Uniformed Organisations

If you were to list all of the uniformed organisations that are held (or used to be held) in the village, it wouldn’t be difficult to rattle off a whole list: Boys Brigade, Scouts, Girls Brigade and Guides. And then for the slightly younger ones, BB Junior Section, Cubs and Brownies. And there are other groups, associated with church and chapels and other affiliated organisations, all trying to show young people what’s good in society

Many people will have fond memories of these groups, collecting badges, camping, team games and church parades. What memories can you share?

Nearly 150 years ago, in the Cardiff Times newspaper dated 26th September 1874, there is a report of yet another (even older) group, the Independent Order of Good Templars and the Junior Templars in Whitchurch, who were celebrating their first anniversary. The newspaper report states:

‘They celebrated their first anniversary on Saturday with a plentiful supply of tea and cake. A procession then formed, headed by the Mellin (sic) Griffith Templar Brass Band. There were different colours of regalia together with flags and banners. A public meeting was held in the Wesleyan Chapel, Mellin Griffith’

So, who were they? How many adults and children? Not another mystery, surely!

There are 2 photographs below which seem totally unconnected, but there’s a theme

The first shows a bearded man in an open-top car in 1913 in the civic centre, titled ’Grand Chief Templar Joseph Malins on a farewell tour of the UK’

The second photograph shows an open-top bus (probably post WW1) with an ad on the front for false teeth. All very strange

A bit of digging provides some of the answers

The Good Templars were a temperance movement, determined to stamp out the evils of drink reputedly cursing Britain in Victorian times. The Juvenile Templars were the youth side of the organisation. At its height before WW1 there were hundreds of thousands of members in the UK and even more in North America. Clearly, in 1874 there was quite a large membership in Whitchurch

Joseph Malins (the bearded man in the car), and his family ran a very successful business providing false teeth to the folk of Cardiff from his premises in Queen Street. Apparently, you could purchase a full set of false teeth (made from the best vulcanite and ebonite) for 5 guineas, or an 18-carat gold set for 14 guineas. You were promised ’painless’ extraction, and a 5-year guarantee. By 1907, over 5,000 sets had been sold

What strange reports from the time, and the connections with the village

Does anyone know of the Juvenile Templars in Whitchurch in latter times?

And what about the false teeth from Queen Street? Would anyone locally have purchased a set of the 18-carat dentures? What a family inheritance!

 

Thanks to Chris Butler and his book ‘Cardiff Mysteries’ for the photograph and information on Joseph Malins, and to Steve Nicholas for the photograph of the open-top bus

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