Welsh Journals

Crinow farm, Narberth.2 His place of birth must have been discussed by the family after his death because in a letter dated 22 January, 1919, from his sister Mary to his daughter Mary the following comments occur I am afraid and rather ashamed that I can't really say where your dear father was actually bom, but it is quite possible he was bom at Hafod where his mother was bom and where Grandmother lived for some years after my Grandfather died. Later she moved to Sunny Hill, near Llanboidy (this farm was also her property as well as two or three other small farms). The only thing I can think of is that perhaps mother wished to be with her mother for the first confinement. Crinow was about 15 miles from Hafod and she was very young and had no friends near.^ The above does not indicate where Timothy lived between his birth in 1841 and his mother's marriage in 1843. It is believed by descendants of her family that he was Wet nursed' by a lady in the village of Hermon. This is a very interesting possibility. Hermon as such did not exist in 1841 although there were a few scattered dwellings and farms. Perusal of the 1841 Census shows that there were only two mothers in the district who could have wet-nursed the infant at the time. One was Martha James, aged 30 of Soar who had a daughter of two months, and the other was Martha Davies, aged 35 years of Portis No. 2 with a son (James) of five months. Study of the 1851 Census, which gives the place of birth, shows that the latter, living at No 6 Hermon, was much the more likely because she was a native of Llanboidy near where the mother lived.4 It is clear that his up-bringing was in Crinow Farm, Narberth.5 According to his brother-in-law, the Rev. Morlais Jones, he attended the National School in Narberth for a while and at the age of about nine or ten, joined the small Grammar School which had recently been established by the Rev. Joseph Morris and his brother, the Rev. William Edward Morris.6 His main friend was John Thomas, the only son of Dr Thomas, who later joined the army and died in India about 1870.7 When fifteen years of age he was apprenticed to a local chemist, with whom he remained for approximately four years prior to going to London.8 His first post there was with a chemist in Streatham by the name of Mr Porter, an Operative Chemist, registered at the Apothecaries' Hall and established in 1843. In a letter home, dated 3. 10. 1860, he says that Mr Porter was not only a druggist but also an Operative Chemist with a first class trade: He is constantly offered apprentices with £ 200 to £ 250 premiums but told me not to bother with the money. We open at 7 o'clock and close at a quarter to 9 then supper then Mrs Porter sings and plays the piano, afterwards family prayers then bed and sleep like a top. Mr Symonds and Lewis call me a very lucky dog. I'm not far from Stockwell's Chapel where I intend going tomorrow. Mr and Mrs Porter are very kind to me, and after a few months here I will not be afraid to tackle any man in London. Evan Lewis appears to have been a school mate from Narberth, who at the time was working as a chemist in the German Hospital, Dalston, but fairly soon afterwards the date is not known he left the hospital to undertake some kind of business in the Euston Road. Timothy was appointed as replacement This enabled him not only to continue his studies in dispensing but also to learn German and to attend medical