The true origins of sosban fach
by Colin Baines
In 1935 my grandfather, George Edmund Noakes passed away in Connah's Quay, Deeside, North Wales.
George and his family had moved from South Wales to Connah's Quay, where he found work in the new
steel works of John Summers. In his spare time he helped his son-in-law, Jack Evans who was the producer
of a succesful pantomime company on Deeside, which ran from 1929 to 1924. George's father was
John Edward Noakes (See - John Edmund Noakes and the Royalty Theatre LCH 0296 at www.llanellich.org.uk)
My mother told me that our family had some sort of connection with the popular and famous Welsh song, Sosban Fach.
SOSBAN FACH
Mae bys Meri-Ann wedi brifo----Mary Ann has hurt her finger-The first line includes Mary Ann one of Owen's daughters.
A dafydd y qwas ddim yn iach---And David the servant is not well. David was a lodger with Owen's family and a Tailor same as Owen.
Mae’r baban yn y crud yn crio---The baby in the cradle is crying. The baby may be a reference to Sarah, the Rees’s one year old.
A’r gath wedi sgrapo Joni bach—And the cat has scratched Little Johnny. This discovery was the game changer for me. This confirms the press cutting is mostly true. The photo shows a scratch on John’s cheek. Sosban fach yn berwi ar y tan---A little saucepan is boiling on the fire. These lines could be a nod to Tinopolis, or John’s life as a travelling theatrical Family, where they boil their clothes outside and cooked food inside. It could also be a scene in a pantomime.
Sosban fach yn berwi ar y llawr---A big saucepan is boiling on the floor Reference the statement in the four lines of the first evidence.
A gwt ei grys e mas------------------- And his shirt tail is hanging out. John is wearing a waistcoat with his shirt hanging out.
A’r gath wedi sgrapo Joni bach-----And the cat has scratched Little Johnny. Repeated line.
Dai bach y soldiwr----------------------Little Dai the soldier. At first sight the words make little sense, but my mother showed me a press cutting from the Llanelly Guardian dated 1935. Below is one of three cuttings I have from different newspapers covering the same
story. One of them states: 'Mr. Rees's health broke down', which I think is important to the story.
This extract from the Llanelly Guardian ("Author of Sospan Fach "War Song” Written for Pantomime from Our Special Correspondent") quotes a local woman:
"Over 40 years ago" she says, "A man named Mr. Noakes owned a wooden theatre in the vicinity of the
site now occupied by Llanelly's Town Hall where theatrical companies performed. One day Mr. Noakes
entered the York Hotel close at hand and talked with Mr. Owen Rees of Lakefield Road, who carried on a
drapery business in London. I knew both well and as Mr. Rees composed verse, Mr. Noakes asked him
'Can't you write something 'catchy’ as a popular number for a pantomime to be produced at my theatre?'
Mr. Rees while still in the York Hotel wrote the first verses of 'Sospan Fach' and it was sung for the first
time in the pantomime at Noakes's Theatre.”
My goal was to find out if the facts in the press cutting were true. I was hoping to find Owen living in
Lakefield Road, and names like Mary Ann and David on a census. I had already researched the ancestry
of the Noakes's, but I could not find any of those names. I also needed to check if John's wooden theatre
was at Llanelly on a specific date and what pantomime was being performed. I had three different years
stated on individual cuttings, one 45 years ago, another 40 years ago, yet another also over 40 years ago. I
worked out that the 1935 press cutting was put into the newspaper the year my grandfather, John's son,
passed away in Connah's Quay, North Wales. I eventually found the 1851 census which showed Owen
Rees and his family living in Llandingat, Carmarthenshire, and two names I had been looking for, Mary
Ann and David. The occupation column in the census had “Tailor” for both Owen and David, also
"Journeyman".
The 1851 census recorded ten people in the Rees household, amongst them were Owen, his wife Mary
Ann, Sarah the one year old and David (Davies) who is recorded as ‘Lodger’, Mary Ann, Sarah and David
are mentioned in the verse or lines Owen Rees wrote. The rest were other Rees children. After the 1851
census the next three censuses show the family living in Aberdare, and Owen's occupation was now
School Master. Not much had changed on these; the family stayed in Aberdare for thirty years, Owen
stayed as School Master. David was only recorded on the 1851 census, the family were like other families,
growing up, leaving their parents etc.
Below is my explanation of the wording of Sosban Fach from my findings using the lines that Owen wrote in the York Hotel, Llanelly.
I originally had only one poor photograph of John from a press cutting until my brother turned up with a new photo album which contained a photo showing John with a scratch – this must have actually happened for Owen to have included it in his writing. I have another "scratch" photo from the same period, where John’s head is turned to the left, but still shows a small dark patch on his cheek.
The following extracts from various publications show when Sosban Fach was written, the date of the first performance to an audience, and where it was first performed. I found two nearly identical press cuttings, but only one had the extra text "recalled for her local Welsh song" and the "the local hits are most happy". The very first performance would have been December 29th 1889, it was recalled on January 11th 1890. Sosban Fach would then be taken around the South Wales valleys and other towns by John’s travelling theatre, along with his theatre based in Llanelly Fairfields. The first date also shows when Owen wrote Sosban Fach in the York Hotel.
The following advertisements and report from The Stage publication about the pantomime Dick Whittington, show who sang it first to an audience
THE STAGE
The Star Theatre
December 29th 1889
Dick Whittington music arranged and composed by W. A. Totten
THE STAGE
The Star Theatre
December 29th 1889
Dick Whittington music arranged and composed by W. A. Totten
THE STAGE
The Star Theatre
January 10th 1890
Dick Whittington Llanelly
“The Star (Proprietor Mr. J.E. Noakes) This place of amusement has had its full share of patronage during the Christmas holidays. Much credit must be given to Mr. Noakes for the mounting of his second annual, Dick Whittington, the scenery, painted by Mr. John Kennedy, excels anything seen in this town for years. Then, too, the music is pleasing, and the local hits are most happy. The Co. work well together, and everything goes without a hitch. Mr. H. C. Selby (Dick) impersonates the persevering youth with much spirit. Miss Ada Noakes (Alice) sings and acts with much taste. Miss Beatrice Noakes (Kitty Jones) is recalled for her local Welsh song. Miss Maud Bears (Fairy Bow-Bell) is a painstaking fairy.
Mr. J. E. Noakes (Idle Jack) and Mr. Edwards De Vere (The Cook) keep the house hugely amused. Messrs C. Mangan (Captain), Percy Lydal (Emperor), W. Hutton (Fitzwarren), John Kennedy, (King Rat), H. Thomas, (Checket), and G. Powell (Docket) work hard to deserve success. The comic scenes go merrilywith Mr. J. E. Noakes as clown, Mr. J. Kennedy pantaloon, Mr. W. Hutton as Harlequin: Miss Patti Noakes, as Columbine: and Mr. H. Thomas, Policeman.” (The “local hits” could be a nod to Tinopolis, or The Cook, where there may have been a kitchen scene using pots and pans.) This 1890 performance would be the second performance of Sosban Fach to an audience, the first having been 23rd December 1889. Below are references to John Noakes as ‘Little Johnny’, which is used in Owen’s verses.
EVENING STANDARD, London Dated Thursday 14th September 1865 “Polygraphic Hall, King William Street, Charing Cross-Tonight at eight, Saturday at 3p.m. Mr. and Mrs. Gourlay, will have the honour of appearing in their novel and original entertainment, entitled Mrs. M’Gregor’s Levee, Little Johnny (age 20) the juvenile comedian and comic vocalist.”
THE STAGE
Dated Friday 25th
September 1891
‘Little Johnny Noakes’ has engaged the Victoria Theatre for the winter season. Several people have claimed that they wrote or added verses to Sosban Fach. I accept that verses may ave been added, but they would not have known that Owen wrote the song around his family and John. I believe that Owen wrote the foundation of the song i.e. the main verse or nine lines. I was able to access the Noakes’Ancestry records, with myself being the sole custodian of a few family. albums containing Noakes family history consisting of photographs and newspaper cuttings. I was very lucky that a new photo album turned up just when I needed it which gave me the "scratch" and "shirt hanging out" photographs, I discovered during my research that one of my uncles had managed to get a comment put into Welsh Journal CYF9RHT-18189, which is about our family’s connection with Sosban Fach; this would have been around 1935. The information was out there but it would have been almost impossible to pull all the fragmented family records together at that time. I could not find an Owen living in Lakefield Road. If the lady who mentioned it was correct, he may have been staying or lodging in a house in Lakefield Road when he was in Llanelly. Owen's ill health could be the reason for his change of occupation from 'tailor' to 'school master' in Aberdare. My final evidence is the two press cuttings above which call John Edmund Noakes by his nickname Little Johnny" or Joni Bach as in the Sosban Fach line. Owen would have known John well, because I recorded John going to Aberdare with his theatre 27 times in one year. It can be seen in the newspaper cutting from the Evening Standard dated 1865 that John had this nickname when he was performing at the Polygraphic Hall, Charing Cross in London at the age of twenty.
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References:
Census returns for 1851, 1861 and 1871
Llanelly Guardian: 1935, etc.
The Stage - December 29th
1889 and January 10th
1890
Evening Standard – Thursday September 14th 1865
South Wales Star - Friday September 25th 1891
Welsh Journal CYF9RHT-1889
Illustrations:
Family archive photograph of John Noakes with “scratch”
Family archive photograph of John Noakes with shirt hanging out
The York Hotel Llanelly before its demolition
Further and supplementary information:
The Star - May10th, 1947 "Llanelly's National Anthem - Who Penned the Immortal Lines of Sosban
Fach?" by G. Brynallt Williams
Western Mail - June 4th, 1985 "Writer of Sospan Fach Identified" by Jeremy Davies
"Sosban Fach" by Aeres Twigg, 2000, (published by Gommer Press, Ceredigion)
"Llanelli - Story of a Town" by John Edwards, 2007, page 196, Appendix II (published by Brendon Books, Derby)
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the cat has scratched Little Johnny.
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