b. 1838 Wales. d. 28/08/1902 Treorchy, Glamorgan.
DATE OF AM ACTION: 11/04/1877 Tynewydd, Forth, South Wales.
Little is known about the life of Thomas Getrych Davies other than his AM action. Following his mining career, he became the manager of the White Lion Hotel in Maesteg.
AM CITATION:
On the llth of April, the Tynewydd Colliery, situated near Forth, in the Rhondda Valley, South Wales, was inundated with water from the old workings of the adjoining Cymtner Colliery. At the time of the inundation there were fourteen men in the pit, of whom four were unfortunately drowned, and one killed by compressed air, leaving nine men imprisoned by the water ; of this number four were released after eighteen hours’ imprisonment, and five after nine days’ imprisonment. It was in effecting the release of these latter five that those distinguished services were rendered which the conferring of the ‘ Albert Medal of the Second Class’ is intended to recognise. Prom Thursday, April the 12th, when the operations for the rescue were commenced, until Friday, April the 20th, when the intervening barrier of coal had been cut through and the imprisoned men released, the above-named eleven men were present at different times, and, while being of valuable service in the rescue, exposed their own lives to the great danger which would have attended an outburst of water and compressed air, or an explosion of the inflammable gas which at different times during the rescue escaped under great pressure and in dangerous quantities.
BURIAL LOCATION: TREORCHY CEMETERY. TREORCHY, WALES.
LOCATION OF MEDAL: UNKNOWN.
