More About William Lake

In 1871, William Lake lived at Cross Inn with his parents. His father, who was also named William, was a 60 year old mason. William's mother, Elizabeth, was 60 years old and her place of birth, like her husband's, was stated on the 1871 census as Llandybie.

The address of the household is merely given as Cross Inn, as were all the other households on the census page. The rest of the household were listed as follows:

All the children had been born in the parish of Llandybie, except for John Williams, the grandson, who was born at Aberdare.

The 1881 census shows William Lake living at Field Street, Ammanford, in the Parish of Llandybie. With him, were his wife Margaret and two children. William was aged 26 and his place of birth was given as Cross Inn. Margaret was aged 27. She was born in the parish of Llangranog. His son, Thomas Lake, was aged 4 and his daughter, Rachel Ann, was aged 2. By the time of William's death in January 1884, his third child Ben, had had his 1st birthday.

Until November 20th 1880, Ammanford was known as Cross Inn. Field Street, Ammanford, was renamed Heol Wallasey in 1957.

Location of William Lake's house on Field Street, now Heol Wallasey. Photo taken April 2008.

The newspaper articles state that William was the father of 3 children, but like the wives of Thomas Bevan and Thomas Michael, William's wife, Margaret, was pregnant. William's youngest son, was to be yet another child, who would never see his father and William himself was yet another victim of the accident who would never see his youngest child.

By the time of the accident in 1884, William's children were aged as follows:

Name
Approximate Age
Thomas Lake
6
Rachel Ann Lake
4
Ben Lake
1
William Lake
Yet to be born

William Lake is buried with his wife at the Christian Temple churchyard, known as "Gellimanwydd"; which is on High Street, Ammanford. His headstone, however, was removed when the churchyard was reorganised. This was done due to the unsafe condition of many of the headstones. I have been told, but I have not been able to confirm, that William's Headstone bore an inscription which stated that he was one of the ten who died at Garnant Pit.

Christian Temple: Gellimanwydd, Ammanford. Photo taken april 2006.

Below is a section from page 22, of the Christian Temple Congregational Church Cemetery Reference Book, showing the entry for William's burial. The location of William's grave is given as Row M, Grave no 5, though there is now no trace of any rows at the churchyard. The burial date is shown as 16th January 1884, which was in fact the date of William's death. The actual burial date was not recorded.

Burial record for William and Margaret Lake

The 1891 census, shows that Margaret Lake, William's widow, was still living at Field Street. She was 36 years old and worked as a Laundress. She was head of the household. Also living with her, were her 5 children and her father, who was a widower. Their details on the census are as follows:

Margaret, her father and her youngest daughter (aged only 1), spoke only Welsh, while the rest of the children were bilingual.

In 1901, Margaret was aged 46; her occupation was not given. Her father, who was by then aged 81, was still living with her. His occupation was given as "Retired Farmer". Also living at the household in Field Street, was her nephew, John Wyndham Davies, aged 23. His occupation was "Journeyman Taylor". His birth place appears to be "Abergaron, Cardigan". The children of the household are listed as follows:

William and Margaret's eldest daughter, Rachel, who would have been aged 22, was not mentioned on the 1901 census. Apart from Margaret and her father, who spoke only Welsh, the whole of the household were bilingual.

The 11th January, 1934 edition of the Amman Valley Chronicle, reported on the Garnant Colliery Disaster to mark the 50th anniversary of the event. Mrs Lake was interviewed by the newspaper, and stated that she was the only widow surviving. In fact, David Roberts' widow, Sarah, was also alive at the time and lived until November 22nd, 1938, surviving Margaret Lake by approximately 10 months.

At the time of the interview, Margaret Lake had moved from Field Street to Wind Street in Ammanford. Her son, Tom lake was by then a councillor. She told the reporter that her Husband, William Lake, was the only Ammanford man employed at Garnant Colliery when the accident occurred and five months after her husbands death, her son, William, was born. Her husband, she stated, was one of three brothers who had died as a result of colliery accidents and all three were buried at the Christian Temple graveyard.

Margaret Lake died on 17th February 1938, aged 84.

Census Doc Refs: