Frederick de Courcy Hamilton was a major figure in Cardiff during the late 19th and early 20th century, yet he had no links with the Welsh capital city. He was born at Thornham Hall near Kings Lynn in Norfolk on 23 June 1856, whilst his parents had their roots in Scotland and Ireland where they were wealthy landowners.
Given the family’s wealthy and social position, Frederick attended Felsted School, a private school in Essex in Eastern England. He shone in the classroom as well as on the cricket field where he showed great promise as a batsman and was in the school’s cricket team for several seasons during which time he played in a series of matches against other public school teams in the London area.
After leaving school, Frederick moved to Cardiff to start his training as a solicitor. At the time, Cardiff was one of the fastest growing places in the UK, with the trade at the Docks seeing coal and iron ore from the South Wales valleys being sent all over the world. Frederick maintained his interest in cricket and he soon became a member of the Cardiff club. Many of the other young men in the legal and business world in Cardiff played cricket, and by playing and socializing with them, the young solicitor was able to build up many useful contacts.
In 1875 Frederick was invited to play for the Glamorgan county team against Breconshire in their match on 10 and 11 August at Cardiff Arms Park. He batted at number 5 in the team and top-scored with 35 in Glamorgan’s first innings total of 84. He made 33 in the second innings – only one other player scored more but his efforts with the bat could not prevent Breconshire winning the game by eight wickets.
Frederick was also a member of the South Wales Cricket Club as well as the MCC, and he played for both clubs during in the 1870s and 1880s. After completing his training as a solicitor, Frederick remained in South Wales and developed a close link with the officials from the Bute Estate. The Marquis of Bute owned much of the land in the Cardiff area as well as the booming docks which in 1913 exported more coal to other countries than any other port in the world.
The late 19th century were the boom years for the Docks, as the output of coal from the South Wales valleys reached a peak. In simple terms, Frederick was in the right place at the right time, Frederick’s close links with the Marquis were extremely helpful for his work as a solicitor and as Cardiff dramatically grew, and the trade at the Docks increased, Frederick had plenty of work, sorting out deals for building houses on the Marquis’ land as well as overseeing other business deals at the Docks.
Despite the growth of the Docks, there was nowhere for the owners of the coal mines to strike deals with the owners of the ships who were looking to take the coal and iron ore from South Wales to other parts of Western Europe and further afield. People had to hang around on street corners hoping to meet up, and there was nowhere under cover where the paperwork could be completed.
Frederick was aware of this and during the 1880s he began negotiations with the Marquis for the creation of a building where the representatives of the ships could meet up with the agents of the coal and ore mines. This led to the creation of The Coal Exchange in 1886, one of the largest and grandest buildings in Butetown and one which symbolized the wealth that the coal and iron ore (known as “black gold” had brought to Cardiff and South Wales.
Frederick worked closely with the architect, Edwin Seward, to ensure that a suitable building was created. The Coal Exchange duly became a very popular building for the people working in Butetown and it was here, in 1904, that the first-ever million pound deal was struck anywhere in the world. Frederick was also involved in the creation of the High Street Arcade from 1885, allowing smaller businesses to rent space in the centre of Cardiff where they could successfully trade without having to buy a larger and more expensive shop.
Frederick was very concerned about the living conditions and other social issues in Butetown in the late 19th and early 20th centuries. These were times when many of the dock workers lived in poor housing and were hired at the Docks on a casual basis. This was when there was no unemployment benefit so if people had no work for the day, they had no money. Some of the workers had to share rooms with many other people or even sleep rough on the street. To try and improve conditions, Frederick set up the Glamorgan Workmen’s Cottage Company and the Barry Island Cottage Company which built houses for people working in the Docks at Cardiff and Barry with toilets and kitchens.
Frederick was also keen to make sure that people of different races mixed and became friends. With this in mind, he became the President of the Cardiff World Mission and in 1917 he created a cricket club in Butetown where people of all races and religions could practice and play together. From his experiences on the cricket field, he knew the benefits of playing cricket for people’s health, as well as being a means for bringing people together and, as he hoped, the cricket club went from strength to strength after the First World War, boosted by the popularity of cricket within the West Indian community living in Butetown.
Frederick’s wife Geraldine became unwell during the 1920s so Frederick bought and extended a house called Tyla Morris in Pentyrch where she could live, away from the smoke and noise of the Docks. Sadly, she died on 26 April 1928 at Tyla Morris. Frederick continued to live at Pentyrch until his death on 27 March 1940. His contribution to Cardiff and South Wales was massive, and without his efforts after the First World War, the communities in Butetown might not have lived so happily together.
HAMILTON, Frederick de Courcy
Born – Thornham Hall, Sedgford, Norfolk, 23 June 1856.
Died – Tyla Morris, Pentyrch, 27 March 1940.
