Sons of Haverfordwest then and now

This magnificent old shop stands halfway up Haverfordwest's steep High Street. For over 200 years the jeweller's has served the people of Pembrokeshire and the clock that hangs outside has been used by passers-by as a time check. Bisley Henry Munt established the business in 1796 and it has remained in the same family ever since, passing from father to son. The current proprietor, Bisley John Munt, has three sons so there is another generation to take over.

Elsewhere in 1796:
Napoleon marries Josephine and continues cutting a swathe through Europe.
The last British troops withdraw from newly independent America.
Spain declares war on England.
Edward Jenner performs his first smallpox innoculation.
Jane Austen writes the first draft of Pride and Prejudice.
Robert Burns dies.

One year later the last invasion of British soil, by a French flotilla, was attempted and quickly defeated on the Pembrokeshire coast near Fishguard, 15 miles away. Some of the captured French soldiers were held in Haverfordwest prison.

205 years later a young teenager called Bradley Manning returned with his mother to live in her home town of Haverfordwest and attended Tasker Milward Secondary School here for the next 2 or 3 years.

Today (one day before his 24th birthday) Bradley Manning was appearing in front of a military tribunal in regard to charges of endangering American security by passing classified material to Wikileaks. Although not convicted, for the past 18 months he has been kept in custody under conditions that have been condemned as harsh and punitive: solitary confinement, often without clothing, and minimal contact with family and friends. International concern has succeeded in improving his situation and Bradley Manning's case has attracted enormous support worldwide, especially here in Pembrokeshire. Technically a British citizen and with his mother living here still, there is a real sense of him being a local boy who bravely and unilaterally blew the whistle on human rights violations and lack of accountability by the Americans in Iraq and Afghanistan. He deserves a fair trial rather than a military courtmartial.

UK Friends of Bradley Manning