Yes of course I am thrilled with the listing in ‘Burkes Peerage and Gentry’. Especially as I often portray myself as ‘a lad from the gasworks’. I am without any doubt; a Crindau Boy through and through. But the truth of the matter, is that members of our family have often been referred to ‘as having a posh accent’, and one that does not correlate to our South Wales origins. I was born in Swansea and our arm of the ‘Bennett’ Clan moved to Newport Monmouthshire (Gwent) as the motorway and road network improved in the 1960’s. Not because the road improvements facilitated migration, but because my father worked driving a road roller. As the road windfall ceased, Sydney Bennett became a guard with British Railways. Again, geography and circumstance played its part, as BR had a depot in Newport Monmouthshire.
Migration for work in South Wales was not only a 20th Century thing. My research into our family history shows ‘shipsworths’ migrating from Swansea towards Newport Monmouthshire and Risca as part of the property construction boom. Although one unfortunate soul, at a very young age, found himself down the coal mines when that part of the family put down roots around Risca. There probably wasn’t enough carpentry work to go around, and the handing down of skills to a younger generation of family members was starting to cease. Education and the coin became the order of the day.
The provision of education is quite interesting. When you look at the early Census records, they show that our particular arm of the Bennett’s had sufficient money to provide education for a child rather than sending them out to seek work. To put that into context we are talking about the turn of the Century. So maybe an entry in ‘Burkes Peerage and Gentry’ is not that farfetched after all. The building industry was thriving and Granddad Bennett as a Master Mason and Head of the Clan had built up a significant size building firm.
Ernest Llewellyn Bennett enjoyed the trappings that his success brought. I know that in 1917 our family had a motor vehicle. Not many people had a car in those days, and the occupants of passing vehicles in South Wales would certainly have waved to one another. It maybe a family myth, but my father often mentioned that he had a pet monkey as a child. I also know that he displayed a sense of duty to ‘King and Country’ and as the storm clouds of war gathered, my father enlisted in the Army. Sydney Bennett was present in France during The Phoney War. That period from 1939 that had little action while a standoff existed on that front. Sydney was struck down with Scarlet Fever and after 18 months of illness and convalescence he was medically discharged from the Army. However his sense of duty was intense, and to serve his King and country, Sydney enrolled as a firefighter for the rest of the Second World War.
To be quite honest, Sydney Allen Douglas Bennett deserves a place in ‘Burke’s Peerage and Gentry’ far more than I do. But I am nevertheless extremely grateful, and I also know that he and others in our family would be very proud indeed.
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