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LOCAL GOSSIP. .

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LOCAL GOSSIP. In our reference last week to the death of German Shepherd, a huntsman to the late Mr. T. M. Talbot's nack of hounds, we omitted to mention that Edwin Usher was one of the first of Mr. Talbot's hunt servants. Usher was Mr. Talbot's kennel huntsman, and prior to holding this position he was hunts- man to the Cowbridge Harriers, under differ- ent masters—Mr. Homfray, Mr. Stacev. and Mr. G. M. Trahevne—before Mr. Talbot hunted the country. He was also an experi- enced man with otter hounds in Devon and Ireland in Mr. Traheme's time. Usher is still hale and hearty, though oeginning to feel the weight of years. He retired from the chase after Mr. J. S. Gibbon's mastership. Rev. Henry Morris. Vicar of Llantwit Major, makes an appeal in the Press for funds to help wipe. off the deficit on the repair of the ancient edifice at Llantwit of which he has charge. He says —The last instal- ment of the work, completed in: 1905, and which embraced the reparation of the tower —which was in a dangerous condition-and extensive repairs to the eastern church in- volved am outlay of E2,230, which exceeded the estimated cost by £ 1.100. leaving the com- mittee to face a heavy deficit, which, by per- sistent efforts and the generosity of friends, has been I educed to 97tju. An effort is now being made to pay off this deficit, on which interest is accumulating at the bank. To help the committee to accomplish this task a personal friend of the church, who also is a non-parishioner, has kindly offered £ o0 condi- tionally that £ 6uu is raised this year. To- wards this amount parishioners have, in addi- tion to liberal gifts in the past, contributed £ 300, and with your kind permission I may be allowed to appeal to the sympathies and help 6f the public for the small sum of £ 350. Llantwit Major Church being historically and architecturally of national importance, its proper preservation must- appeal to many far away from the parish and neighbourhood. The interesting announcement of the en- gagement of Miss Thomas, of Llanwern, only daughter of Mr. D. A. Thomas, M.P., to Mr. Humphrey Mackworth. of Caerleon, has in- duced a correspondent to look up the records of the Mackworth family to find how they came to be settled in South Wales, as they were originally natives of Derbyshire. The Mackworth estate, en passent, includes land at Bridgend on part of which Mackworth- street stands. The first Mackworth to come to South Wales was Colonel Humphrey Mack- worth, who fought for the Parliament at the taking of Ludlow Castle, and was appointed governor of Shrewsbury. He was one of Oliver Cromwell's Council, and M.P. for Salop. He then became one of the Commis- sioners under the Act for Propagating the Gospel in Wales. In the same year 1651, Parliament voted him a gold chain, valued at £ 100, as a mark of special favour. His grandson, Sir Humphrey, the famous lawyer, married a rich heiress, Mary, daugh- ter and heiress of Sir Herbert Evans, of Neath. The Evanses of Neath were an old Welsh family, claiming descent from Iestyn ap Gwrgan.. The wife of Sir Herbert Evans was the Morgan heiress of Pencrug, near Caerleon, one of the many branches of the Morgan family. Sir Herbert Mackworth, the first baronet, married Molly Miers, the daughter of Nathaniel Miers, the well-known Neath ironmaster. At his death, in 1797, the title passed to his brother, Sir Digby Rackworth, who married another heiress, the daughter of the Rev. Matthew Deere, of Ash Hall, Cowbridge, and grand-daughter of An- thony Maddocks. of Cefn Ydfa. Llynfi Val- ley, the husband of the ill-fated" Maid of Cefn. Ydfa." It is a curious fact (says Bye-go ties'") that an ancestor of the Turbervills of Ewenny- Mr. Picton, of Poyston, Pembrokeshire—was married to Miss Powell, the heiress of Llan- dok, in the cave at Tresilion. in the parish of Llantwit, probably about the year 1760. The clergyman who performed the ceremony was suspended by the then Bishop of Llandaff, and the so-married couple were afterwards legally married at Llandow. I In the cheap popular books of Welsh melodies the well-known Welsh ballad. Aderyn Pur," is given with the name of the author a sunknown. This is hardly fair to the memory of the author of that charming song, Davie Nicholas, of Aberpergwm. Davie was the family bard to the Williamses, of Aberpergwm (now of St. Donats), and was an intimate friend of Will Hopkin (of Llan- gynwyd), the author of that other delightful Glamorgan; ballad Gwenith Gwyn." Mr Morgan Bransby Williams, M.Inst.C.E., of Swansea, chairman of the Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway Company and deputy- chairman of the Metropolitan Bank (of Eng- land and Wales), settled in Glamorganshire on retiring from his profession, of civil engin- eer in 1870. He was born in 1825. the eldest son of the late Mr. J. M. Williams, M.R.C.S., of Bridgend. He was educated partly at Cowbridge Grammar School and partly by his father, who was an accomplished scholar. He spent his first three business years (from 1842) at the Dinas Colliery, the only one the.; opened in the Rhondda Valley coalfield. Whilst he was there a serious explosion occurred, and Mr. Williams nearly ter- minated a promising career in an attempt to rescue the entombed men. Whilst pupil of Mr. George Heald he was afterwards employed on railway work in the North; then (from 1848) he spent three years in erecting an extensive system of coke ovens and carrying out coal supply contracts for the Dinas Colliery. He was in Paris during the revolution of February, 1848, and was an eye-witness of many stirring events of that period. He next went to Italy as resident engineer on the construction of two railways. From 1855 to 1858 he acted under the late Sir John Hawkshaw as resident engineer on the con- struction of the Riga and Dunabery Railway, and on1 its completion became its general manager. Mr. Williams was engaged in this and other important railway work in Russia for some years, and during his residence re- ceived many marks of favour from the Em- peror Alexander II., and was presented by his Majesty with a diamond ring. After returning to England, where he be- came one of the directors of the Russian rail- way mentioned, one of his tasks was to re- visit Russia and report as to the condition and equipment of the line from St. Peters- burg to Moscow, which was being purchased by the Great French Company. Up to the year 1867 the only railway of importance in Russia owned by the State was this line, called the Nicholas Railway, 400 miles ;n length. Many years previously it had, by order of the Emperor Nicholas I., been con- structed in almost a straight line between the sister capitals at a great cost. After its completion the traffic was worked by an American contractor on extravagant terms, and the permanent way and rolling stock had been: allowed to get much out of re- pair. Mr. Williams had to furnish an esti- ( mate of the cost of putting the undertaking into good working order, and his estimate was something over three millions—which formed the basis of the subsequent agreement. It is said that the Emperor, being asked by a foreigner what was the most remarkable thing in Russia, answered that it was the contract made with the American for working the Nicholas Railway."

BRIDGEND POLICE COIJRR.

THE INTERMEDIATE SCHOOL. .--------

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