The Victorians produced some great engineers and they were prepared to accept the technical challenge of tunnelling under the Severn, with the project beginning in 1873, however, six years later they hit the Great Spring. Huge pumps were brought in, but they were unable to seal off the spring until 1881. Since then a massive pump has continued to pump out 50 million litres of water per day, which is now sold to a local water company. On September 1st 1886, the first freight trains began to use the tunnel, and on the 1st December 1886 a regular passenger service was opened, cutting the journey from London to South Wales by one hour ….
1893 Gladstones' Second Home Rule Bill for Ireland passes in the House of Commons but is vetoed by The House of Lords by 419 votes to 41
…. The Great’ Hurricane ‘of 1908.
The sinking of the barque Amazon off Margam Sands on 1st September 1908, with the loss of 21 crew;
A storm that began on the afternoon of Monday 31 August had increased to hurricane proportions by the morning of 1 September, with winds reaching up to 90 miles an hour and causing severe damage all along the South Wales coast.
With waves of nearly 60 feet, the captains of many vessels decided to remain in port, but for Captain Garrick of the barque Amazon, fully laden with coal on its outward journey from Port Talbot to Chile, there was little option but to brave the elements. he anchored off the Mumbles and tried to ride out the gale. However at 6am on 1st September, the Amazon's cables parted and the ship was driven eastwards. Pounded by the waves, the stricken vessel swung sideways on to the storm and was thrown up onto Margam Sands, bow first.
There were just eight survivors. Many of the crew had tried to swim to safety, six made it ashore, but the remainder were immediately lost in the huge seas and when the Port Talbot Lifesaving Company arrived on the scene only two men were left alive on the ship. Twenty-one were drowned, including Captain Garrick, who had been lashed to the mainmast and whose body was discovered 8 days later near Sker Point.
A Public House in Port Talbot, ‘The Amazon’ is named after the ship.
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The Forestry Commission was established as a result of the Forestry Act on 1st September 1919. The Act set up the Forestry Commission, which had responsibility for woods in England, Scotland, Wales and Ireland. It was a result of the difficulties Britain had meeting the demand for timber during the First World War, especially, the need for the large amounts required for trench warfare.
1939 Adolf Hitler orders extermination of mentally ill people through the "Aktion T4 Euthanasia Program," arguing that wartime "was the best time for the elimination of the incurably ill".
1978 Jacqueline Smith of Great Britain becomes the first skydiver to hit dead-center on the electronic scoring pad in all ten rounds at the World Parachute Championships in Yugoslavia, earning her a place in the Guinness Book of World Records.
1967: Radio Caroline North continues broadcasting despite the Marine Offences Act being extended to include the Isle of Man..
1 Sep 1976 Wish You Were Here was close to spending one year on the UK chart. Pink Floyd’s ninth studio had been premiered at Knebworth in July 1975, and was released in September that year. It was an instant success, with record company EMI unable to press enough copies to satisfy demand. The artwork for the album package was once again created by the Hipgnosis team, who created a series of tableaux based on ‘absence’, including the empty gesture of a handshake between two US business men (one of whom is on fire), a diver that causes no ripples, and a piece of gauze floating in the wind, photographed somewhere in Norfolk, UK.
