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Richard Burton
was born Richard Walter Jenkins on 10 November 1925. He was the twelfth child
of 13 children born to Richard ‘Dic’ Walter and Edith Jenkins. The Jenkins
clan lived in the mining village of Pontrhydyfen set high in the valley of the River
Afan in South Wales. It was a tight community, forged together on the heaving
copper works and shallow coal mines. |
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Edith had 13
children in 26 years but at the age of 44 she gave birth to her last child before
dying of puerperal fever. At two years' old, Richard was scooped up by his sister
Cecilia or ‘Cis’, and taken to live with her and her husband, Elfed,
and their two daughters Marian and Rhianon, in Port Talbort. He remained forever
grateful to Cis throughout his varied and colourful life. |
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While Cis more
than filled Richard’s need for a mother, he idolized Ifor, his brother who
was 19 years senior. As the third Jenkins child, Ifor could turn his hand to anything:
coal mining, ruby football, building, plumbing, mechanics and poetry. Ifor became
Richard’s rock and protector throughout his life and leaving the Welsh valleys
behind to join Richard as his personal assistant. |
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At school the
Welsh boy made good progress by passing a scholarship to Port Talbot Secondary
School in 1937 at the age of 11. While Richard had an appetite to learn and later
would find great pleasure in writing, it was the sports field that got his undivided
attention at school. Rugby football (which he reached international standard)
and cricket (of which he became team captain) were his obsessions. |
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Just when he
should have been studying for his School Certificate he left school to work as
a haberdasher's assistant and hated it. At 15 he was an independent boy who like
smoking, drinking and girls – not folding shirts and selling socks. He exhausted
his frustrations at a local youth centre founded by Meredith Jones – Richard’s
schoolmaster – and came face to face with the trade that took him away from
the edge of poverty. |
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He played the
role of a Count and was in a radio documentary about the Air training Corps (ATC)
of which he was a member. During this period, Meredith Jones persuaded the Glamorgan
Education Committee to readmit Richard to grammar school. Eighteen months after
leaving school, he was back with the new teacher, Philip Burton, to keep an eye
on him. |
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Philip, who
was also Richard’s commanding officer in the ATC, saw the energetic promise
that Jones had seen. Richard was a thirsty reader, particularly of poetry. Throughout
his life he would quote and write in his Notebooks chunks of John Donne, Edward
Jones, John Betjeman, Gerard Manley Hopkins, William Dunbar, Shakespeare and his
greatest read Dylan Thomas. Dylan became his hero. Sweetly, their paths would
later cross and a good friendship would grow. |
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Burton drilled
schooling into Richard: Richard rewarded Burton by gaining his school certificate
despite missing 18 months of term time. Richard was given every chance to act
before an audience at school and the local YMCA. Years later, on being interviewed
together, Philip Burton was asked: ‘How did you come to adopt him?’
Richard replied: ‘He didn’t adopt me; I adopted him.’ |
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