Welsh Journals

Overleaf: John Bird A plaque attached to the gilded frame of this portrait, but of later date than either the portrait or the frame, identifies the sitter as John Bird, mayor of Cardiff in 1862, a nephew of the diarist, but this identification seems to be erroneous, for the costume, hairstyle and general treatment of the sitter all suggest a late eighteenth- to early nineteenth-century date. At the turn of the century the portrait hung in Cardiff Castle and, when reproduced in Volume V of the Records of the County Borough of Cardiff (ed. J. Hobson Matthews, 1905), carried the inscription 'Sometime Factor', without any reference to mayoral status. Neither the date at which the portrait left the Castle nor its subsequent history has been established, but the original oil painting has been re-touched and re-varnished, and it seems probable that it was during this refurbishment that the plaque, with its dubious identification, was attached. The editor is most grateful to Dr Hid Anthony for her expert advice in helping to date the portrait from details of costume, details which support the hypothesis that the sitter was indeed John Bird the Diarist. Publications of the South Wales Record Society The Diaries of John Bird of Cardiff No 4