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"Swansea Jack" is a term often applied to the occupants of Wales' second city. Although most locals believe that their nickname is taken from an adventurous black Labrador Retriever of the same name, the term does, in fact, originate far deeper in history. Despite this, the story of "Swansea Jack" the dog is an uplifting and inspiring tale that, although unfortunately ends in sadness, deserves to be shared and celebrated.
In the early 1930's a young Jack and his owner, William Thomas, resided in the then ramshackle area of Padley Yard. Located near the docklands, it was not unusual for Jack to be found playing around the polluted waters of Swansea's declining maritime industry. Despite the safety issues of such an area, local children also gathered to play in the dock-waters and inevitably found themselves in danger of drowning.
It was amongst such circumstances that the legend of "Swansea Jack" grew. Originally timid of the water, Jack's first recounted rescue was of a 12 year old boy in June 1931. The boy had found himself in real danger and was on the point of drowning when Jack dove into the water and dragged the poor child ashore. The rescue was hardly trumpeted however, given that witnesses to the event were so few.
Only weeks later, Jack's heroism was on display again. This second rescue was witnessed by a larger audience and Jack received full acknowledgment for the act with the local press covering the rescue in detail. This rescue also merited Jack receiving his first award - a silver collar from the local county council.
Jack, now a local star, continued to watch over the waters of the docklands and Swansea Bay and quickly added to the number of his rescues. By the age of five, Jack's rescues were so numerous and well accounted that the dog's fame had already become both legendary and widespread.
Jack's fame began to attract great numbers to Swansea, aiding both the local economy and the popularity of the town as a growing tourist resort. Local councilors and well-to-do's lined up to be photographed with the "lucky icon" and appearances by "Swansea Jack" would often raise large sums of money for local charities.
Jack was a star of both the media and of people's hearts who, it seemed, could do no wrong. Twice awarded a bronze medal, the "canine V.C.", by the National Canine Defence League (the only dog to have ever been awarded two such honours), Jack also won "The Star" newspaper's "Bravest Dog of the Year" award in 1936. Other awards heaped upon the dog were also given by "The Daily Mirror" newspaper and the Lord Mayor of London. Jack and his owner also toured the country, appearing in the "Bravest Dog" sections of international shows such as Crufts and the National Dog Tournament.
However, with an estimated 27 rescues to his credit, tragedy occurred. Ingesting rat poison, Jack took ill and failed to recover. The National Canine League posted notices of a reward for information on the animal's poisoning but the source of the poison was never detected. Jack's life drew on painfully for a while, but there was no hope for a recovery for Swansea's little hero. He died on October 2, 1937, aged just seven years.
Saddened and shocked, the residents and council of Swansea raised funds to give their canine friend a public and ceremonial funeral. Created, at his own expense, by local stonemason Cecil Jones, a large gravestone was placed over the animal's grave on the promenade near Swansea Bay's popular "slip". There it can still be visited today.
As has already been noted, the term "Swansea Jack", despite popular belief and articles perpetuated by the local press and other "scholarly" sources, did not originate from the adventures of this canine hero. It in fact originated from the early 1800's when Swansea was famed as a port. Swansea's sailors had established the reputation of being fine seamen and were welcomed aboard any ship as part of the crew. Collectively, these elite seamen from Swansea became known as "Swansea Jacks" - most likely named after the jack-tarred apparel they wore against the extreme sea conditions. The later bravery of "Jack" the Labrador thus earned him the nickname of "Swansea Jack" after the town's famous naval men.

When Margaret Arnold retired to bed at 11 O’clock on the night of 2nd of August 1843,
She could hardly have imagined what lay in store.

Four hours later she awoke in terror to find a group of thirty or forty men smashing the windows of her house and demolishing the tollgate outside, which led from Ty Coch in the hamlet of St Thomas, to Foxhole, further up the eastern side of the river Tawe. As she opened her door, she was approached by a man wielding an iron bar who gave her a nasty blow on the arm as she tried to protect herself.
She ran into the house and could only watch petrified as the man repeatedly struck the door, breaking it into pieces before turning his attention to the toll-board which was fastened to the wall outside. Peering out, Margaret Arnold saw the men throw the broken tollgate on to the nearby limekiln.

How would you describe these men? Angry? Frustrated? Living on the breadline? Yes,yes,yes! And they took it out on the tollgates which were objects they would enjoy smashing to pieces, symbols of the oppression they were suffering. These men knew that the Ty Coch gate was there for the taking.
Although Swansea at the time was like a garrison town with 400 soldiers from three regiments stationed there, the only means of crossing the Tawe at the river mouth if the tide was in was by ferry.
Taking horses across any river at this time in relatively small boats was very risky. They also knew that the tollgate keeper or “toll-receiver” as Margaret Arnold called herself, was a single woman who lived alone.

The men were led by their own Rebecca, who rode a dark-coloured cart-horse. The Rebecca Riot’s had begun in West Wales in the summer of 1839 but had stopped as suddenly as they had started. They broke out again in the winter of 1842 and spread like wildfire, becoming increasingly more violent. Swansea had it’s own taste of the excitement at the end of July 1843 when a big crowd packed the area in front of the station-house, hoping to catch a glimpse of the prisoners who had been brought in for trial following the destruction of the Bolgoed and Rhydypandy toll-bars.

As time went on the riots became more sinister in character. However, despite the fact that the ordinary farmers were living in abject poverty, there was an element of pantomime in the rioters would dress as women (Rebecca’s daughters) and on occasion’s a little drama would be acted out. Rebecca would approach the gate and ask her children in Welsh whether it had any business to be there. The crowd would then reply that it had not. She would then ask what was to be done with it and her daughters would tell her that the gate must be levelled to the ground. It seems that the inspiration for the Rebecca Rioters came from a reference in the Bible.

“And they blessed Rebekah and said unto her, let thy seed possess the gates of those which hate them”
(Genesis, chapter 24, verse 60)

The ordinary working folk of Swansea would have been tickled pink that Rebecca, riding a heavy farm horse only half a mile away at Ty Coch gate, had outwitted the Light Dragoons with their crack horses.

The Swansea Turnpike Trust had been established in 1764, one of over a thousand trusts controlling 22,000 miles of road in Wales and England by 1838. The idea was that the turnpike roads would only be temporary. Having provided a good road and recouped their money, the trusts would take down the toll gates and leave the road for the free use of the public. However, the trusts never got out of debt and the tolls became a permanent form of indirect taxation. As Swansea had expanded, so gates originally erected outside the town were virtuially in it’s centre. Hemmed in by 8 gates, there was another line of “country gates” at a distance of 6 or 7 miles. According to the Chairman of the Swansea Trust, John Henry Vivian, the inhabitants of Swansea could not go 100 yards from their doors without having a toll to pay. The road at the Ty Coch gate was in a bad state of repair but the prime motivation for the attack would have been the desperate conditions people were living in at this time.
Margaret Arnold identified a local collier, David Lewis, as the man who had struck her. The Magistrates refused to hear evidence supporting his claim to have been in bed at the time and he was committed to the House of Correction to await trial at the next Glamorgan Assizes on a charge of felony. He must have had an anxious wait, for in the time leading up to the trial of the Rebeccaites on 26th October (which had been moved to Cardiff because of local feeling), the tollkeeper of the Hendy tollhouse, an old woman called Sarah Davies, was killed. He needn’t have worried, for he was only a small fish. The authorities had captured some genuine Rebecca leaders at Pontarddulais in September, one of whom, John Hughes, was sentenced to 20 years transportation. Dai Lewis might well have felt aggrieved at being “fitted up” but in the end he was not prosecuted.

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