St Helen’s ArchivePreserving the past for the future
Eleven (End)
Transcript:
This is the final part of the audio trail on David ‘Dai’ Samuel. This photograph is a portrait, taken by the previously mentioned Henry Chapman at his premises on High Street, Swansea. At 6.5 cm wide and 10.2cm high, it is only a little larger than a trading card, and in some ways is presented as such in its form. Unlike the others in this trail, this object is not currently on display at St Helen’s as it was returned to the Samuel family. However, after making a digital copy for the collection, the team at the St Helen’s Archive had the pleasure of gifting a restored and enlarged copy to the Samuel family in April of 2024. Unlike other imagery featuring Dai Samuel, in this photograph he is smartly turned out in his Sunday best, with high collar and cravat. It makes for a fantastic collectors item, especially as a piece of family history.
This part acts as a conclusion to the story presented in the ten parts in the trail that preceded it.
In no small part or small thanks to the Samuel family, the St Helen’s Archive cares for a range of objects that share nearly the entire story of the progression of more than one career during this period. Whilst this trail has explored the career of David Samuel, it has also touched the story of his brother and the many other successful players that played alongside them.
Dai was just twenty-four when he retired, changing his focus to his labours at the steel works and the Baptist church he attended. Dai’s employment changed later in life, becoming an Assorter at the King’s Dock, and also a Deacon at the Mount Calvary Baptist Church in Manselton. He did play cricket for both the Swansea and Manselton cricket clubs and featured in the first elevens for many seasons, revealing his continued relationship with sport, even if not rugby football.
Dai’s brother Jack was a life Deacon at the Manselton Congregational Church and a great pigeon fancier. Both played in the WaunWen Quoits Club. It is possible that the real reason for the brothers leaving Swansea rugby Club was objection from their congregations to them playing rugby football. Today, we would struggle to know for certain.
Sport and religion were unsettled bedfellows in Victorian and Edwardian Wales, as the Revivalist Movement begun by Robert Evans in 1904 amply illustrated, many smaller rugby clubs closing their doors for some years.
David Samuel died on 15th September 1943, aged 74, at the home of his son. His older brother Jack died on 23rd December 1947 in Swansea. In their day, the Samuel brothers were local heroes, representing the working life they came from and their companions at work, but on the field of play where they transcended their humble beginnings and gloried in representing their club, county and country.
This marks the end of the audio trail on David ‘Dai’ Samuel, which began with the oldest jersey in the collection here at St Helen’s.