Dic Penderyn

The people of Merthyr Tydfil were convinced that Dic Penderyn was not responsible for the stabbing, and more than 11,000 signed a petition demanding his release; even the conservative Cambrian newspaper objected.

Joseph Tregelles Price, a Quaker ironmaster from Neath, who went to console the two condemned men, was immediately convinced of Dic Penderyn's innocence and went to Merthyr to gather evidence for this.

The Home Secretary Lord Melbourne, well known for his severity, delayed the execution for two weeks, but refused to reduce the sentence despite pleas not only from workers but the Welsh establishment.

Thousands accompanied his body through the Vale of Glamorgan to his grave (various parishes en route refusing to accept the responsibility of interment), and listened to a funeral sermon from his brother-in-law Morgan Howells.

[10] Regarded as a martyr, his death further embittered relations between Welsh workers and the authorities and strengthened the Trade Union movement and Chartism in the run up to the Newport Rising.

[citation needed] The Merthyr Rising is claimed to be the first time the red flag was used as a banner of workers power, and the outrage surrounding Dic Penderyn's death gave it great potency.

[citation needed] In 1977 a memorial to a "Martyr of the Welsh Working Class" was unveiled at Merthyr public library by Len Murray, the General Secretary of the TUC, and sections from Cordell's book were read out.

[18] Mike Penning, Minister for Policing, Crime and Criminal Justice, responded that pardons were only granted "where evidence has come to light which demonstrates conclusively that the convicted individual was innocent and that the relevant appeal mechanisms have been exhausted".