Grave of Dic Penderyn, Welsh Working Class Martyr, Merthyr Rising

Richard Lewis (1807/8 – 13 August 1831), known as Dic Penderyn, was a Welsh labourer and coal miner who lived in Merthyr Tydfil and was involved with the Merthyr Rising of 3 June 1831. In the course of the riot he was arrested alongside Lewis Lewis, one of the primary figures in the uprising, and charged with stabbing a soldier with a bayonet. The people of Merthyr Tydfil doubted his guilt, and signed a petition for his release. However, he was found guilty and hanged on 13 August 1831.

Dic Penderyn was hanged outside Cardiff gaol on the gallows in St. Mary's Street, Cardiff (at what is now the entrance of Cardiff Market), at 8am on 13 August 1831 at the age of 23. His last words were "O Arglwydd, dyma gamwedd" (English: "Oh Lord, here is iniquity"). Penderyn's public execution allegedly caused his pregnant wife to suffer a miscarriage.

Regarded as a martyr, his death further embittered relations between Welsh workers and the authorities and strengthened the Trade Union movement and Chartism in the run up to the Newport Rising.

The Merthyr Rising is claimed to be the first time the red flag was used as a banner of workers power, and the outrage surrounding Dic Penderyn's death gave it great potency.

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