Richard Burton was born Richard Jenkins on November 10th 1925.
The young years of Richard Burton
Early life and influences
He was the twelfth child of Richard Walter Jenkins (Dic Bach) and his wife, Edith Jenkins. Dic Bach, a coal miner who worked at Oakwood Colliery, met Edith, a woman more religious than himself, in the Miner’s Arms, which he frequented regularly and where she worked as a barmaid.
Even though her parents disapproved, they married in 1900.
The Expanding Jenkins Family
The family expanded rapidly:
Thomas Henry was born in 1901, Cecelia (Cis) 1905, Ifor in 1906, Margaret Hannah (who died as a baby), Margaret Hannah (who also died in infancy), William in 1911, David in 1914, Verdum in 1916, Hilda in 1918, Catherine in 1921, Edith in 1922 and Richard in 1925. Edith died shortly after the birth of her thirteenth child, Graham, at the age of 42.
A New Home in Taibach
Unable to adequately care for his thirteen children, Dic Bach arranged for his two youngest boys (Richard and Graham) to live with their older siblings and Rich went to live with his oldest sister, 22-year-old, Cis who was married to miner, Elfed James, and living in Taibach.
Rich regularly visited the Jenkins household in Pontrhydyfen, and his siblings made frequent visits to Taibach.
School Years and Early Promise
At five, Rich attended Eastern Infants School and at eight, he attended the boys’ section of Eastern Primary School, where his teacher, Meredith Jones recognised him as an avid reader and coached him through the scholarship exam for the Port Talbot Secondary School. At school, he excelled at rugby and became the captain of the cricket team.
Rich left school to work in the local Co-op but was encouraged to return to school by Meredith Jones, who felt that it was a waste of potential. Rich returned to school in 1942.
Mentorship and Transformation
It was Jones who asked Philip Burton, who was an English teacher at Port Talbot Secondary School, to keep an eye on the 16-year-old Rich. Philip Burton, a university educated, cultured and literary man, saw something in Rich and became an influential figure in his life.
In 1943, when a room became available, he suggested that Rich take a room in the house in which he lodged and subsequently took Rich into his personal care.
Becoming Richard Burton
Burton became Rich’s mentor and together they worked on ‘the voice’ that would become Rich’s trademark. Burton encouraged Rich to attend university and put his name forward for a scheme ran by the RAF that offered suitable recruits a short university course at Oxbridge.
The only issue was Rich’s humble background as a working-class miner’s son. It was for this reason that Burton sought to adopt Rich, and Richard Jenkins became Richard Burton.
