Dic Penderyn

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For other persons of the same name, see Richard Lewis.

Dic Penderyn is the name by which the Welsh working-class hero Richard Lewis (1808 – August 13, 1831) is better known.

Born in Aberavon, Glamorgan, Lewis, a labourer whose nickname was taken from the village of Penderyn near Hirwaun, where he lived, became involved in the Merthyr Riots of June 3, 1831.

Along with Lewis Lewis, one of the leaders of the riot, Dic Penderyn was arrested for stabbing Private Donald Black of the Highland Regiment, using a bayonet attached to a gun. The incident was alleged to have happened outside the Castle Inn. Black's injuries were not fatal, and he did not identify either Lewis Lewis or Richard Lewis; nevertheless, both were convicted and sentenced to death. Lewis Lewis had his sentence commuted to transportation, largely thanks to the testimony of a Special Constable, John Thomas, whom Lewis had shielded from the rioters. Joseph Tregelles Price, a local Quaker ironmaster, persuaded the trial judge that Dic Penderyn was innocent, but the sentence was carried out, and Penderyn was hanged in St. Mary's Street, Cardiff. He is buried in St Mary's churchyard, Port Talbot.[1]