Westgate Square

After viewing the cathedral (which was closed at the time of my visit), the visitor should then go down the hill into High Street, passing a magnificent group of Regency houses at Victoria Place on the way. At the corner of High Street and Commercial Street is the imposing Westgate Hotel (rebuilt in 1886, but now no longer sering as a hotel), a spot sacred to many in Britain, especially those in the Labour Movement. It was here in 1839 that British troops bloodily suppressed a Chartist uprising led by John Frost and others in the tumultuous days before Parliamentary reform (a full account of the uprising and the trial of the leaders is found in my History of Wales, Part 13). This was one of the most serious uprisings in British history; it is commemorated by a series of sculptures in Westgate Square, the site of the tragic events of l839. The sculptures are titled Union, Prudence, and Energy, the motto of the Chartist convention. Energy consists of three recumbent figures that lie seemingly crushed but which form the foundation from which the spirit of Chartism sprang.

This is a most revered spot to anyone interested in the industrial history of Britain and the story of the Chartists. The story of the Newport Rising deserves to be better known. According to the Swansa newspaper The Cambrian, up to 5,000 rioters "from the hills" (Ebbw Vale and surrounding districts) entered Newport in three columns, one being commanded by John Frost. In a heavy rainstorm, the soaked, ragged columns marched into the square outside the Westgate Hotel where a small detachment of military waited inside. Accounts of what happened next vary, but apparently someone opened fire on the soldiers, who responded with a volley into the crowd. In the ensuing panic, a score of workers were killed and many more wounded; the rest fled back into the hills, the first shattering volley from the troops having brought this particular rebellion to a violent and speedy end.

On December 7, Newport held a public meeting to thank the soldiers for their brave defense of the town "thus saving it and the whole of England (italics mine) from rebellion." According to The Cambrian, the troops, chiefly recruited in Ireland and commanded by Lt. Gray (who was promoted to captain) "had gallantly defended the Westgate Inn." The Cambrian also commented that there was every reason to believe that the Chartist's order of the day was for simultaneous attacks of the crowd upon Cardiff and Pontypool, but the outbreak at Newport had taken place a day too early. According to the paper, its failure had prevented a general uprising expected to take place throughout South Wales. The whole affair had lasted no more than twenty minutes though repercussions lasted for more than a century in the political life of South Wales and Monmouthshire.

Harsh sentences followed the arrest of the Chartist leaders. Frost was found guilty of high treason along with William Jones and Rees (Jack the Fifer). All three were sentenced to hanging and quartering, their bodies to be thrown on the town's rubbish dump, but the sentence was later commuted to one of life imprisonment. Petitions from thousands of people in towns all over Britain had implored the Queen for pardon. In addition, not only was there a huge strike of workers in the Monmouthshire collieries, but no-one would work alongside the witnesses at the trial: the mine owners were anxious to get their men back to work; their influence probably counted far more than the signatures presented to Queen Victoria.

John Frost, a linen draper at Newport and a former member of the town council (removed for his political behavior) became something of a hero; his portrait, showing "the attributes of moral courage and physical endurance" did a brisk sale at the "very moderate charge" of one shilling. After serving some time as a convict in Australia, where he made himself useful to the authorities, he lived for two years in the United States, returning to Wales to an enthusiastic welcome in 1856.

Still active in denouncing the Government, Frost spoke at a public meeting in Merthyr in 1857, but by the following year, the year of the final National Chartist Convention, the movement was fading rapidly. That year an act was passed declaring that property qualifications were no longer necessary for a seat in Parliament, and thus the first great democratizing point of the Charter had been conceded by the Government. In any case, as the Corn Laws had been repealed in 1846 and bread was a little cheaper, people were less inclined to armed revolt. The Great Reform Bill of 1867 finally ended the Chartist Movement, for in that year nearly one million voters were added to the register, almost doubling the electorate. Forty-five new seats were created and the vote given to many working men. Frost died in 1877 at the age of ninety-three: his pioneering work, alongside that of the others, had not been in vain.

Not too far away from the Westgate Hotel, in Commercial Street, is the statue Stand and Satare commemorating the Newport-born poet and tramp W. H. Davies whose most famous poem begins: "What is this life if full of care? We have no time to stand and stare?" and of which framed copies are found in so many Welsh bedrooms. Not too far from the statue is the Visitor's Center where you can find all kinds of useful information about the town. Before leaving Newport, the visitor should also visit the Transporter Bridge, built in l906 as a "suspended ferry." Similar to the only other one in Britain (at Middlesboro), this bridge has recently been restored and is now operating again after many years of resting idly above the river. It is a vivid reminder of Newport's industrial past. Our next place of pilgrimage is the much older, and perhaps more impressive Cathedral at Llandaff, not much more than a half-hour journey westwards out of Newport.