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The Great-Grandparents of my wife were landlords of "The Brecon Arms" in Llanelli, Wales.

enter image description here I know this for two reasons:

  1. I heard this information first hand from another elderly relative, who was their Grandchild. The above photo was given to me by this family member.
  2. I have seen it documented on certificates. For example, they had a young daughter who was only 5 months old when she died in 1920, and it stated them as the landlords of the pub:

enter image description here

How can I go about:

  • Finding more information about this specific pub.
  • Finding any specific records about Alexander Harris being the landlord? (ie. the time period he was landlord).

For the sake of keeping everything connected:

  • This was the discussion about Mary (the child referred to above):

Locating a birth record for Mary Harris circa November 1919

  • These are previous questions about Alexander:

Finding records of professional athlete and trainer who married 1911 at Cardiff, Wales?

Were Scottish middle names sometimes added later? Eg. Campbell


Update

  • 20-06-2022 I have received today the birth certificate of one of their youngest sons (1923 Samuel Harris) and even then they were in the Brecon Arms.

Update

  • 22097-2022 I have received today the birth certificate of one of their older daughters (April 1918 Jeanie Harris). On this certificate it says that she was born at the Brecon Arms and that this was the residence of her mum. At this time it said her father Alexander Harris was a Munitions Workers (in Llanelly). I guess that was something to do with the first world war. On a first research of the occupation it seems to be related to a woman's job. Maybe this warrants new question.

So we know how that they moved into this pub between 1916 and 1918. And that by November 1919 he himself was a "Licensed Victualler".

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    If Alexander took a job doing what was primarily being done by women (to free up men to fight in the war), it's possible he was disabled or old or otherwise disqualified from fighting at the front.
    – shoover
    Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 19:10
  • @shoover I will ask a new question. Commented Jul 22, 2022 at 19:16

1 Answer 1

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For the pub itself. change your focus from searching for people, and make the building your focus. Just like people, your three key points are the name, the time, and the place. Buildings aren't as mobile as people, but do be aware of your locality and any boundary changes, jurisdiction changes, street re-naming or re-numberings that may have taken place during the life of the building or during Alexander Harris' tenure as landlord. Be alert for name changes for the pub, just as you would be on the watch for a person using different names.

Resources for getting started:

Use the Trace My House timeline as a guide to records for buildings for a given time period.

For tracing Alexander Harris as landlord, in addition to the building records, look for sources that are rich in names and addresses such as newspapers and trade directories, as well as the census and other records commonly used for family history.

Further reading:

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  • Thank you for this collated list of resources! I will work my way through them. Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 18:22
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    @AndrewTruckle If you're on Twitter, #HouseHistoryHour is now having one chat a month for Open Questions, or you can leave a question for the community at any time by including the hashtag in your tweet. I'll share this Q on Twitter and see if any of the experts can give more tips specific to Wales.
    – Jan Murphy
    Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 21:12
  • Thank you for doing that. I do have a Twitter ID but I seldom use the platform and don't have it installed on my handheld devices. Commented Jun 1, 2022 at 21:42
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    A little googling suggests that the Brecon Arms in Llanelli was located in Gilbert Road, and changed name at least twice to become the Celtic Arms and now 'The Bexley'. Hasn't changed much though: google.com/maps/@51.6868623,-4.1603181,3a,75y,103.26h,88.23t/…
    – avid
    Commented Jun 2, 2022 at 6:05
  • @avid Thanks for the visual link to Google Maps! Indeed - looks very similar! We are building a thread of what has happened to the building. Much appreciated. Commented Jun 2, 2022 at 8:13

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