the Duke of York (Prince Albert), son of King George V, and a Navy Commander at the time. The Guard of Honour were wearing sailor’s uniforms. William put on a sailor’s hat, went up to the Duke and boldly said “When you see your father, tell him you met Buzz”.

In 1927, 56 year old William had an accident while working in the dock. As a tipper he would stand on the gantry above the hold of a ship and push the coal wagons into place. He would then knock out a pin and the truck would tip over allowing the coal to fall into the hold. One day one of the pins failed and he fell into the hold with the 40 tons of coal on top of him. He was told he would only live for a few weeks and had to retire, but he lasted another 16 years. Whenever he walked past the local undertaker he would always say ‘nothing today, sorry’.

My great grandfather, William Alfred Mules outside the Pilot Hotel Maughan Street in the 1920’s sporting a fine moustache just like his father. After a long illness, he died in 1943, aged 72.