Great Orme grave Donald Boyd-Ball

Jun 11, 2018

Pit blast survivor's war sacrifice


Fred Trump of Rhymney was manager of one of the world's biggest gold mines after surviving a pit explosion which buried him under fallen coal. He left his job in South Africa to fight in the First World War and was killed, aged 45, while ...

sleeping in a dugout at the Western Front in 1917. His miraculous underground escape occured 11 years earlier at a Machen colliery, which he was visiting as Assistant Inspector of Mines for Wales. You can now read about him and the others from Rhymney who died in the First and Second World Wars on your smartphone or tablet by scanning the HistoryPoints QR codes beside Rhymney war memorial. Or click here for our page in memory of Fred Trump, or here for our information about the war memorial and war dead