title: History of condoms

abstract: The history of condoms goes back at least several centuries, and perhaps beyond. For most of their history, condoms have been used both as a method of birth control, and as a protective measure against sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis B and more recently HIV/AIDS. Condoms have been made from a variety of materials; prior to the 19th century, chemically treated linen and animal tissue are the best documented varieties. Rubber condoms gained popularity in the mid-19th century, and in the early 20th century major advances were made in manufacturing techniques. Prior to the introduction of the combined oral contraceptive pill, condoms were the most popular birth control method in the Western world. In the second half of the 20th century, the low cost of condoms contributed to their importance in family planning programs throughout the developing world. Condoms have also become increasingly important in efforts to fight the AIDS pandemic.

text:
# History of condoms

The **history of condoms** goes back at least several centuries, and perhaps beyond. For most of their history, condoms have been used both as a method of birth control, and as a protective measure against sexually transmitted infections such as syphilis, gonorrhea, chlamydia, hepatitis B and more recently HIV/AIDS. Condoms have been made from a variety of materials; prior to the 19th century, chemically treated linen and animal tissue (intestine or bladder) are the best documented varieties. Rubber condoms gained popularity in the mid-19th century, and in the early 20th century major advances were made in manufacturing techniques. Prior to the introduction of the combined oral contraceptive pill, condoms were the most popular birth control method in the Western world. In the second half of the 20th century, the low cost of condoms contributed to their importance in family planning programs throughout the developing world. Condoms have also become increasingly important in efforts to fight the AIDS pandemic.

## Antiquity

Whether condoms were used in ancient civilizations is debated by archaeologists and historians. Societies in the ancient civilizations of Egypt, Greece, and Rome preferred small families and are known to have practiced a variety of birth control methods. However, these societies viewed birth control as a woman's responsibility, and the only well-documented contraception methods were female-controlled devices (both possibly effective, such as pessaries, and ineffective, such as amulets). The writings of these societies contain subtle references to male-controlled contraceptive methods that might have been condoms, but most historians interpret them as referring to coitus interruptus or anal intercourse.

The loincloths worn by Egyptian and Greek laborers were very sparse, sometimes consisting of little more than a covering for the glans of the penis. Records of these types of loincloths being worn by men in higher classes have made some historians speculate they were worn during intercourse; others, however, are doubtful of such interpretations. Historians may also cite one legend of Minos, related by Antoninus Liberalis in 150 AD, as suggestive of condom use in ancient societies. This legend describes a curse that caused Minos' semen to contain serpents and scorpions. To protect his sexual partner from these animals, Minos used a goat's bladder as a female condom.

Contraceptives fell out of use in Europe after the decline of the Western Roman Empire in the 5th century; the use of contraceptive pessaries, for example, is not documented again until the 15th century. If condoms were used during the Roman Empire, knowledge of them may have been lost during its decline. In the writings of Muslims and Jews during the Middle Ages, there are some references to attempts at male-controlled contraception, including suggestions to cover the penis in tar or soak it in onion juice. Some of these writings might describe condom use, but they are "oblique", "veiled", and "vague".

## 1500s to the 1800s

### Renaissance

Prior to the 15th century, some use of glans condoms (devices covering only the head of the penis) is recorded in Asia. Glans condoms seem to have been used for birth control, and to have been known only by members of the upper classes. In China, glans condoms may have been made of oiled silk paper, or of lamb intestines. In Japan, condoms called Kabuto-gata (甲形) were made of tortoise shell or animal horn. In England, there is evidence that condoms made of animal organs were available in the time of Henry VIII (the mid-1500s).

The first well-documented outbreak of what is now known as syphilis occurred in 1494 among French troops. The disease then swept across Europe. As Jared Diamond describes it, "when syphilis was first definitely recorded in Europe in 1495, its pustules often covered the body from the head to the knees, caused flesh to fall from people's faces, and led to death within a few months." (The disease is less frequently fatal today.) By 1505, the disease had spread to Asia, and within a few decades had "decimated large areas of China".

In 16th-century Italy, Gabriele Falloppio authored the earliest uncontested description of condom use. *De Morbo Gallico* ("The French Disease", referring to syphilis) was published in 1564, two years after Falloppio's death. In this tract, he recommended use of a device he claimed to have invented: linen sheaths soaked in a chemical solution and allowed to dry before use. The cloths he described were sized to cover the glans of the penis, and were held on with a ribbon. Fallopio claimed to have performed an experimental trial of the linen sheath on 1100 men, and reported that none of them had contracted the dreaded disease.

After the publication of *De Morbo Gallico*, use of penis coverings to protect from disease is described in a wide variety of literature throughout Europe. The first indication these devices were used for birth control, rather than disease prevention, is the 1605 theological publication *De iustitia et iure* (On justice and law) by Catholic theologian Leonardus Lessius: he condemned them as immoral. The first explicit description that *un petit linge* (a small cloth) was used to prevent pregnancy is from 1655: a French novel and play titled *L'Escole des Filles* (The Philosophy of Girls). In 1666, the English Birth Rate Commission attributed a recent downward fertility rate to use of "condons", the first documented use of that word (or any similar spelling).

In addition to linen, condoms during the Renaissance were made out of intestines and bladder. Cleaned and prepared intestine for use in glove making had been sold commercially since at least the 13th century. Condoms made from bladder and dating to the 1640s were discovered in an English privy; it is believed they were used by soldiers of King Charles I. Dutch traders introduced condoms made from "fine leather" to Japan. Unlike the horn condoms used previously, these leather condoms covered the entire penis.

The oldest condoms ever excavated were found in a cesspit located in the grounds of Dudley Castle and were made from animal membrane; dating back to as early as 1642.

### 18th century

Written references to condom use became much more common during the 18th century. Not all of the attention was positive: in 1708, John Campbell unsuccessfully asked Parliament to make the devices illegal. Noted English physician Daniel Turner condemned the condom, publishing his arguments against their use in 1717. He disliked condoms because they did not offer full protection against syphilis. He also seems to have argued that belief in the protection condoms offered encouraged men to engage in sex with unsafe partners - but then, because of the loss of sensation caused by condoms, these same men often neglected to actually use the devices. The French medical professor Jean Astruc wrote his own anti-condom treatise in 1736, citing Turner as the authority in this area. Physicians later in the 18th century also spoke against the condom, but not on medical grounds: rather, they expressed the belief that contraception was immoral.

The condom market grew rapidly, however. 18th-century condoms were available in a variety of qualities and sizes, made from either linen treated with chemicals, or "skin" (bladder or intestine softened by treatment with sulphur and lye). They were sold at pubs, barbershops, chemist shops, open-air markets, and at the theatre throughout Europe and Russia. The first recorded inspection of condom quality is found in the memoirs of Giacomo Casanova (which cover his life until 1774): to test for holes, he would often blow them up before use.

Couples in colonial America relied on female-controlled methods of contraception if they used contraceptives at all. The first known documents describing American condom use were written around 1800, two to three decades after the American Revolutionary War. Also around 1800, linen condoms lost popularity in the market and their production ceased: they were more expensive and were viewed as less comfortable when compared to skin condoms.

Up to the 19th century, condoms were generally used only by the middle and upper classes. Perhaps more importantly, condoms were unaffordable for many: for a typical prostitute, a single condom might cost several months' pay.

### Expanded marketing and introduction of rubber

The early 19th century saw contraceptives promoted to the poorer classes for the first time: birth control advocates in England included Jeremy Bentham and Richard Carlile, and noted American advocates included Robert Dale Owen and Charles Knowlton. Writers on contraception tended to prefer other methods of birth control, citing both the expense of condoms and their unreliability (they were often riddled with holes, and often fell off or broke), but they discussed condoms as a good option for some, and as the only contraceptive that also protected from disease. One group of British contraceptive advocates distributed condom literature in poor neighborhoods, with instructions on how to make the devices at home; in the 1840s, similar tracts were distributed in both cities and rural areas through the United States.

From the 1820s through the 1870s, popular women and men lecturers traveled around America teaching about physiology and sexual matters. Many of them sold birth control devices, including condoms, after their lectures. They were condemned by many moralists and medical professionals, including America's first female doctor Elizabeth Blackwell. Blackwell accused the lecturers of spreading doctrines of "abortion and prostitution". In the 1840s, advertisements for condoms began to appear in British newspapers, and in 1861 a condom advertisement appeared in *The New York Times*.

The discovery of the rubber vulcanization process is disputed. Some contest that it was invented by Charles Goodyear in America 1839, and patented in 1844. Other accounts attribute it to Thomas Hancock in Britain in 1843. The first rubber condom was produced in 1855, and by the late 1850s several major rubber companies were mass-producing, among other items, rubber condoms. A main advantage of rubber condoms was their reusability, making them a more economical choice in the long term. Compared to the 19th-century rubber condoms, however, skin condoms were initially cheaper and offered better sensitivity. For these reasons, skin condoms remained more popular than the rubber variety. However, by the end of the 19th century "rubber" had become a euphemism for condoms in countries around the world. For many decades, rubber condoms were manufactured by wrapping strips of raw rubber around penis-shaped moulds, then dipping the wrapped moulds in a chemical solution to cure the rubber. The earliest rubber condoms covered only the glans of the penis; a doctor had to measure each man and order the correct size. Even with the medical fittings, however, glans condoms tended to fall off during use. Rubber manufacturers quickly discovered they could sell more devices by manufacturing full-length one-size-fits-all condoms to be sold in pharmacies.

Distribution of condoms in the United States was limited by passage of the Comstock laws, which included a federal act banning the mailing of contraceptive information (passed in 1873) as well as State laws that banned the manufacture and sale of condoms in thirty states. In Ireland the 1889 Indecent Advertisements Act made it illegal to advertise condoms, although their manufacture and sale remained legal. Contraceptives were illegal in 19th-century Italy and Germany, but condoms were allowed for disease prevention. In Great Britain it was forbidden to sell condoms as prophylactics under the 1917 VD act, so they were marketed as contraceptives rather than as prophylactics, as they were in America. Despite legal obstacles, condoms continued to be readily available in both Europe and America, widely advertised under euphemisms such as *male shield* and *rubber good*. In late-19th-century England, condoms were known as "a little something for the weekend". The phrase was commonly used in barbershops, which were a key retailer of condoms, in twentieth century Britain. Only in the Republic of Ireland were condoms effectively outlawed. In Ireland, their sale and manufacture remained illegal until the 1970s.

Opposition to condoms did not only come from moralists: by the late 19th century many feminists expressed distrust of the condom as a contraceptive, as its use was controlled and decided upon by men alone. They advocated instead for methods which were controlled by women, such as diaphragms and spermicidal douches. Despite social and legal opposition, at the end of the 19th century the condom was the Western world's most popular birth control method. Two surveys conducted in New York in 1890 and 1900 found that 45% of the women surveyed were using condoms to prevent pregnancy. A survey in Boston just prior to World War I concluded that three million condoms were sold in that city every year.

1870s England saw the founding of the first major condom manufacturing company, E. Lambert and Son of Dalston. In 1882, German immigrant Julius Schmid founded one of the largest and longest-lasting condom businesses, Julius Schmid, Inc. This New York business initially manufactured only skin condoms (in 1890 he was arrested by Anthony Comstock for having almost seven hundred of the devices in his house). In 1912, a German named Julius Fromm developed a new, improved manufacturing technique for condoms: dipping glass molds into a raw rubber solution. Called *cement dipping*, this method required adding gasoline or benzene to the rubber to make it liquid. In America, Schmid was the first company to use the new technique. Using the new dipping method, French condom manufacturers were the first to add textures to condoms. Fromm was the first company to sell a branded line of condoms, Fromm's Act, which remains popular in Germany today. The Fromms was taken over by the Nazis during the war, and the family fled to Great Britain but could not compete against the powerful London Rubber Company. The condom lines manufactured by Schmid, Sheiks and Ramses, were sold through the late 1990s. Youngs Rubber Company, founded by Merle Youngs in late-19th-century America, introduced the Trojan brand.

Beginning in the second half of the 19th century, American rates of sexually transmitted infections skyrocketed. Causes cited by historians include effects of the American Civil War, and the ignorance of prevention methods promoted by the Comstock laws. To fight the growing epidemic, sexual education classes were introduced to public schools for the first time, teaching about STIs and how they were transmitted. They generally taught that abstinence was the only way to avoid sexually transmitted infections. The medical community and moral watchdogs considered STIs to be punishment for sexual misbehavior. The stigma on victims of these diseases was so great that many hospitals refused to treat people who had syphilis.

## 1900 to present

### World War I to the 1920s

The German military was the first to promote condom use among its soldiers, beginning in the second half of the 19th century. Early-20th-century experiments by the American military concluded that providing condoms to soldiers significantly lowered rates of sexually transmitted infections. During World War I, the United States and (at the beginning of the war only) Britain were the only countries with soldiers in Europe who did not provide condoms and promote their use, although some condoms were provided as an experiment by the Royal Navy. By the end of the war, the American military had diagnosed almost 400,000 cases of syphilis and gonorrhea, a historic high.

From just before 1900 to the beginning of World War I, almost all condoms used in Europe were imported from Germany. Germany not only exported condoms to other European countries, but was a major supplier to Australia, New Zealand, and Canada. During the war, the American companies Schmid and Youngs became the main suppliers of condoms to the European Allies. By the early 1920s, however, most of Europe's condoms were once again made in Germany.

In 1918, just before the end of the war, an American court overturned a conviction against Margaret Sanger. In this case, the judge ruled that condoms could be legally advertised and sold for the prevention of disease.  There were still a few state laws against buying and selling contraceptives, and advertising condoms as birth control devices remained illegal in over thirty states. But condoms began to be publicly, legally sold to Americans for the first time in forty-five years. Through the 1920s, catchy names and slick packaging became an increasingly important marketing technique for many consumer items, including condoms and cigarettes. Quality testing became more common, involving filling each condom with air followed by one of several methods intended to detect loss of pressure. Several American companies sold their rejects under cheaper brand names rather than discarding them. Consumers were advised to perform similar tests themselves before use, although few actually did so. Worldwide, condom sales doubled in the 1920s.

Still, there were many prominent opponents of condoms. Marie Stopes objected to the use of condoms ostensibly for medical reasons. Founder of psychoanalysis Sigmund Freud opposed all methods of birth control on the grounds that their failure rates were too high.  Freud was especially opposed to the condom because it cut down on sexual pleasure. . Some feminists continued to oppose male-controlled contraceptives such as condoms. Many moralists and medical professionals opposed all methods of contraception. In 1920 the Church of England's Lambeth Conference condemned all "unnatural means of conception avoidance." London's Bishop Arthur Winnington-Ingram complained of the number of condoms discarded in alleyways and parks, especially after weekends and holidays.

In the U.S., condom advertising was legally restricted to their use as disease preventatives. They could be openly marketed as birth control devices in Britain, but purchasing condoms in Britain was socially awkward compared to the U.S. They were generally requested with the euphemism "a little something for the weekend." Boots, the largest pharmacy chain in Britain, stopped selling condoms altogether in the 1920s, a policy that was not reversed until the 1960s. In post-World War I France, the government was concerned about falling birth rates. In response, it outlawed all contraceptives, including condoms. Contraception was also illegal in Spain. European militaries continued to provide condoms to their members for disease protection, even in countries where they were illegal for the general population.

### Invention of spray-drying and manufacturing automation

Around 1920 patent lawyer, inventor and vice-president of the United States Rubber Company Ernest Hopkinson invented a simple new technique of converting latex into rubber without a coagulant (demulsifier), which featured using water as a solvent, spraying the solution and drying it with warm air, as well as optionally preserving liquid latex with ammonia. To distinguish from the earlier technologies, the rubber products made with this technology eventually started to be called "latex" products.

Youngs Rubber Company was the first to manufacture a latex condom, an improved version of their Trojan brand. Latex condoms required less labor to produce than cement-dipped rubber condoms, which had to be smoothed by rubbing and trimming. Because it used water to suspend the rubber instead of gasoline and benzene, it eliminated the fire hazard previously associated with all condom factories. Latex condoms also performed better for the consumer: they were stronger and thinner than rubber condoms, and had a shelf life of five years (compared to three months for rubber). Europe's first latex condom was an export from Youngs Rubber Company in 1929. In 1932 the London Rubber Company, which had previously served as a wholesaler for German-manufactured condoms, became Europe's first manufacturer of latex condoms, the Durex. The Durex plant was designed and installed by Lucian Landau, a Polish rubber technology student living in London.

Until the twenties, all condoms were individually hand-dipped by semiskilled workers. Throughout the 1920s, advances in automation of condom assembly line were made. Fred Killian patented the first fully automated line in 1930 and installed it in his manufacturing plant in Akron, Ohio. Killian charged $20,000 for his conveyor system ($360,000 in 2023 dollars). Automated lines dramatically lowered the price of condoms. Major condom manufacturers bought or leased conveyor systems, and small manufacturers were driven out of business. The skin condom, now significantly more expensive than the latex variety, became restricted to a niche high-end market. In Britain, the London Rubber Company's fully automated plant was designed in-house by Lucian Landau and the first lines were installed from 1950 onward.

### Great Depression

In 1927, senior medical officers in the American military began promoting condom distribution and educational programs to members of the army and navy. By 1931, condoms were standard issue to all members of the U.S. military. This coincided with a steep decline in U.S. military cases of sexually transmitted infection. The U.S. military was not the only large organization that changed its moral stance on condoms: in 1930, the Anglican Church's Lambeth Conference sanctioned the use of birth control by married couples. In 1931, the Federal Council of Churches in the U.S. issued a similar statement.

The Roman Catholic Church responded by issuing the encyclical *Casti connubii* affirming its opposition to all contraceptives, a stance it has never reversed. Semen analysis was first performed in the 1930s. Samples were typically collected by masturbation, another action opposed by the Catholic Church. In 1930s Spain, the first use of collection condoms was documented; holes put in the condom allowed the user to collect a sample without violating the prohibitions on contraception and masturbation.

In 1932, Margaret Sanger arranged for a shipment of diaphragms to be mailed from Japan to a sympathetic doctor in New York City. When U.S. customs confiscated the package as illegal contraceptive devices, Sanger helped file a lawsuit. In 1936, a federal appeals court ruled in *United States v. One Package of Japanese Pessaries* that the federal government could not interfere with doctors providing contraception to their patients. In 1938, over three hundred birth control clinics opened in America, supplying reproductive care (including condoms) to poor women all over the country. Programs led by U.S. Surgeon General Thoman Parran included heavy promotion of condoms. These programs are credited with a steep drop in the U.S. STI rate by 1940.

Two of the few places where condoms became more restricted during this period were Fascist Italy and Nazi Germany. Because of government concern about low birth rates, contraceptives were made illegal in Italy in the late 1920s. Although limited and highly controlled sales as disease preventatives were still allowed, there was a brisk black market trade in condoms as birth control. In Germany, laws passed in 1933 mandated that condoms could only be sold in plain brown wrappers, and only at pharmacies. Despite these restrictions, when World War II began Germans were using 72 million condoms every year. The elimination of moral and legal barriers, and the introduction of condom programs by the U.S. government helped condom sales. However, these factors alone are not considered to explain the Great Depression's booming condom industry. In the U.S. alone, more than 1.5 million condoms were used every day during the Depression, at a cost of over $33 million per year (not adjusted for inflation). One historian explains these statistics this way: "Condoms were cheaper than children." During the Depression condom lines by Schmid gained in popularity: that company still used the cement-dipping method of manufacture. Unlike the latex variety, these condoms could be safely used with oil-based lubricants. And while less comfortable, older-style rubber condoms could be reused and so were more economical, a valued feature in hard times.

More attention was brought to quality issues in the 1930s. In 1935, a biochemist tested 2000 condoms by filling each one with air and then water: he found that 60% of them leaked. The condom industry estimated that only 25% of condoms were tested for quality before packaging. The media attention led the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to classify condoms as a drug in 1937 and mandate that every condom be tested before packaging. Youngs Rubber Company was the first to institute quality testing of every condom they made, installing automatic testing equipment designed by Arthur Youngs (the owner's brother) in 1938. The Federal Food, Drug, and Cosmetic Act authorized the FDA to seize defective products; the first month the Act took effect in 1940, the FDA seized 864,000 condoms. While these actions improved the quality of condoms in the United States, American condom manufacturers continued to export their rejects for sale in foreign markets.

### World War II to 1980

During World War II condoms were not only distributed to male U.S. military members, but enlisted men were also subject to significant contraception propaganda in the form of films, posters, and lectures. A number of slogans were coined by the military, with one film exhorting *"Don't forget — put it on before you put it in."* African-American soldiers, who served in segregated units, were exposed to less of the condom promotion programs, had lower rates of condom usage, and much higher rates of STIs. America's female military units, the WACs and WAACs, were still engaged with abstinence programs. European and Asian militaries on both sides of the conflict also provided condoms to their troops throughout the war, even Germany which outlawed all civilian use of condoms in 1941. Despite the rubber shortages that occurred during this period, condom manufacturing was never restricted. In part because condoms were readily available, soldiers found a number of non-sexual uses for the devices, many of which continue to be utilized to this day.

Post-war American troops in Germany continued to receive condoms and materials promoting their use. Nevertheless, rates of STIs in this population began to rise, reaching the highest levels since World War I. One explanation is that the success of newer penicillin treatments led soldiers to take syphilis and gonorrhea much less seriously. A similar casual attitude toward STIs appeared in the general American population; one historian states that condoms "were almost obsolete as prophylaxis by 1960". By 1947, the U.S. military was again promoting abstinence as the only method of disease control for its members, a policy that continued through the Vietnam War.

But condom sales continued to grow. From 1955 to 1965, 42% of Americans of reproductive age relied on condoms for birth control. In Britain from 1950 to 1960, 60% of married couples used condoms. For the more economical-minded, cement-dipped condoms continued to be available long after the war. In 1957, Durex introduced the world's first lubricated condom. Beginning in the 1960s, the Japanese used more condoms per capita than any other nation in the world. The birth control pill became the world's most popular method of birth control in the years after its 1960 debut, but condoms remained a strong second. A survey of British women between 1966 and 1970 found that the condom was the most popular birth control method with single women. New manufacturers appeared in the Soviet Union, which had never restricted condom sales. The U.S. Agency for International Development pushed condom use in developing countries to help solve the "world population crises": by 1970 hundreds of millions of condoms were being used each year in India alone.

In the 1960s and 1970s quality regulations tightened, and legal barriers to condom use were removed. In 1965, the U.S. Supreme Court case *Griswold v. Connecticut* struck down one of the remaining Comstock laws, the bans of contraception in Connecticut and Massachusetts. France repealed its anti-birth control laws in 1967. Similar laws in Italy were declared unconstitutional in 1971. Captain Beate Uhse in Germany founded a birth control business, and fought a series of legal battles to continue her sales. In Ireland, legal condom sales (only to people over 18, and only in clinics and pharmacies) were allowed for the first time in 1978. (All restrictions on Irish condom sales were lifted in 1993.)

Advertising was one area that continued to have legal restrictions. In the late 1950s, the American National Association of Broadcasters banned condom advertisements from national television. This policy remained in place until 1979, when the U.S. Justice department had it overturned in court. In the U.S., advertisements for condoms were mostly limited to men's magazines such as *Penthouse*. The first television ad, on the California station KNTV, aired in 1975: it was quickly pulled after it attracted national attention. And in over 30 states, advertising condoms as birth control devices was still illegal.

### After the discovery of AIDS

The first *New York Times* story on acquired immunodeficiency syndrome (AIDS) was published on July 3, 1981. In 1982, it was first suggested that the disease was sexually transmitted. In response to these findings, and to fight the spread of AIDS, the U.S. Surgeon General Dr. C. Everett Koop supported condom promotion programs. However, President Ronald Reagan preferred an approach of concentrating only on abstinence programs. Some opponents of condom programs stated that AIDS was a disease of homosexuals and illicit drug users, who were just getting what they deserved. In 1990, North Carolina senator Jesse Helms argued that the best way to fight AIDS would be to enforce state sodomy laws.

Nevertheless, major advertising campaigns were put in print media, promoting condoms as a way to protect against AIDS. Youngs Rubber mailed educational pamphlets to American households, although the postal service forced them to go to court to do so, citing a section of Title 39 that "prohibits the mailing of unsolicited advertisements for contraceptives." In 1983 the U.S. Supreme Court held that the postal service's actions violated the free speech clause of the First Amendment. Beginning in 1985 through 1987, national condom promotion campaigns occurred in U.S. and Europe. Over the 10 years of the Swiss campaign, Swiss condom use increased by 80%. The year after the British campaign began, condom sales in the UK increased by 20%. In 1988 Britain, condoms were the most popular birth control choice for married couples, for the first time since the introduction of the pill. The first condom commercial on U.S. television aired during an episode of *Herman's Head* on November 17, 1991. In the U.S. in the 1990s, condoms ranked third in popularity among married couples, and were a strong second among single women.

Condoms began to be sold in a wider variety of retail outlets, including in supermarkets and in discount department stores such as Wal-Mart. In this environment of more open sales, the British euphemism of "a little something for the weekend" fell out of use. In June 1991 America's first condom store, Condomania, opened on Bleecker Street in New York City. Condomania was the first store of its kind in North America dedicated to the sale and promotion of condoms in an upbeat, upscale and fun atmosphere. Condomania was also one of the first retailers to offer condoms online when it launched its website in December 1995.

Condom sales increased every year until 1994, when media attention to the AIDS pandemic began to decline. In response, manufacturers have changed the tone of their advertisements from scary to humorous. New developments continue to occur in the condom market, with the first polyurethane condom—branded Avanti and produced by the manufacturer of Durex—introduced in the 1990s. Durex was also the first condom brand to have a website, launched in 1997. As of 2007, worldwide condom use was expected to continue to grow: one study predicted that developing nations would need 18.6 billion condoms in 2015.

In 1987, Global Protection Corp. was founded in Boston, Massachusetts by two Tufts University students, and it became known for its innovative approach to condom marketing. It developed the only FDA-approved glow-in-the-dark condom, called the Pleasure Plus condom. In 2005 the company introduced its One Condoms product line. The One brand used sleek metal packaging, unusual condom wrappers and innovative marketing programs. In 2014, Global Protection became majority owned by Karex, which then purchased the rest of the company in 2020. In 2022, ONE Condoms and MyONE Condoms became the first to receive FDA approval specifically for anal sex.

## Etymology and other terms

Etymological theories for the word "condom" abound. By the early 18th century, the invention and naming of the condom was attributed to an associate of England's King Charles II, and this explanation persisted for several centuries. However, the "Dr. Condom" or "Earl of Condom" described in these stories has never been proved to exist, and condoms had been used for over one hundred years before King Charles II acceded to the throne. Also exploration Latex by Charles Marie de La Condamine

A variety of Latin etymologies have been proposed, including *condon* (receptacle), *condamina* (house), and *cumdum* (scabbard or case). It has also been speculated to be from the Italian word *guantone*, derived from *guanto*, meaning glove. William E. Kruck wrote an article in 1981 concluding that, "*As for the word 'condom', I need state only that its origin remains completely unknown, and there ends this search for an etymology.*" Modern dictionaries may also list the etymology as "unknown".

Other terms are also commonly used to describe condoms. In North America condoms are also commonly known as *prophylactics*, or *rubbers*. In Britain they may be called *French letters*. Additionally, condoms may be referred to using the manufacturer's name. The insult term scumbag was originally a slang word for condom.

## Major manufacturers

One analyst described the size of the condom market as something that "boggles the mind". Numerous small manufacturers, nonprofit groups, and government-run manufacturing plants exist around the world. Within the condom market, there are several major contributors, among them both for-profit businesses and philanthropic organizations.

In 1882, German immigrant Julius Schmid founded one of the largest and longest-lasting condom businesses, Julius Schmid, Inc., based in New York City. The condom lines manufactured by Schmid included Sheiks and Ramses. In 1932, the London Rubber Company (which had previously been a wholesale business importing German condoms) began to produce latex condoms, under the Durex brand. In 1963 Schmid was purchased by London Rubber. In 1987, London Rubber began acquiring other condom manufacturers, and within a few years became an important international company. In the late 1990s, London Rubber (by then London International Limited) merged all the Schmid brands into its European brand, Durex. Soon after, London International was purchased by Seton Scholl Healthcare (manufacturer of Dr. Scholl's footcare products), forming Seton Scholl Limited.

Youngs Rubber Company, founded by Merle Youngs in late-19th-century America, introduced the Trojan line of condoms. In 1985, Youngs Rubber Company was sold to Carter-Wallace. The Trojan name switched hands yet again in 2000 when Carter-Wallace was sold to Church and Dwight.

The Australian division of Dunlop Rubber began manufacturing condoms in the 1890s. In 1905, Dunlop sold its condom-making equipment to one of its employees, Eric Ansell, who founded Ansell Rubber. In 1969, Ansell was sold back to Dunlop. In 1987, English business magnate Richard Branson contracted with Ansell to help in a campaign against HIV and AIDS. Ansell agreed to manufacture the Mates brand of condom, to be sold at little or no profit in order to encourage condom use. Branson soon sold the Mates brand to Ansell, with royalty payments made annually to the charity Virgin Unite. In addition to its Mates brand, Ansell currently manufactures Lifestyles and Lifesan for the U.S. market.

In 1934 the Kokusia Rubber Company was founded in Japan. It is now known as the Okamoto Rubber Manufacturing Company.

In 1970 Tim Black and Philip Harvey founded Population Planning Associates (now known as Adam & Eve). Population Planning Associates was a mail-order business that marketed condoms to American college students, despite U.S. laws against sending contraceptives through the mail. Black and Harvey used the profits from their company to start a non-profit organization Population Services International. By 1975, PSI was marketing condoms in Kenya and Bangladesh, and today operates programs in over sixty countries. Harvey left his position as PSI's director in the late 1970s, but in the late 1980s again founded a nonprofit company, DKT International. Named after D.K. Tyagi (a leader of family planning programs in India), DKT International annually sells millions of condoms at discounted rates in developing countries around the world. By selling the condoms instead of giving them away, DKT intends to make its customers invested in using the devices. One of DKT's more notable programs is its work in Ethiopia, where soldiers are required to carry a condom every time they leave base. The rate of HIV infection in the Ethiopian military, about 5%, is believed to be the lowest among African militaries.

As of 2020, the Malaysian company Karex is the largest condom producer in the world.


title: Paul Richard Thomas

abstract: Paul Richard Thomas is a photographer known for his art, fashion, and beauty photography.

text:
# Paul Richard Thomas

**Paul Richard Thomas** (born 1977) is a photographer known for his art, fashion, and beauty photography.

## Early years

Traveling with his parents (both university teachers), he spent his childhood in Thailand and in Egypt where his father offered him his first camera. Thomas started his career working as an illustrator for press and advertising, before transitioning to early photography for architecture and archaeology editorials. Focusing his creativity on aesthetics and on conceptual images, he quickly entered the world of fashion and beauty photography.

## Photography

Thomas' images immediately attracted exclusive clients, allowing him to collaborate with top models from major international agencies, prestigious brands, and household names. As his career in photography blossomed, he became known for covers, shot in his particular graphic style with international top models and actors such as Béatrice Dalle, Laura Smet, Helena Noguerra, Adriana Karembeu, Laura Paketova, Marie Gillain, Olga Kurylenko... His editorial work, recognizable by its graphic, strong, and conceptual sceneries lead him to partner with elite fashion and beauty companies, utilizing his own proprietary methods in pearly light imaging, which resulted in high demand for his specialized services. Paul Richard Thomas has captured in his lens top models and celebrities like Anja Rubik, Irina Pantaeva, Olga Pantushenkova, Tanja, Ruta Palionyte, Talitha Pugliesi, Angelica Boss, Zdenka Barkalova, Gabriela Gubert, Angelika Kallio, Vlada Roslyakova, Suzanne Bartsch, and Fatima Siad, just to name a few. Over the years, Thomas has collaborated with various fashion brands, including Cartier, Louis Vuitton, Tag Heuer, Givenchy, and Hermes, among others. The Chanel Group commissioned Thomas to create portraits of François Lesage, Isabel Marant, Anne Valérie Hash, Jérôme Dreyfus, Eymeric François, and Franck Sorbier. The latest Paul Richard Thomas exhibition\]\] in New York which took place in Bryant Park offers an introspective view and a thought-provoking commentary on society's perceptions of beauty and individuality, incorporating his sharp edge of surrealism.

## Filmmaking

Beyond the setting of editorials and advertisements, Thomas also worked on other commercial projects including directing TV ads and music videos. He has directed television commercials and music videos\]\] such as "Steps in the Dark", *It's Raining Tonight", "Right Your Role And It's Rock and Roll", "Tears Of Angels", "Yes A Day Has To Come", and "the Words of Love"...*

## Press

Eat My News

Time Square Chronicles

Art in New York City

The World of Top Models

Bryant Park Exhibition documentary

## Music videos filmography

It's Raining Tonight

Right Your Role And It's Rock and Roll

Tears of Angel

The Words of Love

Yes A Day Has To Come


title: Helenio Herrera (footballer, born 1952)

abstract: Helenio Angel Herrera, is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a forward.

text:
# Helenio Herrera (footballer, born 1952)

**Helenio Angel Herrera** (born 27 January 1952), is a retired Spanish footballer who played as a forward.

## Club career

Herrera signed for the New York Cosmos in 1972 from Spanish giants Real Madrid.

## Personal life

Herrera is the son of legendary football manager of the same name, Helenio Herrera.

## Career statistics

### Club

| Club | Season | League | | | Cup | | Other | | Total | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| | | Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals |
| New York Cosmos | 1972 | NASL | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |
| **Career total** | | | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 |

Notes   1. "Statistics". *nasljerseys.com*. Retrieved 14 September 2021.
2. "Cosmos sign two, add ethnic flavor". *nytimes.com*. 31 March 1972. Retrieved 14 September 2021.

## InfoBox

Helenio Herrera
| Personal information | | | |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Full name | Helenio Angel Herrera | | |
| Date of birth | (1952-01-27) 27 January 1952 | | |
| Place of birth | Madrid, Spain | | |
| Height | 5 ft 10 in (1.78 m) | | |
| Position(s) | Forward | | |
| Youth career | | | |
|  | Roma | | |
|  | Real Madrid | | |
| Senior career\* | | | |
| Years | **Team** | **Apps** | **(Gls)** |
| 1972 | New York Cosmos | 1 | (0) |
| Total |  | **1** | **(0)** |
| \*Club domestic league appearances and goals | | | |


title: Kowloon–Canton Railway

abstract: The Kowloon–Canton Railway was a railway network in Hong Kong. It was owned and operated by the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) until 2007. Rapid transit services, a light rail system, feeder bus routes within Hong Kong, and intercity passenger and freight train services to China on the KCR network, have been operated by the MTR Corporation since 2007. While still owned by its previous operator, the KCR network has been operated by the MTR Corporation Limited under a 50-year, extensible, service concession since 2 December 2007. The two companies have merged their local metro lines into one unified fare system. Immediately after the merger, steps were taken to integrate the network into the same fare system as the MTR, and gates between the two networks were removed in several stages in 2008. Although the MTR Corporation is a listed company, the Hong Kong Government is the controlling shareholder with a stake of about 75%. In 2006, the local KCR local passenger train network recorded an annual ridership of 544 million.

text:
# Kowloon–Canton Railway

| Kowloon–Canton Railway | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| Traditional Chinese | 九廣鐵路 |
| Simplified Chinese | 九广铁路 |
| Transcriptions  Standard Mandarin  Hanyu Pinyin Jiǔ Guǎng Tiělù  Yue: Cantonese  Jyutping gau2 gwong2 tit3 lou6 | |
|  | |

The **Kowloon–Canton Railway** (**KCR**; Chinese: 九廣鐵路; Cantonese Yale: *Gáugwóng Titlouh*) was a railway network in Hong Kong. It was owned and operated by the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) until 2007. Rapid transit services, a light rail system, feeder bus routes within Hong Kong, and intercity passenger and freight train services to China on the KCR network, have been operated by the MTR Corporation since 2007.

While still owned by its previous operator, the KCR network (which is wholly owned by the Hong Kong Government through the KCRC) has been operated by the MTR Corporation Limited under a 50-year, extensible, service concession since 2 December 2007. The two companies have merged their local metro lines into one unified fare system. Immediately after the merger, steps were taken to integrate the network into the same fare system as the MTR, and gates between the two networks were removed in several stages in 2008. Although the MTR Corporation is a listed company, the Hong Kong Government is the controlling shareholder with a stake of about 75%.

In 2006, the local KCR local passenger train network (i.e. intercity services excluded) recorded an annual ridership of 544 million.

## History

### 19th century

During the 19th century, the western colonial powers competed with each other to establish and maintain commercial and political spheres of influence in China. Hong Kong held a vital position in protecting British trading interests in South China. The idea of connecting Hong Kong and China with a railway was first proposed to prominent Hong Kong businessmen in March 1864 by a British railway engineer, Sir Rowland MacDonald Stephenson, who had considerable experience of developing railways in India. The minutes of the committee of the Chamber of Commerce meeting in Hong Kong, where a letter setting out his ideas was considered on 7 March 1864, stated that *"the opinions of the Chamber in respect to his suggestions should be recorded in the form of a letter, to the effect that the Committee deem it essential for the advancement of the project that short lines of railway should at first only be tried, and that it is not advisable at present to interfere with any water communications which are already established and can generally be worked more cheaply than railway traffic."*

The main reason for this decision, which effectively killed MacDonald Stephenson's idea, was that many of the businessmen concerned had a personal interest in protecting their investments in the established shipping companies that enjoyed a monopoly on carriage of passengers and goods into and out of China. It took a further 30 years before the idea of building a railway from Hong Kong to China was again given serious consideration. In the last decade of the 19th century increasing diplomatic and trade activity by France in Guangzhou (Canton) and the granting of a concession to Belgian interests to construct a railway from Beijing to Hankou, led to diplomatic and commercial concerns from the British about protecting Hong Kong as the major trading port for South China. Li Hanzhang, Qing governor of the Guangdong province, also made at the time a similar proposal for a railway connecting Guangzhou with the rural hamlet of Sham Shui Po just outside the British border. Britain was at the time vastly expanding her sphere of influence in the Far East and was striving to obtain the rest of Hong Kong up to the Sham Chun River. Li saw this chance as a method to develop Sham Shui Po as another probable trading hub. Although Li did correctly prophesy the village's prosperity following to the annexation of the New Territories in 1898, Li's proposal was eventually rejected by the Central Government in favour of the budget being allocated to the much anticipated Guangzhou–Hankou railway. The British, however, caught up with this proposal and the idea of a railway similar to this was first considered with much interest.

The British Government extracted a number of railway concessions from the Chinese Government for the British & Chinese Corporation, a joint venture formed in 1898 between the trading company of Jardine Matheson & Co. and the Hong Kong and Shanghai Bank. These concessions included the right to construct and operate a railway from Kowloon to Guangzhou that would link to the Beijing–Hankou–Guangzhou line.

While the British & Chinese Corporation undertook a preliminary survey of the proposed route of the line in 1899, the financial uncertainties created by the Boxer Rebellion in China (1899–1901) and the Boer War (1899–1902) in South Africa made it difficult for the corporation to raise funds for the project. However, by the beginning of the 20th century, the Hong Kong Government under the leadership of the colony's governor, Sir Henry Blake, decided that urgent action was required.

### 1904–1945: Construction and early years

Discussions between the Colonial Office in London, the Hong Kong Government and the British & Chinese Corporation, led to an agreement in late 1904 that the Hong Kong Government would undertake the financing, construction and operation of the section of the line within Hong Kong. The remaining section to Guangzhou would be financed through a loan raised by the British & Chinese Corporation on behalf of the Chinese Government, which would operate the section after its construction by the corporation.

Settling the detailed financing arrangements for the British and Chinese sections proved to be complicated because the funding of the British Section (as it became known) depended on the raising of the loan for the Chinese Section. The arrangements were finally ratified by the Hong Kong Government's passage of the Railway Loans Ordinance in 1905, clearing the way for construction of the British Section. It took until 1907, however, for the loan agreement for the Chinese Section to be concluded, with the financing being provided by way of a bond issue floated in London in April of the same year.

The importance attached to the project was reflected in a speech made to the Hong Kong Legislative Council by the colonial governor, Sir Frederick Lugard, in 1908:

*"You will recall that in 1905 it was decided to build the railway by means of a loan. It was not a question of whether the undertaking would be an immediately remunerative concern; it was not a question of whether the railway should pay interest and sinking fund on the capital expended, or even if it would at once pay working expenses. It was a question of preserving the predominance of Hong Kong. It was a question of seeing that the final outlet of the main trunk railway should be at Kowloon, and at no other place."*

Two routes were suggested for the British Section, a western route of about 34 miles (55 km) from the tip of Kowloon peninsula via Tsuen Wan to Castle Peak Bay and thence to Yuen Long and the border with China, and a more direct eastern route of about 21 miles (34 km) requiring tunnelling through the Kowloon hills and thence to the border via Tide Cove (Sha Tin), Tai Po, Fanling and Sheung Shui. Following a detailed survey in 1905, the eastern route was proposed. Although the formal approval of the Colonial Office in London was not given until February 1906, the Governor, Sir Matthew Nathan, had anticipated a positive outcome and had already instructed the Public Works Department to start earthworks on the route from Tai Po Market to Fanling in December 1905.

The initial estimate for the project was HK$5,053,274, which included the cost of excavating a tunnel through the Kowloon hills at Beacon Hill and reclamation in Kowloon for a terminus. However, underestimation of the challenges, changes in design, depreciation of the Hong Kong dollar against the pound sterling (much of the equipment had to be imported from Britain), difficulties in recruiting suitable labour coupled with a high mortality and sickness rate amongst the workers (malaria, beri beri and dysentery were endemic in Hong Kong at that time) and right-of-way land acquisition costs greatly pushed up the final cost of the project.

The most difficult part of the project was the construction of the Beacon Hill Tunnel, which ended up costing about one quarter of the whole project. Together with the construction of the Sha Tau Kok line, a two-foot narrow gauge branch railway from Fanling to Sha Tau Kok (making use of the rails and rolling stock used in the construction of the main line and later closed in April 1928), the final cost was HK$12,296,929, making it one of the most expensive railways in the world and, as costs escalated, the subject of much concern in both Hong Kong and London.

Although the design called for the construction of only a single track of a standard gauge of 4 feet 8½ inches (1,435 mm), an important decision made was to ensure that as far as possible the right-of-way of the railway, i.e. all bridges, cuttings, and embankments (with the exception of the tunnels to reduce budget), allowed for the laying of a future second track. This decision, although it might have seemed unnecessarily costly at the time, proved of benefit some 75 years later when the railway was finally double-tracked.

The railway was formally opened on Saturday, 1 October 1910, but without a terminus, this event being officially recorded by way of a notice in the following Friday's Hong Kong Government Gazette.

Some 39 acres (16 ha) of the harbour at the south of the Kowloon peninsula, between Signal Hill (Blackhead Point) and Hung Hom, had taken place using material excavated from the route and carried to the site by a two-foot gauge railway. However, the final decision to locate the terminus at the tip of Kowloon peninsula was not made until 1910, and the terminus was only fully completed and commissioned in March 1916, although the platforms themselves were put into service in 1914.

The railway opened in 1910 with a number of temporary stations. Part of a godown (warehouse) next to the site of the present day Star Ferry pier in Tsim Sha Tsui was rented and converted into a passenger station with rails to it laid down Salisbury Road from Signal Hill. Temporary stations were built at Hung Hom and Lo Wu, with permanent stations being built at Sha Tin, Fanling and Tai Po (later named Tai Po Kau), and a flag stop at Tai Po Market (*aka*.Tai Po New Market, Tai Wo Market) which shortly became a proper station for passenger service. 1910 the Kowloon–Canton Railway owned four steam locomotives, eight coaches and 40 goods wagons.

Traffic on the new railway was at first quiet as there was little demand for passenger and freight services by the inhabitants of the then undeveloped New Territories north of Beacon Hill. Only after the Chinese Section was completed and opened in 1911 did traffic start to build up as people took advantage of the fast journey time of only 3 hours 40 minutes from Kowloon to Guangzhou.

Little changed up until the Second World War, with the commercial success of the railway being closely linked to events in China. During the defence of Hong Kong in December 1941, various bridges and tunnels were deliberately blown up by the retreating British forces. After repairs had been made, the line was operated throughout the war by the Japanese using the services of the Chinese staff who had remained after the fall of the colony. During this period the railway gradually deteriorated through lack of adequate maintenance. Rolling stock and other equipment were also sent to China for use there by the Japanese.

After the British resumed control of Hong Kong in 1945, following the defeat of Japan, the railway was in a sorry state. Initially the task of restoring the railway to a working condition rested with the military. Twelve locomotives were urgently ordered from Britain (arriving in 1946–47) and efforts focussed on bringing the railway up to a workable condition. Civilian management of the railway was again resumed in 1946.

### 1945–1982: Post-war development and electrification

| KCR British section<br>in 1967 |
| --- |
|  |
|  |

The post-war management faced many problems, including lack of records, which had almost all been destroyed by the Japanese and had to be reconstructed from the memories of serving and previous staff; shortages of coal for the engines necessitating their conversion to burning fuel oil; currency exchange rate difficulties due to devaluation of the Chinese currency requiring agreement with the Chinese authorities to use the Hong Kong dollar as the basis for all transactions; worn-out equipment; and staff shortages. At the same time, there was a huge demand for passenger and freight services as people who had fled to China during the war moved back to Hong Kong, and because huge volumes of goods needed to be carried into China to help in post-war relief efforts there. From an immediate post-war figure of around 600,000, the population of Hong Kong rose to nearly 2 million by the end of 1947, with the influx reaching a rate of about 100,000 per month during this period.

Although freight demand to China gradually fell, the influx of people from China continued due to the Chinese Civil War. Through-train passenger services to China stopped on 14 October 1949, the day prior to the capture of Guangzhou by the Communists. Passengers and goods then had to be transhipped at the border. Despite the inconvenience that this caused, the railway benefitted by Hong Kong becoming the centre of communications and trade with southern China, especially as much of the traffic that had hitherto gone by sea could no longer do so. Refugees fleeing the new communist government of China also often settled in squatter areas along the railway, and this, together with an increase in the British Army's presence, added to domestic travel demand in Hong Kong.

In 1951 agreement was reached with the Chinese authorities for goods wagons to again cross the border, but passenger services continued to terminate at the border at Lo Wu station. However, the Korean War (1950–1953) led to an embargo by western governments on certain goods being exported to China, and tough restrictions introduced by the Chinese government on the number of people allowed to cross the border, which together led to a severe decline in rail revenue.

The situation saw little improvement until 1955, and to reduce the operating costs of the steam locomotives a decision was taken in 1954 to gradually replace these with diesel locomotives. For the rest of the 1950s and 1960s, despite some short-term disturbances in 1967 resulting from a spill over into Hong Kong of the Cultural Revolution in China, both domestic and cross-border traffic continued to show steady overall growth.

One major decision taken during the late 1960s was to relocate the large railway workshops from Hung Hom to their present location at Ho Tung Lau in Sha Tin and to construct a new terminus at Hung Hom. This was necessary to permit construction of the first cross-harbour road tunnel – replacing the previous reliance on ferries to cross Victoria Harbour – and to overcome the constraints imposed on rail traffic growth by the first terminus at Tsim Sha Tsui. While the move to Ho Tung Lau took place in 1968, the Hung Hom station complex was not completed and opened until November 1975, at which time the Tsim Sha Tsui terminus was closed and shortly thereafter demolished except for the clock tower, which remains a landmark today.

So far improvements to the railway had been incremental in nature. In the 1970s it became clear that a radical rethink was needed if the railway was to cope with future demands. In 1972 the government set up a steering group to examine the need for future short-term and long-term improvements to the railway given the growth in freight and passenger traffic to China, coupled with the government's plans to construct large new towns at Sha Tin, Tai Po, Sheung Shui and Fanling in the New Territories that would further increase domestic travel demand.

At that time the new towns were intended to be constructed to a "balanced design" concept under which employment opportunities as well as people would be relocated from substandard accommodation in the older urban areas, thereby minimising the additional demand on the transport network. As later became apparent, however, while people were moved in their hundreds of thousands to live in the New Territories, the major centres of employment and of leisure activities remained in the urban areas, leading to an even greater dependence on the railway to support a rapidly increasing daily commuter flow.

In 1974 a 10-year investment programme was started to provide for the complete double-tracking and electrification of the railway from Hung Hom to Lo Wu, requiring the building of a second Beacon Hill Tunnel together with the construction or upgrading of stations and other facilities. This exercise was completed by the early 1980s and on 16 July 1983 the use of diesel-hauled trains ceased for domestic passenger services. Diesel locomotives continued to be used for through-train passenger services, which resumed in 1979 following implementation by Deng Xiaoping of economic reforms in China, and for freight and track maintenance services.

One consequence of the electrification was that, whereas much of the old track in the New Territories had remained unfenced, with footpaths or roads alongside or across the track used by many villagers, the faster, quieter and more frequent electric services required the complete fencing off of the track from Lo Wu to Hung Hom, necessitating the construction of footbridges with both steps and sloping ramps at various village locations. As a former Assistant District Officer in Tai Po recalls, one of the claimed concerns of the villager elders at the time was to be able to carry coffins across the tracks to the nearest road as not all villages were served by an alternate road access.

During this 10-year period, thought had also been given by the government as to the future management of the railway. Hitherto the railway had been run as a department of the government, and was subject to the normal civil service rules and requirements. This made it difficult to take a commercial approach to operating what was increasingly becoming a major business in investment and revenue terms. Corporatisation of public services as a means to permit government-owned public utilities to operate more along the lines of private sector business was an approach that was beginning to gather interest at the time from several governments – the US and UK governments under Reagan and Thatcher being prime movers. The object of corporatisation was to allow the public service providers to make a commercial return on their assets, thus reducing the need for investment of public funds raised predominantly from taxes, while still remaining under government control.

On 24 December 1982, the KCRC Ordinance (Cap 372) was enacted and the KCR ceased to be a government department, although the statutory corporation remained wholly owned by the government. Under the Ordinance a managing board, comprising 10 members appointed by the governor (chairman, managing director and not less than 4 nor more than 8 other members), became responsible for overseeing the day-to-day operations of the corporation. The corporation was required to *"perform its functions with a view to achieving a rate of return on the assets employed in its undertaking, and in accordance with ordinary commercial criteria, is satisfactory."*

### 1982–2004: An expanding network

The British Section of the original Kowloon–Canton Railway was originally operated by a department within the Hong Kong Government. Following the government's plan to corporatise the operation of the railway, the Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation (KCRC) was established in December 1982, with the government remaining as the sole shareholder.

With the development and urbanisation of the New Territories, the British Section became an important corridor to connect the new towns in eastern New Territories with urban Kowloon. Electrification and conversion to a dual-track system was completed in 1984. Since then, the suburban rail became much more metro-like. Frequent service was provided, and in the 1990s trains were refurbished to provide fewer seats and more standing places.

In 1984, the KCRC accepted the government's invitation to build and operate a light rail system in northwestern New Territories. The Light Rail Transit (known later as the KCR Light Rail, and now simply the Light Rail) was opened in 1988.

The KCRC won a bid in 1996 to build a "Western Corridor Railway", later branded as the KCR West Rail and opened in 2003. The British Section of the original Kowloon–Canton Railway was renamed KCR East Rail, and the LRT became KCR Light Rail. The names "Kowloon–Canton Railway" or "KCR" has come to refer to the network operated by the KCRC. The KCR Ma On Shan Rail was opened in 2004 as a branch line to the KCR East Rail.

The KCRC also made proposals to plan, build, and operate the Kowloon Southern Link, an extension of the West Rail to connect with the East Rail; the KCRC received permission for the project from the government on 24 September 2002. Disputes on the funding and location of the eventually cancelled Canton Road station in Tsim Sha Tsui, which was in the proposed alignment, postponed the construction by a year to 2005. Construction started on 7 November 2005. The new link started operation on 16 August 2009.

### 2006–2007: Takeover by MTR Corporation

Various proposals to merge the KCRC and the other railway operator in the territory, the MTR Corporation (MTRC), had been on the government's agenda since the 2000s. In 2006, the government, as the sole shareholder of the KCRC, decided that the two railway networks should be merged with the MTRC being granted a service concession to operate the KCR network for an initial period of 50 years. The decision was passed by the Executive Council on 11 April 2006, and was later approved by the Legislative Council and the minority shareholders of the MTRC (the government, which had a 75% stake in the MTRC, did not vote).

It was later decided that the merging of the corporations' two rail networks would take place on 2 December 2007. Since then the KCRC has become a holding company. Under the service concession, the MTRC pays the KCRC a fixed annual sum of HK$750 million, and from the fourth year after merger of the two networks, a sliding percentage scale share of annual revenue above HK$2.5 billion earned from the KCRC network.

As part of the merger, the KCR East Rail, KCR West Rail and KCR Ma On Shan Rail were renamed East Rail line, West Rail line and Ma On Shan line, respectively; the latter two lines were eventually merged into the Tuen Ma line in 2021. The KCR Light Rail is now known simply as the Light Rail. Mong Kok station on the East Rail was renamed Mong Kok East.

On 2 August 2007, Chief Executive Donald Tsang announced that, considering the technical requirements, passenger forecast, Hong Kong's future economic development and the closer trade ties between Hong Kong and Guangdong, the new Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link would adopt the dedicated-corridor option after the 10th Plenary of the Hong Kong/Guangdong Co-operation Joint Conference. The Kowloon–Canton Railway Corporation had submitted a detailed project proposal to the government. However, the project was instead built by the MTRC.

In 2017, the Hong Kong Government announced that Guangzhou–Shenzhen–Hong Kong Express Rail Link would be leased to KCRC, and MTR would operate the railway under the rail merger service concession agreement.

## Fares and tickets

There were two different fare classes on the KCR: Adult and Concessionary. Only children between the ages of 3 and 12, and senior citizens 65 years or over qualified for the concessionary rate. Like the MTR, the KCR did not provide a concessionary fare for students, although there was a student discount system available for students who lived in Tuen Mun, Yuen Long and Tin Shui Wai. Fares on the East Rail, Ma On Shan Rail, West Rail and the Light Rail (Octopus fare system only) were based on the distance between the start and end points of the journey. The Light Rail implemented a zone-based fare system for single journey tickets; there are six zones in total.

The fare for first-class service on the East Rail was double that of normal fares. Fares to Lo Wu were substantially higher than fares to the station just before, Sheung Shui, because of a tariff imposed on those travelling across the border to mainland China.

There are two payment methods:

### Octopus card

In 1998, the MTR and KCR started using the Octopus Access Control System as the main payment method for travel on its network, replacing the Common Stored Value Tickets. Octopus cards are rechargeable, contactless smart cards, thus the value of the money is digitally stored in the card, and the amount can be automatically calculated and deducted by Octopus card readers. The system was originally proposed and introduced by the MTR. It has been extended to different services such as minibuses, franchised buses, supermarkets, and fast food restaurants. It has the potential to be further developed in other fields of services. The older, traditional magnetic ticketing system is also still in use for single journeys.

Using the Octopus card to travel on the KCR was slightly cheaper than using Single Journey Tickets. Various discount schemes on different lines, and free or discounted transfer to other modes of transport have to be done through Octopus card.

## Rolling stock

### Locomotives

| Manufacturer | Model | Type | Numbers | Year | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Clyde Engineering (Australia) | EMD G26 CU diesel loco | 3 | diesel locomotives | (1974–1977) | numbered 60–62, 60 named Peter Quick |
| Siemens (Germany) | ER20 locomotive | 5 | diesel locomotives | 2002 | numbered 8001-8005 |
| Adtranz-SLM | Lok 2000 locomotive | 2 | electric locomotives | 1997 |  |

### Passenger trains

| Manufacturer | Model | Numbers | Year enter service | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Metro-Cammell | EMU England | 351 cars manufactured in 3-car sets | 1982–1988 | 1 set written off after accident in 1984, remaining 348 carriages underwent mid-life refurbishment between 1996 and 1999. To be decommissioned in 2020s. |
| Kinki Sharyo | EMU SP1900 | 96 cars | 2001 | East Rail Line, all moved to Tuen Ma line in 2021 |
| Itochu/Kinki Sharyo/Kawasaki Heavy Industries consortium | EMU SP1900 | 154 cars (2001) | 2003 | West Rail Line, all moved to Tuen Ma line in 2021 |
| Kinki Sharyo | EMU SP1950 | 72 cars (same model as SP1900) | 2004 | Ma On Shan Line, all moved to Tuen Ma line in 2021 |
| Kinki Sharyo | KTT passenger coaches | 12 | 1998 | for service between Guangzhou and Kowloon<sup>4</sup> |

### Light rail

| Manufacturer | Model | Numbers | Year enter service | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Comeng (Australia) | LRV | 70 units | 1988 | Numbered 1001–1070, 1004 named LRT Pioneer, 1070 FD Snell |
| Kawasaki Heavy Industries (Japan) | LRV (DT/MT) | 30 units | 1992–1993 | Numbered 1071-1090 (driving motors), 1201-1210 (non-driving motors) |
| A Goninan & Co (Australia) | LRV | 20 units | 1997–1998 |  |
| A Goninan & Co (Australia) | ballast car | N/A | 2009 |  |

### Feeder buses

| Manufacturer/Model | Numbers | Year entered service | Fleet number |
| --- | --- | --- | --- |
| Volvo B10M (Sweden) | 15 | 1995 | 401–415 |
| Dennis Dart (UK) | 3 | 1995 | 501–503 |
| Dennis Trident 3 (UK) | 22+53(second hand) | 1999–2000 | 601–622, 701–753 |
| Volvo Olympian | 15 | 1997–1998 | 225–239 |
| Alexander Dennis Enviro500 (UK) | 24 | 2008 | 801–824 |
| Alexander Dennis Enviro200 Dart (UK) | 11 | 2008 | 901–911 |

Updated: Dec 2009

### Service vehicles

| Manufacturer | Model | Numbers | Year enter service | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | small crane car |  |  |  |
|  | flatcars |  |  |  |
| Germany | 25t crane |  |  |  |
|  | crane with services wagon |  |  |  |
|  | services wagon |  |  |  |
| Plasser & Theurer | track machine |  |  |  |
|  | maintenance wagon |  |  |  |
|  | Overhead cable inspection vehicle |  |  |  |
| Plasser & Theurer. Bauart 08-275 | Unimat 3S |  |  |  |
|  | Railbus |  |  |  |
| Brush Traction electric hydraulic locomotive | work vehicle |  |  |  |
| Schoma diesel hydraulic locomotive | work vehicle |  |  |  |

²This steam engine was once used on the Sha Tau Kok Branch Line, but since its closing in 1924, the engine has been displayed in the Tai Po Railway Museum. It has been the only steam engine in Hong Kong for over 40 years (since the KCR last used a steam engine).
³Unit E44 (cars 144-244-444) didn't undergo refurbishment, and No. 144 is now kept at the Tai Po Railway Museum for display.
<sup>4</sup>All Kinki Sharyo stock are purchased and imported from Japan.

### Historic

Some of these are located at the Hong Kong Railway Museum in Tai Po, but most were scrapped when the KCR changed to modern rolling stock in the 1970s:

| Manufacturer | Model | Numbers | Service years | Notes |
| --- | --- | --- | --- | --- |
|  | First Class Passenger Carriage |  | 1960s |  |
|  | Hand Cart |  |  |  |
|  | Motorized rail car |  |  |  |
| Leeds Forge Company of Leeds, England | First Class Dining Carriage |  |  |  |
|  | 65 tons breakdown crane car |  |  |  |
| Hall-Scott | Petrol motor coaches (USA) | 2 | 1920s | renamed *Taipo Belle* and *Canton Belle* |
| Kitson | 4-6-4 Tank Engine |  | 1924 |  |
| Kitson | 4-6-0 Passenger Locomotive |  | 1930 |  |
| Robert Stephenson & Hawthorns | 260 Tank Engine |  | 1940s |  |
|  | 1st Class lounge & observation cars |  |  |  |
| Ex War Department (United Kingdom) 2-8-0 | steam tenders | 9 | 1946 |  |
| WG Bagnall | engines |  |  |  |
| Clyde Engineering (Australia) | EMD G12 diesel locomotives | 5 | 1954–1957 | numbered 51–55, named Sir Alexander, Lady Maurine, HP Winslow, R Baker & RD Walker, 51 donated to Hong Kong Railway Museum, 52–55 sold to Chicago Freight Car Leasing Australia in 2005 as TL152–TL155 |
| Clyde Engineering (Australia) | EMD G16 diesel locomotives | 4 | 1961–1966 | numbered 56–59, named IB Trevor, Robbie Howes, Gordon Graham & Reg Gregory, 57 scrapped 2014, 59 scrapped 2021, 56 on display at *Station Rail Voyage* exhibition at Hung Hom Station |
| WG Bagnall | 0-4-4T (UK) steam locomotive | 2 | 1924 |  |
|  | Class 1 2-6-4T steam locomotive |  |  |  |
|  | Class 3 2-6-4T steam locomotive |  |  |  |
|  | Class 9 4-6-4T steam locomotive |  |  |  |
|  | Class 15 4-6-0T steam locomotive |  |  |  |
|  | Class 21 2-8-0 steam locomotive |  |  |  |
|  | third-class open-verandah coach |  | 1911 |  |
|  | First-class coach |  | 1964 |  |
|  | Luggage compartment coach |  | 1955 |  |
| Kinki Sharyo | ordinary class coach |  | 1974 |  |
| Kinki Sharyo | third-class coach |  | 1974 |  |
|  | Engineering coach |  | 1921 |  |

## Network expansion

The Northern Link will be a rail link which connects West Rail and the Lok Ma Chau Spur Line of East Rail. The link will also serve as a connection to the boundary checkpoint into Shenzhen and Guangzhou for passengers of the western part of the New Territories. The Northern Link will start at Kam Sheung Road and end at Ta Kwu Ling. KCRC proposed to build a station at Chau Tau for interchange between this link and East Rail.

A shuttle service is expected to begin construction in 2023 and to be inaugurated in 2027.

On 25 June 2002, the government announced that KCRC had won its bid to build and operate the Sha Tin to Central Link. When the line is completed, the KCR network will cross Victoria Harbour and reach Hong Kong Island for the first time. Later the KCRC announced modification to the proposal, with the East Kowloon portion of the line joining Ma On Shan Line and West Rail Line, renamed to Tuen Ma line, and the cross-harbour portion joining East Rail Line at Hung Hom. However, the proposal has not been approved by the government yet.

On 11 April 2006, the government has signed a non-binding memorandum of understanding with MTRC and KCRC on merging the two railway companies.

According to the non-binding memorandum of understanding signed with the government, the current MTR lines may fully integrate the interchange stations with the Sha Tin to Central Link in order to bring more convenience to the passengers. Also, the government will conduct further studies on the proposal with the MTRC along with the Kwun Tong line Extension. Construction began on 22 June 2012 and completed on 15 May 2022.

## Facilities

## Tunnels

The KCR lines ran under two main tunnels:

### Documentaries

There is a documentary about KCR called **Hong Kong Train**, detailing the history of KCR from its early beginnings to the 1980s.

Government Documents Other websites

## InfoBox

| Kowloon–Canton Railway (KCR) | |
| --- | --- |
|  | |
| Overview | |
| Locale | New Territories, New Kowloon, Kowloon |
| Transit type |  |
| Number of lines | 4 (3 railway lines, 1 light rail system) |
| Number of stations | 33 railway stations, 68 light rail stations |
| Daily ridership | about 1.49 million (2006) |
| Operation | |
| Began operation | 1 October 1910 (1910-10-01) |
| Ended operation | 1 December 2007 (2007-12-01) (became a part of the MTR system) |
| Operator(s) | KCR Corporation (1982–2007) / MTR Corporation since 2007 |
| Technical | |
| System length | 35 km (22 mi) |
| Track gauge | 1,435 mm (4 ft 8+12 in) standard gauge |


title: Thoppilkadavu

abstract: Thoppilkadavu or Thoppilkkadavu is one of the neighbourhoods of the city of Kollam, located on the shores of Ashtamudi Lake in Kerala, India. It is an integral part of Kollam city. Presence of Ashtamudi Lake is increasing the importance of Thoppilkadavu as one of the tourism hotspots in the city. Thoppilkadavu is the western endpoint of Asramam Link Road in the city.

text:
# Thoppilkadavu

**Thoppilkadavu** or **Thoppilkkadavu** is one of the neighbourhoods of the city of Kollam, located on the shores of Ashtamudi Lake in Kerala, India. It is an integral part of Kollam city. Presence of Ashtamudi Lake is increasing the importance of Thoppilkadavu as one of the tourism hotspots in the city. Thoppilkadavu is the western endpoint of Asramam Link Road in the city.

## Location

## Significance

Thoppilkadavu is an emerging backwater tourism spot in Kollam city. The scenic Ashtamudi Lake and backwater tourism is increasing the importance of Thoppilkadavu. Inland Waterways Authority of India(IWAI) has built a boat yard here in Thoppilkadavu. Boats connecting various towns in Kerala will start plying through Thoppilkadavu once Government of India complete the works on National Waterway-3. Thoppilkadavu will become an important transport hub of Kollam city once Government of Kerala complete the works over the much awaited Asramam Link Road. In the Phase-II development, the current Asramam Link Road would be extended up to Thoppilkadavu at a cost of Rs.63 crore. The project comprises construction of a new bridge across the confluence point of the Kollam canal with the Ashtamudi Lake. On completion, Asramam Link Road will enable those passing through Kollam avoid the busy Collectorate-High School Junction-Taluk Office junction-Chinnakada and railway station road to proceed.

## InfoBox

| Thoppilkadavu Thoppilkkadavu | |
| --- | --- |
| Neighbourhood | |
| Apartments in Thoppilkadavu | |
| ThoppilkadavuLocation in Kollam, IndiaThoppilkadavuThoppilkadavu (Kerala)ThoppilkadavuThoppilkadavu (India) | |
| Coordinates: 8°53′44″N 76°34′21″E / 8.895434°N 76.572558°E / 8.895434; 76.572558 | |
| Country | India |
| State | Kerala |
| District | Kollam |
| City | Kollam |
| Government | |
| Body | Kollam Municipal Corporation(KMC) |
| Languages | |
| Official | Malayalam, English |
| Time zone | UTC+5:30 (IST) |
| PIN | 691008 |
| Vehicle registration | KL-02 |
| Lok Sabha constituency | Kollam |
| Civic agency | Kollam Municipal Corporation |
| Avg. summer temperature | 34 °C (93 °F) |
| Avg. winter temperature | 22 °C (72 °F) |
| Website | http://www.kollam.nic.in |


title: Townships in Montgomeryshire

abstract: Townships in Montgomeryshire are divisions of the ancient parishes of the county of Montgomery. In 1539 townships were grouped together in Hundreds. The Townships which were recognised were based on the older Welsh divisions of Tref, or plural Trefi, which had formed the Welsh administrative districts of the Commote. Not all of the former Tref were recognised and some smaller trefi were amalgamated into larger townships. A township was allocated to a particular parish—that is, one of the [civil] parishes of Wales, the predecessors to today's communities of Wales. The townships were recognised as administrative districts, rather than the parishes.

text:
# Townships in Montgomeryshire

**Townships in Montgomeryshire** are divisions of the ancient parishes of the county of Montgomery. In 1539 townships were grouped together in Hundreds. The Townships which were recognised were based on the older Welsh divisions of **Tref**, or plural **Trefi**, which had formed the Welsh administrative districts of the Commote. Not all of the former *Tref* were recognised and some smaller *trefi* were amalgamated into larger townships. A township was allocated to a particular parish—that is, one of the \[civil\] parishes of Wales (analogous to civil parishes of England), the predecessors to today's communities of Wales. The townships were recognised as administrative districts, rather than the parishes.

## Townships in Montgomeryshire

The Townships have been mapped by Murray Chapman. The Townships were grouped into Hundreds, and this formed the basis for the Montgomeryshire Court of Great Sessions. The Court met for the first time in 1541, and established the civil and criminal administration of the new County of Montgomeryshire and also arranged for the election of the Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire. A *Mr Sulyard* was appointed as surveyor to define the new counties and presumably agree the new townships. The number of *Trefi* were reduced and many were grouped together. An example is the township named *Trefor and Ffin* in Kerry. In the large township of Rhandir in Llandyssil parish, the *trefi* of Coed-wig, Trefganol and Cefn-y-coed were all merged. Many names of Trefi were lost, but some are noted in Melville Richards study of administrative units. The exact extent of many townships can be recovered from many of the Enclosure Awards, but for some Montgomeryshire parishes such as Llangynog the information appears to be missing.

Townships have been studied in Wales and the Marches by Dorothy Sylvester. She has shown that in Montgomeryshire and North West Wales Parishes were normally larger in the Medieval period and would contain many townships, while in Southern and Western Wales, parishes would be smaller and often the extent of the Township will coincide with that of the parish. Sylvester notes that in 1811 there were 53 parishes in Montgomeryshire, with an average size of 15.8 square miles, making them larger than most parishes in other Welsh counties. There were about 239 townships, with an average of 4.5 per parish. Some Montgomeryshire township were within ecclesiastical parishes which were outside County. This is particularly the case along the Montgomeryshire Shroshire border and Sylvester’s figures may have to be modified. The pattern of local government for Montgomeryshire based on the Township, Hundred and the Court of Great Sessions survived until 1830, when the Court of Great Sessions was abolished while the Assises and Quarter Sessions remained. The responsibilities of Townships further declined with the establishment of the Poor Law Unions in 1834, which were organised on a parish basis. Townships in Montgomeryshire finally disappeared as a recognised administrative unit with the establishment of the Montgomeryshire County Council in 1886 and the Rural District Councils in 1894.

## Administration of Townships

As the pattern of administration evolved in Elizabethan and later times, the Welsh Township was expected to have its own Court House (sometimes called a *Plas*), and to provide a pinfold, stocks and butts for archery. They were also responsible for Vagabonds and Paupers. Two Parish Constables were appointed each year for the administration of Justice. The maintenance of roads and bridges was also a responsibility of the Township, but this was reduced in 1819, when Thomas Penson was appointed as the first County Surveyor for Montgomeryshire. The Militia in the earlier period would be raised by the Hundred with the townships contributing. The Court House would normally be the main residence in the Township and the occupier of the house was likely to be a Justice of the Peace. With the establishment of the National Census in 1801, the population counts were on a township rather than parish basis.

## Hundreds in Montgomeryshire

Montgomeryshire was initially split into 10 Hundreds, but Clun Hundred was removed by an Act of Parliament in 1546 and included in Shropshire. The following Hundreds were established in 1541

## Literature

* Chapman, Murray Ll., (2012), *The Creation of the County of Montgomery*, Montgomeryshire Collections, Vol. 100, 127-148.
* Chapman, Murray Ll., (1999), *The Creation of the County of Montgomery*, in *The Montgomeryshire Historical Atlas* (ed. D. Jenkins),
* Jenkins D., (1999), *The Montgomeryshire Historical Atlas*, The Powyland Club, Welshpool.
* Glyn Parry, (1995), *Guide to the Court of Great Sessions,*, National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth.
* Richards M *Welsh Administrative and Territorial Units*. University of Wales Press, UWP, 1969.
* Sylvester D., (1969), *The Rural Landscape of the Welsh Borderland: A Study in Historical Geography*, Macmillan, London

## Listing of Montgomeryshire Townships (after 1541)

Parishes (In1800) by Diocese in Montgomeryshire with their respective Townships. 57 Parishes in total-some Montgomeryshire Townships may be part of parishes in other counties such as Shropshire

### Diocese of Bangor

* Llangurig:- Carn-Coed, Cefn yr Hafodau, Glan-y-nant, Glynbrochan, Glyngynwydd, Glynhafren, Uwchcoed, Llanifyny, Llan-iwaered.
* Llanidloes:- Llanidloes
* Trefeglwys:- Bodaeoch, Dolgwden, Esgeiredd, Glyntrefnant, Maestregymer,
* Carno:- Derlwyn, Llysyn, Trawsgoed.
* Llanwnog:- Caersws, Castell, Esgob, Surnant, Uwchlaw’r-coed, Wig.
* Penstrowed:- Penstowed.
* Llandinam:- Carnedd, Deddenydd, Esgair-maen, Gwern-eirin, Hengynwydd, Maesmawr, Rhydfaes, Trewyddan, Tre’r’-llan.

### Diocese of Hereford

### Diocese of St Asaph

* Llandrinio:- Llan, Llannerchcila, Penthryn Fawr, Penthryn Fechan, Tredrwen Feibion Gwnwas.
* Llandysilio:- Domgae, Haughton, Rhandregwynen, Rhysnant.
* Llansantffraid:-Dolwen, Tre’r llan, Llanerchremrys, Lledrod, Meliniog Fach, Meliniog Fawr.
* Llanfechain:-Bodynfol, Tre-lys, Tre’r Llan Isaf, Tre’r Llan Ichaf’ Ystumgynon.
* Llanfyllin:-Bachie, Bodfach, Bodran, Bodyddon, Brynelltyn, Camen, Garth-gell, Globwll, Nantallan, Rhiwnachor, Rhysgog.
* Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant (part):- Brithdir, Castellmoch, Cefn-coch, Glanhafon Fach, Glanhafon Fawr, Nantfyllon.
* Pennant Melangell:- Rhiwarth -:Rhiwarth
* Llangynog:- Hendre Fawr, Tre’r Llan, Cablyd, Cwm-llech, Llechwedd -y-Garth, Pengwern.
* Hirnant:- Cwmwr, Fedw, Tre’r Llan, Minfrwd.
* Llanwddyn:- Abermachnant Uchaf, Dwyffrwd, Garthbwlch, Tre’r Llan, Rhiwargor, Ysbyty.
* Llanfihangel yng Ngwynfa:- Cadwnfa, Cefncleisiog, Dolwar, Fach-wen, Fachvel, Fynnonarthur, Garth Uchaf, Halfen, Llaethbwlch, Llwydiarth, Nantycyndy, Rhiwlas.
* Meifod:- Cefnllyfnog, Cil, Cwm, Dyffryn, Main, Nantymerchiaid, Peniarth, Teirtref, Trefedryd, Trefnnanau, Ystumcolwyn.
* Guilsfield:- Broniarth, Burgedin, Fachoel, Garth (Guilsfield), Gungrog-fechan, Hendre-Hen, Llan,
* Welshpool:- Gungrog Fawr, Diserth, Llanerchudol, Trallong Gollen, Trefnant Fechan, Tydden-prydd, Ystradfedden Cyfronnydd'
* Castle Caereinion Castle, Cwmgoror, Gaer, Hudan and Dol, Hudanuchaf, Moedog, Nant-fforch, Sylfaaen, Trehylig, Trefnant.
* Llanfair Caereinion:-Llanvair, Rhewhiriaeth, Rhos Aflo, Pentyrch, Llanloddian, Ucha and Isa, Brynglas, Gwaunynog Uchaf and Isaf, Dolged, Brynelen, Cilcrych, Peniarth, Gelligason and Heniarth.
* Llangynyw;-Blaenglesyrch, Glynceiriog, Llanfechan, Rhiw’rgwreidden.
* Llanerfyl:- Llysyn, Coed Talog, Cynniwyll, Cran, Cefnllys Ucha, Cefnllys Isa.
* Llangadfan:- Blowty, Brynwaeddan, Cowny, Cyffin, Tre’r Llan, Maesllymystyn, Moelfeliarth.
* Garthbeibio: -Garthbeibio
* Cemaes:- Brynuchel, Gwern-y-bwlch, Tafolog.
* Mallwyd (part)
* Llanwrin:- Glynceiriog, Llanfechan, Rhiw’rgwreidden.
* Machynlleth:- Dol, Garriswm, Isygarreg.
* Penegoes:- Is-y-coed, Uwch-y-coed.
* Darowen:-Caerseddfan, Noddfa.
* Llanbrynmair:- Dolgadfan, Pennant, Rhiwsaeson, Tafolwern, Tirymynach.
* Llanllurgan:-Llan, Pencoed.
* Llanwyddelan:- Pencoed, Pen-y-Maes, Treganol.
* Manafon:- Dwyriw, Manafon Gaenog, Manafon-llan, Manafon-llys.
* Berriew:- Allt Isa, Brithdir, Brynmaescameisier, Cil, Cilcochwyn, Fach-hir, Faenor Isaf, Faenor Uchaf, Ffridd and Pen-y-wern, Gathmyl, Llandinier, Llifor, Pentryn, Trwstllywelyn.
* Llandyssil:- Bolbro, Bronywood, Bryntalch, Rhandir.
* Bettws Cedewain:- Dolforwyn, Gartgelyn, Llanithion, Ucheldre.
* Tregynon:- Aberhale, llanfechan, Pyllau.
* Aberhafesb:- Aberhabfesb.
* Llanllwchaiarn:-Aberbechan, Cilcowen, Gwestydd, Hendidle.
* Llanmerewig:-Llanmerewig
* Newtown:-Newtown/Dyffryn Llanfair

### Diocese of St Davids

* Mochdre;- Esgairgeilog, Mochre-llan
* Kerry:-Bachaethlon, Brynnllyarch, Caeliberisaf, Caeliberuchaf, Cefnyberen, Cefnymynech, Cilthriew, Cloddiau, Gartheilin, Goetre, Graig, Gwenthriw, Gwernescob, Gwern-y-go, Maenllwyd, Pengelli, Trefor and Ffin, Tre’r-llan, Wig and Dolfor.


title: Graham Barnett (priest)

abstract: Graham Roy Barnett was a New Zealand Anglican priest who was Dean of Waikato from 1927 until 1932. Barnett was born in 1885 in Tuamarina, New Zealand. educated at Marlborough Boys' College and the University of New Zealand; and ordained in 1912. After Curacies in Ross, Hokitika and St Mary's Church, Portsea he held incumbencies at Tolaga Bay, Te Kūiti, Waihi and Frankton before his time as Dean; and Brighton, Ifield and Thakeham afterwards. He served as Temporary Chaplain to the Forces (TCF) in WWI. He died in Sussex, aged 93.

text:
# Graham Barnett (priest)

**Graham Roy Barnett** (7 September 1885 – 26 October 1978) was a New Zealand Anglican priest who was Dean of Waikato from 1927 until 1932.

Barnett was born in 1885 in Tuamarina, New Zealand. educated at Marlborough Boys' College and the University of New Zealand; and ordained in 1912. After Curacies in Ross, Hokitika and St Mary's Church, Portsea he held incumbencies at Tolaga Bay, Te Kūiti, Waihi and Frankton before his time as Dean; and Brighton, Ifield and Thakeham afterwards. He served as Temporary Chaplain to the Forces (TCF) in WWI.

He died in Sussex, aged 93.


title: Nieu-Bethesda

abstract: Nieu-Bethesda is a village in the Eastern Cape at the foot of the Sneeuberge, approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Graaff Reinet. It was founded in 1875 as a church town, like many other Karoo villages, and attained municipal status in 1886. The name is of biblical origin and means "place of flowing water". In 2023, it was proposed for Nieu-Bethesda to be renamed to be renamed to Kwa-Noheleni.

text:
# Nieu-Bethesda

**Nieu-Bethesda** (Afrikaans for *New Bethesda*) is a village in the Eastern Cape at the foot of the Sneeuberge, approximately 50 kilometres (31 mi) north of Graaff Reinet. It was founded in 1875 as a church town, like many other Karoo villages, and attained municipal status in 1886. The name is of biblical origin (John 5:2–4) and means "place of flowing water".

In 2023, it was proposed for Nieu-Bethesda to be renamed to be renamed to Kwa-Noheleni.

## History

Nieu Bethesda is situated on the farm, Uitkyk, which belonged to BJ Pienaar. There was a very strong water supply on the farm and BJ Pienaar changed the course of the Gats River to drain the marshes and turn the area into fertile fields – where Nieu Bethesda stands today. On 15 December 1874, the farmers of this area met for the first time with a view to establishing a village and Dutch Reformed Church congregation. A town council was elected. In February 1875, a petition group of 169 men met the church council of Graaff-Reinet, headed by the Reverend Charles Murray, son of the first preacher Andrew Murray. On the same day, negotiations were concluded to buy Uitkyk from Pienaar's sons. It was not until 1878 that Graaff-Reinet agreed to the petitions of the Nieu Bethesda people. Rev. Charles Murray named the new settlement Nieu Bethesda in reference to the strong fountain and its biblical reference. In 1880, the church struggled to run the village so, in 1886, it became a municipality, but with administrative rights only. The church retained the properties. This meant that residents had to pay two taxes, an arrangement that led to friction for many generations. The town experienced a period of growth from its establishment in 1870s to about 1930. Nieu-Bethesda was eclipsed by larger towns during the 1930s and ‘40s. The Great Depression, improved transport and the town's isolated location led to a mass exodus, leaving the town in an impoverished state.

The town of Nieu Bethesda carries a peculiar history and has therefore become a tourist attraction. The Dutch Reformed Church which was founded in 1875 in the area began holding its services in BJ Pienaar's wagon house. A new church building was inaugurated in 1905. The Wagon House (now known as the Old Church Hall) was then used as a church hall and a venue for English church services.

In the 1930s, a Nieu Bethesda-born teacher known as Helen Martins returned to the town. After her father's death in 1945, Martins began transforming her home into a work of art. She employed Koos Malgas, a Nieu Bethesda local to assist her with her artwork. She and Malgas constructed cement and glass statues inspired by biblical texts, the poetry of Omar Khayyam, and the works by William Blake. In 1976, Martins aged seventy-eight, took her own life by swallowing caustic soda. Martin's house known as The Owl House is now run by the Owl House Foundation formed in 1996 and is now a major tourist attraction.

The town was also thrust into the spotlight by one of its residents James Kitching, vertebrate palaeontologist. Kitching became famous for collecting specimens in Nieu Bethesda for Robert Broom, the keeper of vertebrate palaeontology at the South African Museum. Kitching was the first member of staff to be appointed to the Bernard Price Institute for Palaeontological Research, set up at the University of Witwatersrand in 1945. In 1970,he was the first person to collect and identify a specimen of a Karoo therapsid in Antarctica and so demonstrate that Antarctica and southern Africa were once connected. Today, Kitching's work is stored at the Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre which depicts the setting in the area around Nieu Bethesda 253 million years ago during the Permian Period.

The town is also the focal point in Athol Fugard's play, "Road to Mecca" in 1985.

## Nieu Bethesda today

The town of Nieu Bethesda has about 1540 residents. The town is still racially divided with the African (25.06%) residents staying mostly in the Kloofroad area of Pienaarsig. The Coloured (65.19% of the town population) and Black African (22% of the population) residents abide in Pienaarsig, the former township and the White residents (8.70% of the town population) stay along the banks of the Gats River that runs through the town. Nieu Bethesda is surrounded by 8 commercial farms which provide employment for locals. There are also tourism projects such as Kitching Fossil Exploration Centre, Bethesda Arts Centre and The Owl House which generate income for the town. There are no ATMs in Nieu Bethesda and the town relies on Graaff Reinet for banking services. There is one school known as the Lettie de Klerk Primary School in Pienaarsig. For health services, Nieu Bethesda has one clinic and a resident sister.

Media related to Nieu-Bethesda at Wikimedia Commons

## InfoBox

| Nieu-Bethesda | |
| --- | --- |
| View of Nieu-Bethesda | |
| Nieu-BethesdaNieu-Bethesda | |
| Coordinates: 31°52′S 24°33′E / 31.867°S 24.550°E / -31.867; 24.550 | |
| Country | South Africa |
| Province | Eastern Cape |
| District | Sarah Baartman |
| Municipality | Dr Beyers Naudé |
| Government | |
| Type | Ward 7 |
| Councillor | Arthur Ronald Knottcraig |
| Area | |
| Total | 34.05 km2 (13.15 sq mi) |
| Population (2011) | |
| Total | 1,540 |
| Density | 45/km2 (120/sq mi) |
| Racial makeup (2011) | |
| Black African | 25.1% |
| Coloured | 65.2% |
| Indian/Asian | 0.6% |
| White | 8.7% |
| Other | 0.5% |
| First languages (2011) | |
| Afrikaans | 92.0% |
| English | 6.4% |
| Xhosa | 1.0% |
| Other | 0.6% |
| Time zone | UTC+2 (SAST) |