Belton Photo Gallery

Photographs of the Belton Family of Bwlchgwyn

Bill and Barbara Belton, July 1958. — William Arthur Belton and his wife Barbara Salthouse, standing outside the garage in Bwlchgwyn, in front of the Ford 8 van in which my mother had just passed her driving test. (c) Hilary Hartigan 2019.

I always liked this dress, the roses were a very pretty blue. My mother passed her driving test in our old black Ford 8 van – double-declutching to get it into first – which can just be seen in the garage behind mum and dad, the event dates the photograph as July 1958. Also in this picture is evidence that we sold Castrol Oil, measured out in a series of oil cans, and Esso Petrol (Esso Golden, later known as 4 star) dispensed from our new Gilbarco petrol pump. In the background is the Co-op shop on the corner of Ruthin Road and Brymbo Road.

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My family at 17 Wesley Road, Bwlchgwyn, grandfather Arthur and Edith Davies Belton, and father William Arthur Belton. Photographed in the garden at the front of the house, behind them are another pair of houses on Wesley Road. My best guess at a date for this photograph is c1937 when my father was 17. (c) Hilary Hartigan 2019.

This was possibly the last photograph of my father with both of his parents. Bill, as he was later known, left Bwlchgwyn to find work elsewhere and eventually lived in Croydon where he was training to be an electrician but, as soon as he was able and before he needed to, he volunteered to join the RAF. My grandfather Arthur Belton died in hospital in 1941 whilst dad was undergoing RAF training in England. This picture was taken in the garden of 17 Wesley Road, Bwlchgwyn, with the family looking towards their house; the house in the background would have been 15 Wesley Road. My best guess, partly from what I was told by my mother, is that my father was about 17 years old when this picture was taken, which would date the picture to about 1937. It shows that my father always had a love of fashion and was a snappy dresser.

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Harold, William Arthur and Horace, the three children of Arthur and Edith Belton of 17 Wesley Road, Bwlchgwyn. (c) Hilary Hartigan 2019

Another photograph which was, sadly, taken ‘just in time’, with the three children of Arthur and Edith Belton all together at the photographer’s studio. Harold, on the left, was born in 1911 and the next born, on the right was Horace in 1912, with baby William Arthur, born in 1920, between them. Horace became ill with tubercular meningitis and died in 1921, probably only a few months after this photograph was taken.

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My grandparents Edith Davies Williams and Arthur Belton, snapped by a street photographer at Rhyl. (c) Hilary Hartigan 2019.

Any clues as to when this picture was taken? A lovely sunny day at Rhyl, in North Wales, Edith and Arthur walk rather purposefully along the street, well dressed and shoes so well polished they must have dazzled. This was most likely a works outing. Arthur could have been working in one of the mines as he was a coal hewer by trade, and all the major employers in the area arranged a workers’ trip out in the summer. Rhyl was only 32 miles from Bwlchgwyn and also the nearest popular seaside with plenty of amusements to offer day trippers.

Edith Davies Williams was from Minera and worked in service in Southport and in Ireland before she married Arthur Belton at Christ Church, Bwlchgwyn in 1910.