January 16th – Obstruction

Alfred Clarke (35) a tinworker, of Goytrey, was fined 10/- for causing an obstruction by leaving his car in Osborne Road Pontypool, on December 20th, for half an hour.
PC Pearce gave the facts and defendant pleaded guilty.

January 10th – Late Mr W H Charles – (In Obituaries)

April 4th – American Motor Pioneer
Interesting Career of Native of Goytrey
The death has occurred in America in his eightieth year of Mr William J Morgan, fifth of eleven sons of the late Mr & Mrs Morgan, of Wern Farm Goytrey.
Mr Morgan was apprenticed at the age of 13 to Mr Dan Lewis, a native of Goytrey who had a grocers business at Stoke-on-Trent and later worked for Messrs Peglar and Son, Blaenavon and Pontypool, Mr David Jones, Pontympoile shop and Messrs Atkins Bros., Newport, whence he emigrated to Canada in 1880. Two years later he went to the USA and took out citizenship papers.
Whilst in this country he had been a keen cyclist, first on the old wooden velocipede and then on the two wheeler. In 1882 he won the mile race at the Toronto Industrial Exposition and shortly afterwards he challenged John S Prince, the US professional champion but was defeated.
From then on Mr Morgan took part in races all over the country. In 1886 he engaged in a night and day contest in Minneapolis and set up what was then a world record of 234 miles in 16hrs. 20 mins. After a rest of 40 seconds he remounted his solid-tyres cycle and rode another 50 miles.
In the same year Mr Morgan organised an American bicycle team which went abroad, remaining 17 months and beating all European teams it raced. While in London Mr Morgan was complimented by the late King Edward VII for a unique exhibition when some of his team raced against Buffalo Bill’s Wild West broncos at the Royal Agricultural Hall.

“Climb to the Clouds”
When the motor car became popular in 1901 Mr Morgan promoted more than 100 auto contests. Among the American drivers was William K Vanderbilt, who drove the first mile inside of 40 seconds.
One of the races Mr Morgan promoted was known as “Climb to the Clouds,” and entailed a ride of eight miles to the top of Mount Washington. In 1905 he staged “Montauk Light or Bust,” a trip from Brooklyn to the famous lighthouse. Many cars were stuck in the Long Island mud but the majority reached the light.
Mr Morgan was president of the Morgan Motor Company. To his American friends Mr Morgan was known as the “Senator,” and how he got the title is racily explained in an American newspaper: “He was taking part in a bicycle race at Philadelphia Fair when a senator scheduled to speak failed to arrive and Mr Morgan, pinch-hitting, did such a good job of spell-binding that he was given the title which stuck.”
Mr Morgan leaves his wife, Mrs Elizabeth Stilger Morgan and a son, William. A brother, Mr D H Morgan lives at the Gwynedd, Goytrey.

8th August – Council Prosecution

Owner must repair cottage at Goytrey – at Pontypool Petty Sessions on Saturday, Edwin Edgar, the seventy year old owner of Plough Cottage, Goytrey, was summoned by Pontypool Rural District Council for failing to comply with the requirements of an abatement notice issued of March 9th. Edgar, who was represented, by Mr Harold Saunders, Pontypool, who pleaded not guilty. Mr T P Holmes Watkins, clerk to the authority, prosecuted.
Mr Watkins said the long period elapsing between the expiration of the notice and the prosecution was due to the fact that councils were allowing owners more time in these days to carry out repairs to their property.
In this case repairs to the roof and chimney, the demolition of some ruined walls at one end of the house and the provision of an adequate water supply were necessary but the council had decided to withdraw their summons relating to the water supply until the end of the war.
Prejudicial to Health
William Hogarth, the sanitary inspector, said the house was in such a state as to be prejudicial to health owing to dampness and lack of repair.
In reply to Mr Saunders, he said that the tenant of the cottage complained that repairs ordered to be done by the previous sanitary inspector had not been carried out.
Mr Saunders objected that the proceedings had not been taken under the proper sections of the Act and were therefore void.
The magistrates, however, agreed that there was a case to answer.
Joseph Edwin Edgar, son of the defendant, said that both walls and roof were perfect and that what the inspector took for damp on the walls was actually a stain caused by oil from a lamp that had been upset some time ago.
The Bench ruled that the repairs must be carried out.

October 10th – Missing Goytrey Man Reported Dead

The tragic news was received on Saturday, after a lapse of over sixteen months of the death from wounds of Corporal George Thomas Dudley, Royal Engineers.
He was reported missing on May 29th 1940. Since then his wife, family and parents had not given up hope and Mrs Ivy Dudley, the widow, had been eagerly anticipating the repatriation of wounded prisoners of war in the hope that her husband might be among them.
Corporal Dudley was employed as a carpenter at a local works when called up as a reservist at the outbreak of war. News was received that he was wounded in the fighting in Belgium.
He leaves a wife and three sons, aged 16, 14 and eleven. Corporal Dudley’s parents reside at Great Western Terrace, Pontymoile. Mrs Dudley, the widow, lives in Goytrey.

December 5th – Dead at Foot of Quarry

Dog reveals shooting tragedy at Goytrey
A Goytrey farmer who saw a dog roaming about near the top of a quarry investigated the reason and found the dog’s master lying dead at the bottom of the quarry with gun-shot wound in the chest.
The dead man was Mr Frank Jones, Llwyn-Celyn Farm, Goytrey. It is believed that he was walking along the top of the quarry carrying a sporting gun when he slipped and fell on the greasy ground and that in his fall the gun was discharged. He was 38, a married man with three children.
He was in the habit of shooting on land owned by Mr P Roberts, Penystair Farm, Goytrey and it was Mr Roberts who, attracted by the presence of the dog, went to the edge of the quarry and saw the body of Mr Jones at the bottom. He returned to the village and with assistance returned to the quarry, where PC Germaine, Llanover, improvised a stretcher with a sack and pole
An inquest will be held on Friday.