Dic penderyn biography of christopher columbus

In the course of the riot he was arrested alongside Lewis Lewis , one of the primary figures in the uprising, and charged with stabbing a soldier with a bayonet. The people of Merthyr Tydfil doubted his guilt, and signed a petition for his release. However, he was found guilty and hanged on 13 August After his death he was treated as a martyr in Merthyr and across Wales.

He was the son of Lewis Lewis, a cordwainer and later a miner from Cornelly , and his wife, Margaret. Private Black's injuries were not fatal, and he could not identify either Lewis Lewis or Richard Lewis; nevertheless, at the conclusion of the day-long trial on 13 July by Mr Justice Bosanquet and a jury at Cardiff Assizes, both were convicted and sentenced to death.

Lewis Lewis had his sentence commuted to transportation , largely thanks to the testimony of a Special Constable , John Thomas, whom Lewis had shielded from the rioters. The people of Merthyr Tydfil were convinced that Dic Penderyn was not responsible for the stabbing, and more than 11, signed a petition demanding his release; even the conservative Cambrian newspaper objected.

Joseph Tregelles Price , a Quaker ironmaster from Neath, who went to console the two condemned men, was immediately convinced of Dic Penderyn's innocence and went to Merthyr to gather evidence for this. He persuaded the trial judge that the sentence was unsafe. The Home Secretary Lord Melbourne , well known for his severity, delayed the execution for two weeks, but refused to reduce the sentence despite pleas not only from workers but the Welsh establishment.

One (Lewis Lewis) had his sentence commuted to transportation (for life).

Dic Penderyn was hanged outside Cardiff gaol on the gallows in St. Mary's Street, Cardiff at what is now the entrance of Cardiff Market , at 8am on 13 August at the age of Thousands accompanied his body through the Vale of Glamorgan to his grave various parishes en route refusing to accept the responsibility of interment , and listened to a funeral sermon from his brother-in-law Morgan Howells.

The Merthyr Rising is claimed to be the first time the red flag was used as a banner of workers power, and the outrage surrounding Dic Penderyn's death gave it great potency. In , a man named Ianto Parker confessed on his death bed, in the United States, to Evan Evans that he stabbed Black and then fled to America fearing capture by the authorities, thus exonerating Dic Penderyn.