Williams
Brothers and Ebsworth
Brothers
The convoluted history of
Tudor Williams Brothers (Pioneer Buses) and their rivals, Ebsworth Brothers,
can only be told together due to the extraordinary events of their very bitter
challenge.
In June 1908, Tudor
Williams, aged 17, started a regular passenger service between the medieval
town of Laugharne and St Clears Railway Station with a horse-drawn six seat
wagonette. With a summertime extension to Pendine, he inaugurated this
‘pioneering’ service after Great Western Railway Co. had broken their promise
of a motor bus service commencing in May 1908, between St Clears Railway
Station and Laugharne, extending to Pendine in summertime.
His business venture was
very successful, and in 1913, obtained the Post Office mail carrier’s contract
for Laugharne and Pendine. In 1914, he diversified into the mechanical mode of
transport with cars, and after the ‘Great War’, when he introduced a bus into
the fleet, his two younger brothers joined the business.
In 1919, the Ebsworth
brothers, who originated from Pendine, saw how well Tudor and his brothers were
doing at the business, and decided to challenge them with an identical service to
St Clears Railway Station. They later followed the Williamses into Carmarthen,
and eventually Tenby, where the rivalry worsened.
The rivalry continued, even
after introduction of the Road Traffic Act 1930, which was introduced in 1931, to
regulate bus services.
The friction eventually
calmed down after Williams Brothers had their licences suspended for one month
in 1933, due to serious irregularities.
In 1944, Ebsworth Bros.
incorporated their business and invested heavily in new buses, which was their
downfall. In 1954, they were unable to pay their debts, and the business passed
to Western Welsh. The joint service arrangement between Williams Bros. and
Ebsworth Bros. continued with Western Welsh.
In the meantime, however,
Williams Bros. continued running respectfully, and can be fondly remembered with
a menagerie of reliable inexpensive second hand vehicles – nothing brand new
for 30 years! They even absorbed Western Welsh’s share of the local service in
1971, when they withdrew all West Wales operations.
After Tudor’s death in
1976, the family changed the title to ‘Pioneer Coaches’. The business passed to
Jones Motors Ltd., Login near Whitland in 1981.
Title: The Laugharne Rivals
ISBN number: 978-0-9574045-8-8
Format: Softback
191 pages
223 Photographs and other
memorabilia
Dimensions: 210 mm x 150 mm
Author: Vernon Morgan
Publisher: Vernon Morgan
Price: £21.00 plus postage, £2.50
Obtainable through this website: www.vernonmorgan.com (payable via Paypal), and at Amazon.
(Please note, Amazon
prices are a lot more expensive).
Vernon should be congratulated on producing such a meticulously researched scholary, yet very readable piece of work. He's done a great service to all the people connected to Williams Bros and Ebsworth Bros. Thank you Vernon. I am sure this book will sell very well, now and in the future. I wonder whether the Laugharne Historical Society will give it a plug on their website. Jim and Joan Griffiths.
ReplyDeleteI am so excited about receiving your new book. I never thought that there would ever be a book about the wonderful Tudor Williams and his 'Pioneer' buses. I remember them so well, and the frequent trips I enjoyed as a boy down to my auntie Mary at Town Cottages in Lower St Clears, where the buses stopped right outside her house. Then down to Pendine for the sfternoon to go onto the beach. Wonderful days indeed.
ReplyDeleteBack in Carmarthen, the conductor, an old boy in his Brown 'Butchers' coat, jumping out and blowing his whistle to stop the traffic so that the bus could reverse into Water Street.I had never seen such a thing happen anywhere else.
Many thanks for all your hard work.
Thank you so much for your wonderful comment Mike.
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