L J Williams, National Library of Wales journal. 1960, Summer Volume XI/3

Extracted onto the pages of GENUKI with the kind permission of the National Library of Wales

This is a complete extract of this article plus appendix (Gareth Hicks Feb 2003)

The places featured are Tredegar, Machen and Caerphilly

See also footnote dated June 2011

The industrial history of Wales before the mid-eighteenth century still remains largely unchartered ground. Our knowledge of the iron industry, for example, is frequently confined to the names and locations of a number of the forges and furnaces; some more or less precise dating of their period of activity; and occasionally one or two names of the people who were connected with them. A series of accounts amongst the Tredegar papers, 1  however, makes it possible to reconstruct in a little more detail the operations of one enterprise in the Welsh iron industry at the close of the seventeenth century. Unfortunately no letters and virtually no other documentary material have survived to elucidate and expand upon the accounts : nonetheless the essential features of the business emerge fairly clearly.

The business consisted of a furnace at Caerphilly and two forges, one at Machen and the other at Rudry. The accounts cover the years from 1690 to 1701 but the furnace and forges had then already been in existence for some time. The forge at Rhyd-y-gwern in the Parish of Machen had, indeed, been established over a century before 1690, being first referred to in 1567. 2  Amongst the Tredegar papers there is a document, 3 which is undated but which can---from internal evidence---be placed at shortly before 1676, that gives further evidence of the earlier existence of these undertakings. The furnace was then in poor condition: the walls were 'indifferent good', the shaft was 'decaying but may hold for a blast more', whilst 'the stream that belongs unto it is not a third part of that in former tyme'. The furnace had been held by one Hart, 4  at first for 15 years at £5 p.a. and then for a further 4 years at £30 p.a. --- the increase arising because at the end of the first term he had still had considerable unused stocks at the furnace so that he had either to sacrifice these or take a new lease. This furnace was almost certainly the old Taff furnace--- it is described as being 'upon the brink of the River Tave'--- which had been working in 1564. About 1680, however, this site was abandoned and the furnace moved to Caerphilly: 5  it is this Caerphilly furnace which figures in the Tredegar accounts. The two forges--- one in Machen and the other in Rudry--- are described as being in good condition. The former commanded (c. 1676) a rent of £50 p.a., the latter £10 p.a., whilst a storehouse at Newport was also rented for £8 p.a.

The partnership which was established in 1690 was, then, formed to conduct an undertaking which had already had a considerable history. The partners were John Morgan of Tredegar, Roger Williams and Roger Powell. Of the total capital ................

• 1. Tredegar MSS. 76/1-25.
• 2. H. R. Schubert, History of the British Iron and Steel Industry (London, 1957), p. 298.
• 3. Tredegar MSS. 76/1.
• 4. Presumably George Hart, merchant, of Bristol who in 1677 was granted a 21 year lease of coal mines and slate quarries in Senghenydd, Rudry and Whitchurch. C. Wilkins, History of the Iron, Steel and Tinplate Trades, (Merthyr, 1903), p. 24.
• 5. Hist. MSS. Comm. Lord De L'Isle and Dudley, vol. I, p. 318; Schubert, op. cit., pp. 176, 389.

............................ of £3,000 John Morgan was to hold two-thirds--- conforming to a common pattern of the time whereby a large part of industrial capital was frequently provided by local landowners--- and the others between them were responsible for the remaining third. John Morgan paid his share by providing the money to purchase the stock which already existed at the furnace and forges. This consisted of pig iron, hammers and anvils valued at £6 5. 0d. a ton; broken iron and old plates valued at £5 a ton; wood at 2s. 6d. a cord, plus 1s. 7d. a cord for wood already cut; charcoal at 23s. a load; braises (i.e. small or broken charcoal) at 20s. a cord; and such equipment as helms, arms, rabbets hammer beams and bellows' woods. The stock at the Tredegar (or Rudry) forge was bought for £972 8s. 9d.; that at Machen forge for £1,075 12s. 1 1/2d. ; and at the furnace for £488 7s. 6d. Since their total value was £536 8s. 0d. over John Morgan's share of the capital he was credited with this sum in the first account. Although the other partners provided no actual cash initially, their £1,000 was doubtless intended as the source of working capital for the business. 1

The picture which emerges from the evidence of the way in which the enterprise was organised is somewhat blurred. Roger Powell, who with Roger Williams took up a one-third interest, seems to have played no part at all. 2  John Morgan of Tredegar, the major partner, was more directly involved: it was through him that some of the customers made their payments and he also settled some of the debts. Most of this aspect of the business was, however, conducted through Roger Williams who also regularly attended the twice-yearly Bristol fairs and drew up the accounts. His more active role was recognised by the payment of a fee of £20 a year. 3  The actual management of the works was in the hands of one Nathaniel Tainton until 1694 and thereafter seems to have been shared between Edward Harry and Samuel Pratt.

The general profit record of the business is summarised in the table below (the figures are in £s to the nearest £).

• 1. Tredegar MSS., 76/2.
• 2. It was, however, his wife, Mary, and their son, Roger---describing themselves as Executors of the late Roger Williams and Roger Powell, deceased--- who finally settled the accounts with John Morgan in 1701. Tredegar MSS., 76/24.
• 3. There is, however, no record of his being paid this fee in the accounts ending Sept. 1962 and Sept. 1693. Tredegar MSS., 76/8 and 76/11.

This table calls for a few comments. In the first place the form of the accounts prevents the separation of the profit made by the production of pig iron at the furnace from that made by bar iron manufacture at the forges. This is because, in the words of the first account, 'the disbursements at Machen forges and the furnace are too intermixt that they cannot be perfectly distinguisht to make a particular Accompt of each by itself. 1 There is, however, a separate account for the Tredegar forge. Secondly, it is clear that the partners did not regularly each year divide out between them some part of the profits which had been earned. It is, however, unsafe to conclude from this that they were anxious to plough back profits into the business. It seems more likely--- especially as neither the output nor the capital value of the equipment showed any tendency to increase--- that their forbearance arose more simply from the fact that there was no cash in the business upon which they could draw. In 1697, 1698 and 1699 the separate individual accounts for Roger Williams and John Morgan show that they had each paid out more money on behalf of the business than they had received : the book profits of the business derived from the substantial debts owed by their customers. In effect, the partners were lending money to the business during these years--- and it is perhaps a reflection of their comparatively unbusinesslike approach that nowhere do they credit themselves with interest for these loans.

Finally, the last column, showing the cumulative total capital of the enterprise by adding the amount of undistributed profit to the initial capital, is to some extent notional in character. That is to say the book profits which are recorded for the furnace and forges are partly dependent upon, for example, the valuation of the stock at the end of each year and on the extent to which the sums which were owed to the partners turned out to be bad debts. Thus in one year, 1698, when Roger Williams estimated the 'clear' value of the stock at the furnace and forges he put it at £5,338 compared with the £6,850 entered in the accounts under this head. 2   Something of this nature may lie behind the substantial fall in the value of the capital between 1700 and 1701. It is difficult to be sure because the account for 1701--- apparently made up to dissolve the partnership after the death of Roger Williams during that year--- is on a different basis from the earlier accounts. The 1701 account simply adds up the total sums owing to the firm together with a ......................

• 1. Tredegar MSS., 76/2.
• 2. Tredegar MSS., 76/16.

......................... valuation of the equipment at the forges and furnaces, deducts from this the payments made during the course of the year, and calls the residue the 'ballance to be divided'. 1 There is thus no rough profit and loss account comparable to those for previous years yet it seems highly unlikely that the difference between the capital value in 1700 and 1701 is to be explained in terms of so large a loss made during that year's current working.

A more likely explanation is perhaps involved in the somewhat obscure relationship which existed between the Tredegar enterprise and that at Neath. In the payments made by Roger Williams from 1694 onwards there regularly occurs the item 'Disburst at Neath'. In so far as the partnership was buying pig iron from Neath furnace this calls for no comment : but the payments made greatly exceed the debt thus incurred. Between 1694 and 1701 the amounts paid out at Neath furnace (£8,823) exceeded the value of pig iron bought from this source (£5,647) by £3,176. There is no indication of any other debts incurred at Neath: the partners thus seem to be investing directly in the Neath enterprise. There is, however, no explicit indication that this was the case---although when Roger Williams sat down in 1698 to work out the 'clear value of the stock' he included £600 for the value of stock at Neath  'after charge of building is taken out which was above £600'. 2 But the account of 1701, compiled after the death of the two minor partners---Roger Williams and Roger Powell---to assess the value of the enterprise, makes no mention of any assets at Neath. It may be that it is the absence of this item which accounts for the fall in total capital value between 1700 and 1701.

What is certain, however, is that the profits actually drawn out by the partners up to 1700 totalled £4,928, amounting to an average yield of 16.4 per cent. on their initial capital. Moreover the sum to be divided in 1701---£4,642---represented a further increase of £1,642 (or nearly 55 per cent.) over the original investment. Even though this latter figure was dependent upon how much of the outstanding debts of £1,817 was collected, and even though this way of expressing the matter somewhat overstates the return, it is clear that the Welsh iron industry at this time could yield a healthy return.

This is roughly confirmed by the information on prices and costs which the documents provide. In the year ending September 1691 the price received for bar iron 3  was £15 10s. a ton; during the following year the price fell first to £14 15s. and then to £14 8s. before recovering to £14 10s. This recovery continued through 1693, 1694 and 1695 when the price had reached £17 10s. It was then comparatively stable at £17 a ton in 1696 and 1697, falling to £16 by September 1698. Thereafter it was again mainly steady, varying only between £15 10s and .................

• 1. Tredegar MSS., 76/24.
• 2. Tredegar MSS., 76/16.
• 3. The accounts do not state the precise type of bar iron that was produced, except that osmund iron is always designated as such. It seems probable, however, that it was mainly best mill bar which was made from a blend of tough pig with coldshort pig iron. These, at least, were the types of pig iron which were used at the Tredegar and Machen forges.

........................... £16 for the three years 1699-1701. One other grade of iron was produced---osmund iron   1 ---which was made only at the Machen forge. The price of this followed the price movements of merchant bars fairly closely although---as one might expect of a higher quality material produced only to meet a specific order---the fluctuation in the price of osmund iron was less marked, the total range of variation during this decade being from £18 to £19 10s. as compared with £14 10s. to £17 10s. for merchant bars. The documents also include three small scraps of paper---dating about 1699---giving some information on the cost of production per ton of bar iron. These suggest a total cost of production for bar iron of 13  10s. a ton, 2  including carriage, which---on the prices of this decade---would yield an average profit of £2 to £2 10 s. a ton.

There is no direct information about output, but it is possible to extract from the accounts figures for the number of tons of bar iron sold each year and this is sufficient to give a good indication of the scale of operations. 3  The forges were each producing an average of between 150 and 200 tons a year which, approximating to the contemporary forge output in Staffordshire and South Yorkshire, seems to have been about the normal forge output of the period. 4  The output of the forges found its market almost entirely outside the district, local sales being insignificant. The focal point of the sales process was Bristol, the twice-yearly fairs of that city providing the occasion for making new sales and collecting old debts. The costs---of getting the iron weighed, providing gratuities for the weigher and boatsman, and Roger Williams's expenses---incurred by Roger Williams in attending these fairs occur regularly in the accounts.

The ultimate markets, however, frequently lay beyond Bristol. All the osmund iron, for example, was sold to Thomas Foley, and since this quality of iron was particularly suitable for wire-making it was doubtless used in Foley's wire works at Tintern. 5  In addition much of the bar iron went to feed the growing finished iron trade of the Midlands. Prominent amongst the customers for bar iron were, for example, Samuel Banner of Birmingham, and Thomas Foley, who at this time sat at the centre of an intricate network of ironworks in the Forest of Dean, ......................

• 1. Osmund iron, originally obtained from Sweden, was of a particularly high quality and combined tenacity with a high degree of ductility.
• 2. These estimates were based on the use of 2 1/2 loads of charcoal (at about 24s. a load) and 26 cwt. of pig iron (at a little over £6 a ton) to produce each ton of bar iron. The estimate of cost was: 'Cole for a Ton £3; pig iron £8; Makeing £1; Petty charges £1; Carriage 10s; Total £13 10s.
• 3. See Appendix I
• 4. B L C Johnson, 'The Foley Partnerships; The Iron Industry at the end of the Charcoal Era', Economic History Review, n.s. vol 4, 1951-2, p339; A Raistrick and E Allen, 'The South Yorkshire Ironmasters (1690-1750)'Economic Hist Rev, vol 9, 1938-9, p184
• 5. Johnson, op. cit., p333

........................... Staffordshire (especially the Stour valley) and north-east Worcestershire. 1 The Tredegar enterprise thus fitted naturally into the existing pattern of an important section of the contemporary iron trade which rested upon the blending of tough pig iron---which the Forest of Dean furnaces characteristically produced in excess of the requirements of their own forges---with an inferior coldshort iron. This blending was normally performed in the forges of the Stour valley but---especially as the Stour valley furnaces did not produce sufficient coldshort iron---there was an obvious opening for similar activity in South Wales. 2

That this was the basis of trade from the Tredegar and Machen forges receives some confirmation from an examination of the sources of the pig iron used at these works. In the ten years up to 1700, for example, Tredegar forge used 2,560 tons of pig iron, of which a little less than one-half (1,100 tons) was imported from Tintern and Flaxley furnaces in the Forest of Dean. The remainder was Welsh pig iron most of which (916 tons) came from their own furnace at Caerphilly, but a further 534 tons were also drawn from Neath furnace. The presumption that the forge was mainly occupied in blending these different types of pig iron is, to some extent, fortified by a consideration of the prices of the pig iron. The price of Forest of Dean pig iron at between £6 2s. 6d. and £6  10s. a ton was consistently cheaper than lower quality pig obtained from Neath at £6 10s. a ton; the regular purchases which were nonetheless made from Neath perhaps derived from the need for this type of pig iron for blending purposes. Too much weight should not, however, be placed on this last point since, as we have seen, there is some obscurity about the relationship between the Tredegar concern and that at Neath.

Some of the themes which these documents illustrate are familiar enough:  the part played by landowners, like the Morgans of Tredegar, in providing capital during the early years of industrial development; the instability of enterprises founded on a partnership basis; and the central role of Bristol as a market stimulating activity in Wales. More important, however, is the extent to which they suggest that the industrial prospects of the region were becoming more attractive. There is a tendency to think of the growth of the iron industry in South Wales towards the end of the charcoal era as developing only because of the exhaustion of other areas, particularly Sussex: being, that is, more or less reluctantly pushed towards South Wales. This short paper is based on the experience of only one firm over a comparatively short period and is thus inadequate to bear the weight of any broad generalisations. So far as it goes, however, it suggests that the iron industry in South Wales could be reasonably profitable and was suitably located to provide the type of iron required by the growing Midland market : it suggests that the iron industry was being strongly pulled, as well as pushed, towards South Wales.

L. J. WILLIAMS.

University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

• 1. Tredegar MSS., 76/23: Johnson, op. cit., p. 322.
• 2. Johnson, op. cit., pp. 331-4.

APPENDIX I

 BAR IRON SALES

   (figures to nearest ton)

                 Tredegar        Machen           Total

1691             117                173              290

1692             227                162              389

1693             227                180              407

1694             208                212              420

1695             157                174              331

1696            183                 184              367

1697            180                 106              286

1698             54                    87              141

1699           167                  201              368

1700            227                 133              360

1701              -                      -                283

Footnote

This is a useful article, I have carried on a half hearted study of the Caerphilly Furnace for many years, but H P Richards and William Rees have mined most of the sources.
I think John Williams may have confused the forges. There were three, two at Machen and one at Bassaleg in Tredegar Park. I think the the latter is the Tredegar Forge, not Rudry as he states. The two Machen forges cause confusion, neither were in Machen, on the east side of the river Rhymney, both were on the west bank in Glamorgan, one was in Rudry Parish and one in the Hamlet of Rhyd y Gwern, in the parish of Machen, but in the county of Glamorgan.The matter is confused by the name Ffwrwm Isha, which is now a public house. Machen proper was Lower Machen around the 13th century church. Originally Upper Machen was called the Ffwrwm,(Gwynedd Pierce suggests this name means Forge and may refer to the housing associated with the forge)  and on the 1829 OS Map there is a Ffwrwm Ucha and a Ffwrwm Isha, which may refer to two separate forges, a distance apart,or may merely refer to separate areas of the Ffwrwm district, as in the 1841 Census returns.  

John Owen (June 2011)

W J Lewis, The National Library of Wales Journal Vol VIII/4 Winter 1954

Extracted onto the pages of GENUKI with the kind permission of the National Library of Wales

This is a complete extract of this article [Gareth Hicks 29 June  2002].

Few are the people of Britain who would feel grateful for a legacy which consisted only of small periodic portions of salt, yet such bequests were made and greatly appreciated in the time of Queen Elizabeth I. Our ancestors lived on salted provisions for five or six months of every year, and home produced salt was far from sufficient to supply their needs. In the sixteenth century, England and Wales were largely dependent on France for their supply of this commodity, and as these countries were almost continually at war from 1542 to 1564, this country had considerable difficulty in obtaining sufficient salt. During this period, the price of bay and white salt rose from 5d and 8d a bushel respectively, to 1s and 1s 6d, an increase which can only partly be explained by Henry VIII's debasement of the coinage. Also, trade with France was condemned as being 'hurtful to the realm', it enricheth France whose power England ought not (to) increase. Some consideration was thus given to the possibility of increasing home production and, probably acting on Mr Secretary Cecil's advice, one of the first patents granted by Queen Elizabeth was to a German, Casper Seelar, to make salt in 1564. According to this patent, Seelar was to be allowed to set up works wherever he wished, subject to the Queen's permission. For this privilege the sovereign claimed a tenth of the salt produced and, by right of pre-emption, the sole right to sell the remainder throughout her domains at a substantial profit. Seelar may have refused these terms and offered either the tenth or the monopoly of sale, for it was the latter that was adopted, Seelar engaging to sell the finished product at 7d a bushel to Her Majesty who planned to sell it at 1s 6d. The Queen also reserved the right to take over the industry at any time during the twenty year life of the licence for a payment to the licensee of £25,000.

For this enterprise, Seelar had the support of Francis Bartie, a financier of Antwerp, and a Florentian saltmaker, Thomas Baroncelli. Within a year, salt pans were shipped to England, but for some unknown reason, and before a start had been made, the patent rights were transferred to Bartie.

The large gains promised by this new venture attracted the attention of some of the leading courtiers and towards the end of 1565, they succeeded in capturing the patent from Bartie. The following year an Act of Parliament confirmed the transfer of the licence to the Earls of Leicester and Pembroke, Lord Cobham, Cecil, Knollis, and others, and they became known as the 'Lords of the Salt Privilege'. They were assisted by two well known London financiers, William Wightman and, more important, Peter Osborne, former Keeper of the Privy Purse, an authority on commercial matters and Deputy Governor of the Corporation of Mineral and Battery Works.

The first of the new salt works were set up in 1566 at Dover, Southampton, and on the Essex coast. In the same year, Mount, Cecil's secretary, was sent north to establish works at Blythe near Newcastle, and in the following year similar concerns were set up in Suffolk and in another part of Essex.

No Mention is made in printed sources of the establishment in Wales of one of these ventures, but among the large collection of Powis Manuscripts deposited at the National Library of Wales are several letters and documents which describe in some detail the building and working of salt works in the Principality.

It was in February 1566/7 that Wightman wrote to Edward Herbert, Sheriff of Montgomery, to inform him that the 'Lord Keeper, Duke of Norfolk, Lord Pembroke, Lord of Leicester, Mr Secretary, and others their copartners' had decided to erect salt works and that they wished to have one near the River Dyfi 'where the hearinge fysshing is'. It was also their wish that the control of the Mid-Wales works should be in the hands of Herbert with the assistance of William Wightman. The Lords' attention was probably drawn to this district by the report on the shipping and ports of Wales made to the Queen in 1566. Cardigan Bay had even then an important herring fishery centred mainly on Aberdovey. The existence of an extensive salt marsh nearby made the prospects of a salt industry even brighter, while the ease with which ships could sail to Ireland was a further attraction, for one of the conditions laid down in the privilege was that enough works be set up to supply that country with salt. The exact location of the works is unknown but the fact that letters were occasionally addressed to 'Dovie or Abustwith in Cardiganshyre' combined with the instructions for the siting of the works, indicate clearly that they were on the south side of the Dovey.

The final choice of the site was to be made by Christopher Schutz, reputed to be 'the most perfecte man in that art [salt making] that is to be found'. Schutz who was also described as 'such a jewel as all Germany hath not his like', was a German who came over to this country to help establish a brass industry, in the making and working of which metal he was expert. He was responsible for the wire works at Tintern and could ill spare the time to visit North Cardiganshire. Herbert was therefore to understand;

'that the worke must be set upon A salt marshe or flatte neare the deepest Sea you canne fynd, and distant fromm all fresshe springs or fresshe Rivers twoo myles if it maye be or A myle and A haulf at the least. The marshe must be so chosen as the Sea maye be taken into it at everye hye tyde...............'

While waiting for Schutz, Herbert was to set men to make a frame for a building one hundred and twenty feet long and twenty feet wide. This was to be made of rough timber and to have walls only six feet high composed of twigs and loam 'or some suche sleight mater as wooll defend the wether'. The roof was to be thatched with reed, fern or straw according to what was available in the neighbourhood. It was to have a louver stretching from end to end, or four or five short louvers to allow for the escape of smoke and steam. Inside this long 'howse' were to be installed ten pickle pans each ten feet by twelve, and two salt pans of fifteen feet diameter or side. Under the former, furnaces were to be built of brick and stone set with loam or horsedung, unless lime was easily procurable. Wood was to be the fuel and men were to be sent into the country to fell trees for this purpose.

In the same letter a description is given of the process of making salt at the period. The sea water was first to be;

'receyved into A pond called A store pond which hadd meet to be about xv yards long and x yards broad, and so deepe as youe maye when youe wooll at everye lowe water marke, drayne the same, if anye rayne or fowle wether have hurt the goodness of the water.'

Between this pond and the long building there had to be fifteen acres of marshland all of which was to be 'cutte into small shallowe ponds of xx or xxiij fote square and haulf a foote deepe.' These ponds were to be connected to the store pond so that they could be filled with sea water. In them the water was;

'to lye A tyme to be enriched by the benefyte of the sonne and drye wether, And then to be lette by scluse into an other pond whiche must wyne hard to the howse called a savd pond. And that pond had need to conteyne xxxty fote in lengthe xv fote in breadeth and vi fote in depth. It must have A howse or hovel on it thatched to save the water that comes in there frome all Raynes and Mysts.'

The enriched water is to be drawane by A sweepe with A bucket out of the same pond after the maner as the dyars and brewers upon Thames use, and conveyed by troughs into the pickle panes within the howse there to be boyled, till it will eyther beare A newe layde egg or an amber beade.

After the boyling that pickle must oft times be let for the of the pickle panes into certaine coolers such as Brewers use whiche must be mad of oken boord and stand all alongst the lengthe of the owtsyde of the howse to the sea warde covered with A penthowse eyther of thatche or evesboord to save the pickle frome rayne and wether. The coolers had meet to be three fote broad and x ynches deepe, ffrome the Coolers it must be by troughes lykewise conveyed into the salt panes and there boyled to salt.

Then there must A howse be mad to stand just crosse over thwart the middest of the long howse to kepe the salt in, which howse must be xxty fote square at the least, the walls and floore whereof on the ynner side must be boorded to kepe the salt frome the earthe.'

In fact it was eventually decided to erect a store house at each end of the long building and so to arrange the pans that those for pickling were in the middle with a salt pan at each end, next to the store rooms. Great care was to be taken to ensure that these rooms were made so 'close and staunche' as to be weather-and sand-proof. Herbert was also warned to beware of contamination from the animals' 'dryfte pond'.

The process depended so much on fine, warm weather that the 'Lords' were anxious to take full advantage of the coming summer. The output was expected to amount to one hundred bushels a day so that delay meant a serious financial loss to the promoters. This prospect of a large output was also responsible for Wightman's anxiety that Herbert should seek out markets in advance lest he find himself with more salt than storage room. Men were to be put to work with all speed to make two barges or boats for the carriage of fuel and salt to and from the works.

In due course, Schutz arrived and greatly impressed Herbert with his knowledge and skill. By May 1st, 1567, the works seem to have been ready for the more specialised workmen, for about that time men arrived from London. The wages paid to some of these men were high; Michael Millard received 20d. a day, William Laycroft 18d., while Thomas Justice the bricklayer and his labourer earned 26s.8d for the first month. Of the saltmakers who arrived, the chief was a Raes Eaton who brought with him two 'great Ambre Stones to try his pickle'.

The equipment did not arrive until late in the same month. Since the previous March, Osborne had been trying to get the pans ready for transport. Cast pans not being procurable, some thought was given to leaden pans but it was eventually decided to use plate pans and twelve of these were to be sent in sections, the ten pickle pans in halves and the others in quarters. As these would make six or seven wayne load, all thought of sending them by road to Bristol or via Shrewsbury, had to be abandoned. Osborne's plan was to send them by water to Sussex and by sea from there to the Dovey. A blacksmith-saltmaker was to accompany them on arrival. In fact, it was from London that the 'Christopher of London' eventually sailed but not until about 13th May 1567. Among its cargo were the following items --- 40 double plates for the making and mending of pans; a barrel of nails to fasten the pans together; 50 staples to be riveted into the pans and as many hooks to support the same; barrels of pitch and tar to close the joints of the said pans and coolers; a barrel of powder called 'cacke' which was to be mixed with white of egg, rye flour and yeast to stop the running (sweating) of the pans; 40 ell of salt with which to lap the pans for it was found that salt was deposited much more readily if the pans were lined with salt before hand; 70 feet of cast pipe weighing 700 lbs; 6 copper corks; half a hundredweight of solder to mend any broken pipes and to fasten the corks to the pipes; a barrel of plaster of paris to stop the running of the pans should the 'cacke' prove a failure; a bar of 'crossbowe' steel for making the blacksmith's tools.

The master of the ship had instructions to land his cargo on the works side of the Dovey and Herbert was to see that there were men and tools in plenty ready for the task of moving the new equipment from the landing place to the works site. There was also to be made ready a 'Sleade' (wheel-less cart), eleven feet long and eight feet wide, to draw the plates and other material across the Marsh.

After the arrival and installation of the equipment, work seems to have proceeded satisfactorily until the coming of winter. Being himself able to pay only the occasional visit to Mid-Wales, and being still responsible for the salt-making process, Schutz seems to have had agents at the works. Late in September 1567 he was informed by a messenger from Machynlleth that while the work had been going well until that time, difficulties had arisen which were probably due to heavy rainfall or very high tides. His letter to Herbert states that the men at the salt works were;

'ffirst and fformoste desyrus to have moor of their owne countreymen to helppe them in theyre woorke and without them they [report] that they canne doo nothinge, because the water that they had mett withal being soo that the woorke must goo daye and nighte orells they doo but litell good.'

As Schutz was then busily engaged in expanding the works at Tintern, he could not spare any more men and there were evidently no skilled men available in the Dovey area. He therefore suggested that salt-making be suspended at the works for the winter and that the skilled men be sent to him at Tintern where they could be profitably employed until the 'springe of the yeere'.

That much was expected of the works is indicated by Osborne's continued interest, after he had refused to make further loans to the Newcastle concern. He was therefore irked by this forced inactivity and in December 1567, with Wightman, he was considering suggestions for improvements made by Peter Bryet and Christopher de Braye from Holland. These seem to have been nothing more than the digging of more shallow pits, devices with which the Mid-Wales works were already well supplied. Whitman's comment on the discussion was as follows ;- 'In wynd and soonne and warme drye wethr whiche when god send it, we shall have little need of there helpe'. This statement shows only too clearly that not enough attention had been paid to the nature of British weather when these works were planned.

That the early promise shown by the salt-making scheme in England was not fulfilled is indicated not only by Osborne's reluctance to make further loans, but also by the 'Lords' apparent loss of interest as early as May 1567. In that month they were prepared to allow another company to take over their salt works, though nothing seems to have come of the negotiations. By the end of the following year their interest in a domestic industry was even further reduced by the consequences of the outbreak of the Third Religious War in France. In 1568 the Huguenots seized the entire salt production of the Biscayan provinces and used it to bargain for loans and weapons of war from England and Italy. The English Government was given the unexpected opportunity to monopolise large quantities of salt and wine, and in October 1568, England contracted to buy £20,000 worth of these commodities. Among the English contracting agents were Peter Osborne and William Wightman and they sought the assistance of the lord keeper, the Earl of Leicester and Secretary Cecil, also partners in the salt privilege. These people thus found themselves in a position to profit immensely from the sale of foreign salt in the home market, a situation which could not but lessen their interest in the domestic industry, and they began to look round for people to whom they could transfer the salt privilege without loss to themselves.

Their terms were as follows ;--- The first charge on the salt works was to be the repayment to Francis Bartie of all money owing to him by previous agreement. Next, 'the Lordes and their Copartners' were to receive the sum of £4,500 'by them already defrayed in and about the sayde woorckes'. While these sums were being paid from the clear profits of the works, the Lords would be 'contented and pleased' with a fourth part of the profits, but after these sums had been paid, they were to receive half the profits.

Whether they succeeded in transferring the privilege is not known, but in August 1569 the Cardiganshire venture was visited by the representatives of a group of merchants who were contemplating taking over the works, one of whom was the above mentioned Mr Bryet . Osborne and Wightman begged Herbert to receive them courteously, to let no hindrance be put in the way of the visit and to give them every facility to inspect everything. That the works were still in production is shown by the comments of these visitors. They complained of the wilful spoiling of over a hundred barrels of salt consumed by the weather because of the practice of measuring the product in an open field. Herbert and his associates were also accused of selling the salt at 2s.6d a barrel whereas the merchants could sell it, and had done so, for four shillings. Though anxious to please the merchants, Osborne was loth to believe this of Herbert and asked for an explanation but it is not known whether the latter ever made any attempt to defend himself.

It seems fairly clear from this correspondence that the 'Lords' did come to some kind of agreement with these merchants but nothing is at present known of its terms nor its effect on the salt works near the Dyfi. With peace in France, England lost its monopoly of Biscayan salt and official interest was aroused once more in the development of a domestic salt industry. But the 'Dovie' no longer attracted attention, nor is there any further mention of salt making in that part of Wales.

W J Lewis

University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

R O Roberts, National Library of Wales journal. 1957, Summer Volume X/1.

Extracted onto the pages of GENUKI with the kind permission of the National Library of Wales

This is a complete (apart from Table I and a graph) extract of this article by Gareth Hicks 2002

The history of the copper ore trade of Great Britain between 1785 and 1787 is characterized by its division between the Cornish Metal Company (a selling organisation for disposing of the Cornish produce) and the Anglesey mining interests. From 1787 until 1792 the history is interesting because the leading Anglesey entrepreneur, Thomas Williams of Llanidan, assumed control over the Cornish Metal Company, and ruled almost the whole British copper industry. Such monopolistic arrangements, however, were not new to that industry. For most of the period covered by Table I below (not extracted) the more important smelting firms named there had associated together to control the price of the produce of Cornish mines and to avoid competition in selling copper. Indeed, so close was their association between 1737 and 1779 that they acquired the collective name of  'The Old Company'. In the 1770's, however, more and more of the Anglesey ores became available and, for this and other reasons, in 1779 there broke out intense competition which continued until the sharing of the market between Cornwall and Anglesey in 1785. There were eleven smelting companies purchasing ore in Cornwall immediately before 1785---their names are given opposite the statistics for the 1780's in Table I---and in 1785 five of them entered into agreements to smelt on behalf of the Cornish Metal Company: three of the five were the Gnoll Company, Morris, Lockwood and Company and Freeman and Company which operated smelting works in South Wales.

Table I (which is based on N.L.W. MSS. 15101-117) gives the amounts of Cornish copper ore sold to various firms between 1729 and 1784. As far as is known this is the only account available which gives the scale and duration of purchases by individual firms in that period. (Information about such purchases in later decades may be found in the Basset Papers in possession of the Tehidy Minerals Company, Cambourne, Cornwall and in such publications as The Mining Journal and The Cambrian.) More important perhaps is the fact that the table gives fairly secure totals for almost all the copper ore purchased in Britain during a half century which is very important for the study of economic growth.

Dr. A. H. John recently considered the net effect of wars on the economic activity in England and Wales immediately before the Industrial Revolution. 1  He argued that government demands in all wars tend to stimulate activity in 'the heavy metal industries, the allied manufacture of munitions, shipbuilding and ... certain sections of the textile industries'; that expansion in these directions more than offsets reduced activity in other directions; and, on the basis of 'admittedly crude indications of war-time economic movements', he 'submitted that war in the first half of the eighteenth century exerted, on the whole, a beneficial influence on the development of the Englisb economy'. In developing his theme Dr. John ..............

• 1.'War and the English economy, 1700-1763', Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd Ser., VII, No. 3 (1955)
• 2. Ibid., pp. 330. 343.

.................... discussed first the effect of belligerency on the copper industry, and he was undoubtedly correct in viewing the wars of 1689-1697 and 1702-1713 as a main cause of the application of the great technical improvements and of the expansion in copper production around 1700. These wars, however, were only one of the major reasons for the expansion. The abolition in 1689 and 1693 of the monopolistic rights of the Mines Royal Society and the discovery of new veins of copper ore in Cornwall (as a result of deeper mining for tin and the increased use of gunpowder) were also of great importance, and war seems to have had no great effect on them.

The figures of ore purchases given in Table I are a very good indication of the size of the British copper industry, for until the 1770's the overwhelming part of home-produced ores came from Cornwall and imports were relatively very small until the nineteenth century. After 1730, when they were one thousand eight hundred and seventy-eight tons (and thus almost as large as the Cornish output), copper ore imports for decades remained less than a thousand tons a year. 1  For over half a century following the 1770's, however, the Cornish figures became unrepresentative of British ore output because of the large produce of Parys Mountain in Anglesey, and in the nineteenth century importation of copper ore became large. 2 Figures for copper exports in the eighteenth century show an expansion in periods of war due, as Dr. John shows, 3  to the increased share of international trade which Britain, as the leading naval power, was able to secure, but they are misleading if taken as an indication of the activity of the copper industry.

For the period of the War of Austrian Succession, 1739-1748, what Table I reveals is little more than a continuation of the rate of expansion of the previous years. Thereafter, following a fall in 1748-1749, the purchases of ore climbed until 1757 more steeply than in the earlier decades. Between 1757 and 1762, however, i.e. during the five middle years of the Seven Years War, total purchases remained relatively constant---and the trend, obtained from moving average figures, shows this comparative constancy for the whole war period. In the last year of the war purchases climbed to a new peak, which was to be followed by considerably higher peaks in the peace-time years of 1766, 1770 and 1784. The figures are unfortunately missing for all save the last two years of the War of American Independence, 1775-1781, but the fall over those two years and the magnitude of earlier figures indicates that those campaigns did not have a great expansionary effect on Cornish copper sales---though admittedly by that time Anglesey was rapidly increasing her output.

• 1. House of Commons, Report from the Committee ... [on the] Copper Trade, 1799, Appendix 37, p. 173. The imported copper ore came 'almost wholly' from Ireland.
• 2. Professor Walther Hoffman erred in basing his series for Britain's copper ore production for the whole period from 1727 to 1857 on the Cornish output and neglecting the large Anglesey produce between 1770 and 1820 ( British Industry 1700-1950, trans. W. O. Henderson and W. H. Chaloner, 1955, p. 232); and it was in South Wales, not in Cornwall as he says (ibid., p. 239), that 80 per cent., indeed 90 per cent., of Britain's output of copper was smelted in the middle of the nineteenth century.
• 3. op cit., p. 331.

These facts, which are presented more clearly in the accompanying graph (not extracted), suggest that the effects of wars on the activity of the copper industry in the middle decades of the eighteenth century can be exaggerated. That industry did not languish in the inter-war periods, and its rates of growth were not significantly greater in years of war than in times of peace. On the demand side its growth between 1729 and 1785 seems to have been due mainly to increased use of manufactured goods made from copper and brass for peaceful purposes, though these metals were utilised even in periods of peace for producing munitions. But the influence of the enterprises developed and of the crucial new techniques adopted under the great stimulus of the wars between 1689 and 1713 was considerable throughout the eighteenth century. 1

Table I is based on information in nine manuscript Account Books, which were kindly lent to me by the late Captain Hugh Vivian, of Bishopston, near Swansea, and which, along with other Vivian papers, have since been presented to the National Library of Wales. 2   (A large collection of Vivian business papers was also recently acquired by the Glamorgan Record Office, and there are others in the Library of the University College of Swansea and in the works of the Metals Division of Imperial Chemical Industries Ltd. at Landore, Swansea.) These notebooks mainly give details of copper ores received at Llangyfelach Copper Works and later at the Forest Works, near Swansea---their sources, by which ships they were carried, the estimated produce according to the assays---and they would be very valuable for the historians of copper mining in Cornwall. But in red ink there is given for almost every year from 1729 to 1758 an account of  'Copr Ore bought in Cornwall' and from 1759 until 1784 an account of 'The Ore sold publickly in Cornwall'. In 1729-1733 and 1741 there is added the phrase, or a variant of it, that the figures were given 'as far as we could procure accots thereof ' (1732); and in 1744 and 1745 the figures are given 'as p. accot kept in London' and 'as p.book kept in London'. The figures refer to the calendar year or, as stated for the 1740's, from Christmas to Christmas; thus the annual figures seem to have, in almost full measure, the 'uniformity in the dating of the year' which Professor T. S. Ashton has emphasised as being essential for such a series. 3

The figures of total ore purchases given in Table I apparently correspond to the totals for 'copper ores sold in Cornwall' in the period of 1729-1773 given in a rare, single sheet Synopsis of Mining from 1729-1833, published by H. Grylles, Redruth. 4  The total figures given in Table I however, do not agree very closely with the decennial figures of sales, according to 'buyers' books', given by W. Pryce in his Mineralogia Cornubiensis (1778) p. xv, and quoted also by J. A. Phillips and ..................

• 1. I am very grateful to Dr. John for his emphasis of this point and for other comments on this paper.
• 2. N.L.W. MSS. 15101-117.
• 3. 'Economic Fluctuations, 1790-1850', Econ. Hist. Rev., 2nd Ser., VII, 3 (1955), p. 379.
• 4. Information kindly supplied by Mr. A. K. Hamilton Jenkin, the eminent historian of Cornish miners and mining. Incidentally Grylles's Annual Mining Sheet published in the middle of the nineteenth century by F. Symons, Bookseller, Redruth, gave statistics of the ticketing sales of copper ores in Cornwall and at Swansea (cf. the 'Preliminary Announcement, in 1848 of the proposed British Copper Smelting Association, in I.C.I. Metals Division Papers at the Landore Works near Swansea).

................. J. Darlington in their Annals of Mining and Metallurgy (1857), p. 30. Especially are the figures for the earlier years of the table (down to 1745) lower than the annual average obtained from Pryce's decennial figures. 1  This may be due to some extent to discrepancies in the matter of including or not including the amounts of ore obtained in Cornwall by companies which owned, wholly or in part, certain Cornish mines. Footnotes (f) and (g) for 1753 and 1754 in Table I show that ore thus obtained by at least one firm smelting outside Cornwall was omitted from the totals for those years. Again the movements shown on the graph based on Table I agree fairly well with those in the less detailed graph given by Professor Hoffman, plotting an index of copper ore output---apart from the much greater amplitude of the swings on his graph for the 1730's and 1740's, and some divergences also in the direction of the movements during the 1730's. 2

Eleven of the twenty-seven companies named in Table I operated in South Wales during the period 1729-1784, though not necessarily for all the years for which they bought Cornish ores. Those companies are listed in Table II in the order in which they appear in Table I and the place and date of their enterprises in South Wales is given and compared with the dates of their purchases of Cornish ores. Two of the other companies in Table I, the Brass Wire Co. of Bristol and Roe & Co. of Macclesfield, had smelting works in South Wales in a later period.

R. O. ROBERTS.

University College of Swansea.

• 1. Moreover, in a note on 'Cornish Statistical Material' in his Industrial Revolution in Cornwall (Liverpool University Press, 1953) Dr. J. Rowe states that even Pryce's figures, which 'may have been derived from ticketing records', do not include private sales of copper ore. Some of these private sales, however, may only represent transfers of ores from the smaller enterprises to the larger concerns which disposed of them publicly.
• 2. op. cit., p. 309.

TABLE I   has not been extracted, it comprises 5 pages of data (amounts by weight) for each year from 1729-1784 in respect of 'the amount of copper bought in Cornwall by various firms' (not just those in Wales).

TABLE II. 

COMPANIES NAMED IN TABLE I WHICH OPERATED IN SOUTH WALES BETWEEN 1729 AND 1784

R. J. Moore-Colyer, National Library of Wales journal. Volume XXV/3 Summer, 1988.

Extracted onto the pages of GENUKI with the kind permission of the National Library of Wales

This is a complete extract of this article by Bill Griffith-Jones 2002

SOME years ago I contributed a series of articles to this Journal which eventually came to form a substantial part of my book The Welsh Cattle Drovers, completed in 1976. 1  Since the publication of that volume numerous articles concerned either directly or indirectly with droving have appeared in the periodical literature while at least one 'popular' (and in places widely erroneous) book has been added to publishers' lists. 2 Among the former works several authors have considerably extended our knowledge both of the basic mechanics of the droving trade and of its economic and cultural ramifications. S. P. Thomas, for example, has emphasised the role of the drovers in determining the spread of Welsh settlers in England while Rowan Watson, in an important and detailed study of the Allt-y-Cadno papers, has shed further light on the complex of routes to and beyond the English border. 3   Meanwhile P. R. Edwards has revealed the extensive involvement of Welsh drovers in the agricultural economy of Shropshire in the 16th and 17th centuries and John Bettey has drawn attention both to the overland trade in livestock between south Wales and Somerset and to a flourishing marine trade between Aberthaw and Minehead in the 1630s. 4  In the course of tracing the career of David Jones of Derry Ormond, cattle dealer and sometime High Sheriff of Cardiganshire, Tudor Barnes has highlighted the precarious nature of the dealer's work, showing that Jones' indebtedness at the time of his death in 1775 was due in part to difficulties with his business activities. 5

Over the past decade I have been involved in the study of a variety of other facets of the rural economy of Wales in the 18th and 19th centuries and in so doing I have unearthed various documentary references to drovers and droving which did not appear in The Welsh Cattle Drovers so that this brief article serves, in a sense, as an appendix to that volume. Readers of my book will perhaps have noticed that contemporary attitudes towards the drovers were, to say the least, equivocal. While realising their vital economic role, farmers and landowners nevertheless distrusted both the business acumen and moral integrity of the drovers, especially the large majority whose trading activities necessitated the extension of credit by their farmer clients. Early in 1775 John Johnes of Dolau-cothi wrote to his brother Thomas of Croft Castle in Herefordshire with the common complaint that he was having difficulty in extracting rent from his Cardiganshire tenants. The letter hints at the problems inherent in credit trading and in so doing reveals David Jones of Derry Ormond as rather less of a shining example of moral rectitude than his staunch Methodist credentials would lead one to expect.

. . . 'tis really a most dreadfull thing upon the Country to suffer so exceedingly by these villains that call themselves Drovers 'tis very wonderfull considering the losses that they every year sustain that they (the farmers) will give one day's Credit, I am in hopes most of my Tenants sold all their cattle to David Jones, but this year they seem very cautious and probally they may have had some dealings with this Rogue, which they may thank themselves for, as I desired them all in the summer not to sell their cattle upon any account but for ready money and then they cou'd go to Market again immediately --- but I am afraid nothing will ease them of their folly and credulity. 6

The common use of the promissory note or bill could also yield problems for those placing too much trust in the abilities of the drovers to sell their animals at a profit to English buyers and to gather the proceeds of the transaction in hard cash. Robert Myddleton of Chirk was doubtless mortified when informed by his agent in 1732 that promissory notes from drovers totalling £450 would not be discharged because the latter had received 'nothing but paper' upon selling their cattle in England. 7  Some years later the London solicitors, Kirton and Grey, enquired of Edward Jones, the Llandovery attorney, as to the circumstances of one William Thomas, farmer and drover, explaining that since one of their clients held Thomas's bill for £220 they proposed bringing a court action to secure payment, '. . . if there is anything to be got from him.' 8

Common though defaulters may have been, gentlemen were still prepared to rely upon drovers for the conveyance of goods and cash to England and to employ their services in the conduct of all manner of financial transactions. Presumably a landed family like the Myddletons would over the course of time build up a working relationship and forge a bond of understanding with a drover or group of drovers upon whose integrity they could totally rely. 9 In like manner Henry Jones of Talgarth was quite happy to entrust the return of a horse loaned to his brother, the Rev. Jones of Darrington, Yorkshire, ' ... by some of the drovers'. This little episode, in October 1756, indicates that on occasions the Welsh drovers travelled rather further north than usual to conduct their business. 10

Edward Jones of Llandovery seems to have spent a disproportionate amount of his time dealing with complaints as to the alleged skulduggery of drovers. In August 1775 he became embroiled in a dispute between Daniel Jones of Sunnyhill, Tregaron (?) and two drover brothers, John and William Jones of Nantyrhenfoel. The brothers, it appears, had purchased cattle (on credit) from Daniel to the value of £28 and had failed to discharge their debt. Daniel, a canny operator in the honourable Cardiganshire tradition, having discovered that William was under-age, and thereby contravening the Elizabethan statute precluding a man from dealing in cattle unless he were over 30, had persuaded the brothers to sign a partnership agreement which was clearly of questionable legality. In so doing he had hoped to bring the law to bear and thereby receive his money. However, he had clearly underestimated the cunning of the elder brother John who, in order to circumvent the law of 6 Anne, cap. 22, 1706 which forbade drovers from bankruptcy, had entered into a partnership with another 'rascally' drover, one Davies of Radnorshire to commence a legitimate non-droving trade which would enable him to go bankrupt and defraud his creditors. Daniel was less than amused, and though expecting little from the bankruptcy gave notice that he intended to strain every sinew to force, ' . . . the villain to give a true account of his efforts'. 11

Some years later Edward Jones received a frenzied letter from one David Jones of Nant-y-ci who, having bought certain sheep from the drover Rees Pryce had received, in change for a £100 note, ten counterfeit guineas. Pryce, it seems, made a habit of using counterfeit coinage and though he was usually prepared to compensate his victims once they had discovered the fraud, David Jones had not been so privileged and had unwittingly passed on some of the coins to a Rhayader man who now proposed to take action against him! 12   Other cases, held before local Quarter Sessions and elsewhere, provide a less than flattering view of the droving fraternity. Thus we find Isaac Morris of Llanddewi'r-cwm, being indicted for stealing a bay gelding in 1743 and William Jones of Llanfrothen languishing in prison after being found guilty of assaulting the widow Lowry Jones of Beddgelert in 1806. 13 Again, in 1804, William Price of Maentwrog, drover, was bound over in a recognisance of £40 to, ' ... hereafter demean himself as a good and loyal subject . . . and be of good behaviour'. 14 However much this concentrated Williams' mind it did little for his business acumen since, ten years later, he found himself in Dolgellau Gaol at the suit of John Lloyd for a debt of £l6-17-0. 15

If the cases cited above give some credence to the 19th century adage 'Not only a drover, but a rogue', other evidence suggests that from time to time drovers could justifiably claim to be more sinned against than sinning. The death at the hands of a highwayman of John ap Howel of Llanfihangel, drover and 17th century ancestor of the artist Thomas Jones of Pencerrig, was probably one of many cases in which drovers returning with cash from England were subject to the unwelcome attentions of highwaymen and footpads. 16 More commonly, though, business misfortunes (often beyond their control) were the drovers' undoing. Englishmen dealing with the Welsh drovers tended to assume that the latter would swindle them if they could and accordingly themselves resorted to all manner of stratagems to ensure that the boot was on the other foot. In 1768, for example, a Welsh drover at Brentwood Fair in Essex sold a group of cattle to the steward of Lord Halifax, agreeing, so he alleged, a price of 6 guineas per head. However, when he called upon Halifax's man to collect his money, the drover was firmly told that the agreed price had been 5 guineas! The upshot of this unsatisfactory saga is taken up by Edward Price in a letter to Robert Myddleton at Chirk Castle.

... As luck would have it the Poor Drover had 2 of his countrymen with him when the Bargen was made and they call'd the Stuart a Rogue and told him he bt. the cattle for 6 guineas and if so I fear it makes good the old proverb; Trim Tram, like Master, like Man. The poor Drover is come up to London in order to have Mr. Wilkes' Council how to proceed to come to his money. 17

One suspects that the drovers in the Halifax case were of a rather more pacific disposition than some of their fellows. In 1850 a drover at Barnet Fair was robbed of a sum of money by a group of pickpockets. Having succeeded in capturing one of the thieves with the help of his countrymen, he fastened the unfortunate man across the back of an unbroken colt and galloped the animal some four or five miles after which a bruised, battered and doubtless chastened pickpocket was only too ready to purchase his freedom by repaying the stolen money. Again, evidence given before the Somerset Quarter Sessions in 1657 indicates that the drover could be easily provoked into violence when he thought his interests were being threatened.

William Jenkins with many other Welshmen treated at Thomas Hoddinot's house with Mr. William Knoyle of Sandford to buy a close of grass to put their cattle in and not agreeing they drew their swords and assaulted Mr. Knoyle, Hoddinot, the tythingman's deputy, his wife and many of them who came to part them using violent language, cudgells and stones. 18

Obtaining overnight grazing for droves of cattle and sheep had become increasingly problematic by the mid-18th century. With the growing realisation of the link between long-distance movements of stock and the transmission of disease, farmers became less willing to let pastures and closes to drovers, besides which, the sudden release of several hundred head of cattle onto a newly-sown or recently-enclosed pasture could have disastrous effects. Pryse Jones, a Carmarthenshire farmer learned this to his cost. In an undated letter to Edward Jones of Llandovery he complained that drovers' cattle in a neighbour's field had steadily eaten their way through a freshly-planted hedge, feasted happily on his (Jones's) young grass and furze and, in short, had 'thrown all my little improvements into ruin'. 19

As The Welsh Cattle Drovers reveals, drovers travelled widely throughout north and west Wales in order to purchase stock for subsequent sale in England or the Welsh border counties. Thus Richard David of Ledbury and Morgan Price of Bishops Castle went as far west as Machynlleth to buy cattle in 1632 while in the final year of the 16th century Eglwyswrw Fair in Pembrokeshire was host to Hugh Goch, David ap Howell, David ap Robert, David Lloyd William and Rice Griffiths, all of whom had journeyed from Merionethshire. 20   My maps show both the movements of drovers in Wales and their widespread activities in the central and southern counties of England and it may be no exaggeration to suggest that at one time or another most countrymen in these counties would have seen, or at least heard, the drovers. They are virtually ubiquitous. We find them drinking in Canterbury inns, lying buried in Northamptonshire church-yards, scheming to avoid tollgates in Leicestershire, chipping away at the 'King' stone at Rollright in the belief that such chippings would ward off the 'evil eye', sleeping in Midland inns (as recorded in the 1851 census) and listening to the many Welsh preachers who flocked to the great fairs of Barnet and elsewhere. 21  In all probability once they had arrived in England they followed no specific routes but varied their course according to the timing of fairs and markets and, importantly, the changing availability of accommodation for their stock. Most kept a careful inventory of their expenses, typified by those set out in The Welsh Cattle Drovers and the one printed below. In emphasising the availability of grass, the scale of the fair and the extent of buyer demand, the letter written by the compiler of the inventory to his employer Sir Richard Myddleton of Chirk in the following year underlines some of the drover's most vital concerns. Meanwhile the final document, an undated (but probably late 18th century) list of money lost by named but unidentifiable drovers and drawn up by a lawyer, exemplifies the frustration faced by the researcher in this field!

Kettring 28th Oct 1702

Hond Sr'

This is to acquaint yr worship that I have sould ye beast alredy 2 runts that I did value at £6 4s which I had £7; 4 steers which cost £7 14s for £19 5s, one ould cow for £1-10-0 and wee cam so fer verey well but gras is verey scarce I faine to go out of the road a mile or to sumtimes. Thanke god wee had very good weathar and the beast is in verye good ordr nor nevar a one lame but ye cow yt I sould. There is but few beast going towards this faire, I cannot have an acct of but 800 and that is not above half what use to be an othar year. I question not if god please to continue the weathar as it is now that wee shall a good market. Good sr I am yr worships humble servant.

                                                             Evan Edwards

To the Honble Sir Richard Myddleton  22

Evan Edwards, Charges to Blackmor Fair, 1701    23

14 August 1701

Memorandum of Money Lost by Drovers  24

R. J. Moore-Colyer

Aberystwyth

  Notes

•  1. R. J. Colyer, The Welsh Cattle Drovers (Cardiff, 1976).
•  2. F. Godwin and S. Toulson, The Drovers' Roads of Wales (London, 1977).
•  3. S. P. Thomas, Twelve Miles a Day: Some thoughts on the drovers', Radnorshire Soc. Trans., liv, (1984), 58-66; R. Watson, 'Droving and Farm Economy in 18th century Wales: some documents from the Allt-y-Cadno papers,' Carmarthenshire Antiquary, xvii (1981), 35-58.
•  4. P. R. Edwards, 'The Cattle Trade of Shropshire in the late sixteenth and seventeenth centuries,' Midland History, vi (1981); J. H. Bettey, 'Livestock Trade in the west country in the Seventeenth century,' Somerset Arch. and Nat. Hist., cxxvii (1983), 123-8.
•  5. T. Barnes, 'Derry Ormond; Some new evidence,' N.L.W. Journal, xxii, (1981-82), 214-5.
•  6. Idem., p.p. 219-220.
•  7. N.L.W. Chirk Castle E1098.
•  8. N.L.W. D. T. M. Jones, 9100.
•  9. For an example see N.L.W. Chirk Castle, E2812; E3367; E6297.
• 10. N.L.W. D. T. M. Jones, 1187.
• 11. N.L.W. D. T. M. Jones, 7808. Notwithstanding the case held in the Golden Lion, Narberth in 1777 wherein Thomas Williams, drover was declared bankrupt for £400 and all his goods and chattels sold, the anti-bankruptcy legislation was rarely enforced. (N.L.W. Eaton, Evans and Williams, 3563).
• 12. N.L.W. D. T. M. Jones, 8820.
• 13. N.L.W. Church in Wales SD/SCTS/53; Merion. Q.S., Trinity, 1806(14).
• 14. Merion. Q.S., Michaelmas, 1804 (9).
• 15. Merion. Q.S., Hilary, 1814 (31).
• 16. D. Stedman Davies, 'Extracts from the Diaries and Account book of the artist Thomas Jones of Pencerrig,' Radnorshire. Soc. Trans., xii (1942), 8.
• 17. N.L.W. Chirk Castle, E. 223.
• 18. Quoted in M. Williams, 'Glamorgan Farming in Pre-Industrial Times,' Glamorgan Historian, ii (1965), 176-7.
• 19. N.L.W. D. T. M. Jones, 9365.
• 20. E. Evans, 'Two Machynlleth Toll Books,' N.L.W.Journal, vi (1949-50), 91, 97, 102; B. Howells, 'Pembrokeshire Farming, c. 1580-1620,' N.L.W. Journal, ix (1955-56), 243.
• 21. Bye-gones relating to Wales and Monmouthshire, 1895-6, 92; N.L.W. Cwrt Mawr MS, 73, f. 103. In the Parish Register for Cottesbrooke of 1750, for example, it is recorded that 'Euin Lide a travelling Welsh man died in this towen and was bur(ie)d, Oct. 30.' (Personal communication, Mrs. V. Billington, Bath).
• 22. N.L.W. Chirk Castle F4979.
• 23. N.L.W. Chirk Castle F7174.
• 24. N.L.W. Eaton, Evans and Williams 3901. 

J H Morris & L J Williams, National Library of Wales journal. 1957, Summer Volume X/1.

Extracted onto the pages of GENUKI with the kind permission of the National Library of Wales

This is a complete extract of this article by Gareth Hicks 2002

There is also the follow up article by Robert Craig R J Nevill and the Early Welsh Coal Trade --- A Comment  from the Winter 1958 journal, Volume X/4

The outstanding development in the South Wales coal industry in the decades after 1840 was the growth in the shipments of coal, particularly of steam coal to meet the overseas demand. But in 1830 the coal trade of the district was still restricted almost entirely to coastal shipments either of anthracite, for which there was a specialised demand, or of bituminous coal for household and foundry purposes. The markets mainly served were those geographically adjacent to the coalfield; the British Channel and South-West coastal ports as far as Plymouth and the Irish ports to the South of Dublin. These, however, had over several centuries been the traditional markets for Welsh coal. The era of canal-building that had been introduced into South Wales in the 1790s had, by reducing costs, resulted in a considerable expansion in the scale of trade and had led to the emergence of Newport and Cardiff as coal-shipping ports alongside those of the west, but it had not changed the direction of trade.

The first substantial steps towards this end were not made until the decade before 1840, when there was a growing realisation of the peculiar qualities of the coals of the area and a conscious effort to win new markets on the basis of these qualities. In dealing with this movement the attention of historians has generally been captured by the extraordinary rise in the steam coal production of the Aberdare valley and in the foreign coal trade of the port of Cardiff. It is the purpose of this article to draw attention to the important part played by coal owners in the western sector of the coalfield during the early stages of this search for new outlets.

One of the signs of the growth of interest in wider markets was the determined attempt during the 1830s to extend Welsh sales in the London market. This, the greatest home market, was still overwhelmingly the preserve of the north of England suppliers. Hitherto the cargoes of Welsh coal sent to London had been mainly isolated shipments, frequently of anthracite, but now there was an effort to establish a regular commerce and to base this largely on the steam-raising qualities of Welsh coal. It has been traditional to grant the main credit for this to a remarkable woman, Lucy Thomas of Waunwyllt. Her husband, Robert Thomas, had taken in 1824 a lease of the coal at Waunwyllt, near Merthyr, on a yearly tenancy from the Earl of Plymouth. 1  He opened a level here on the famous Four Feet seam from which he supplied the householders of Merthyr and Cardiff. The enterprise, however, has come to be particularly associated with Lucy Thomas because, after her husband's death, she and her son carried on the business and opened out the Graig colliery. In 1830, the Cardiff agent for the Waunwyllt coal, George Insole, shipped a small cargo to London. Although this particular venture was scarcely profitable, the smokeless quality and steam-raising power of the coal ....................

• 1. Merthyr of Senghenydd Deeds, doc. 339

.................... succeeded in attracting some attention. As a result Insole was able to enter into a contract to supply Messrs. Wood and Company, London coal sellers, with three thousand tons a year of Waunwyllt coal after 1831. 1

It is largely on the basis of this transaction that Lucy Thomas has been dubbed the 'Mother of the Welsh Steam Coal Trade'. 2    It may be ungallant at this stage to dispute her claim to this title. It is, however, at least doubtful whether she had assumed control of the business as early as 1830 because at that time Insole still directed letters to Robert Thomas and it was not until 1835 that the account with the Glamorganshire Canal was transferred from Robert to Lucy Thomas. 3  Moreover the financial risk for the first shipment was taken by George Insole which suggests that the initiative in sending it was also his. Wherever the credit lies, however, the significant point is that the entry into the London market marked a crucial expansion in the horizon of the Cardiff coal trade. The process once started was cumulative since the use of Welsh coal by the tiny steamers plying the Thames brought it into wider notice. In 1831 Insole bunkered H.M. Steamer 'St. Pierre' with Merthyr coal and sent a cargo to Malta. A year later, referring to the London market, Insole wrote ' I am sure that if I could have obtained five times the quantity I could have sold every ton there', and in 1833, that 'much of this Merthyr coal is used by Government Steam Packets at Woolwich and is found to answer extremely well'.

The later predominance of Cardiff in the steam coal trade has led to the tendency to treat the early stages of the rise of the trade in this region as if they marked the original and outstanding effort to win a market for the steam coals of South Wales. To some extent this is misleading. Cardiff remained a minor source of steam coal till the Aberdare valley began to be opened out during the 1840s. Until 1840 Lucy Thomas's Merthyr coal was almost the only steam coal shipped from Cardiff, where the trade continued to be dominated by the house coals of Walter Coffin from Dinas and Thomas Powell from Gelligaer. 4  The really spirited attempts to expand the market before 1840 came not so much from Cardiff but from the coal proprietors around Swansea and Llanelly. In 1824, six years before the first cargo of Merthyr coal had been dispatched, the Llangennech Company, for example, had entered the London steam coal market. 5  In 1832, only three thousand seven hundred and sixty tons out of a total of thirty-eight thousand six hundred and forty-four tons of coal sent to London from Wales were sent from ........................

• 1. The references to Insole in this and the following paragraph are based on E. D. Lewis: The Industrial Development of the Rhondda Valleys to 1910 (unpublished thesis submitted to the University of Wales, 1940).
• 2. C. Wilkins: The South Wales Coal Trade (1888), pp. 72-3.
• 3. Merthyr of Senghenydd Deeds, doc. 343. John Nixon's account suggests that Lucy Thomas was not restlessly seeking new markets in 1840. Nixon used to relate that when he first realised the possibilities of Welsh steam coal he approached Lucy Thomas to obtain a supply. He was refused because she could sell all her present output and was afraid that if she extended her production the coal would soon be exhausted. C. F. Vincent: The Life of John Nixon (1900), pp. 108-10.
  Possibly legend gathered easily round the figure of a woman singular enough to operate a coal business.
• 4. The Aberdare Coal Company shipped small cargoes of steam coals to London from the end of 1837. (Lucy Thomas had moved from the Waunwyllt level in the early 'thirties, when the yearly tenancy was terminated, and had leased the neighbouring Graig property.)
• 5. Mining Journal, 20 February 1841.

........................ Merthyr. Nearly all the remainder came from the Western sector of the coalfield where the three chief suppliers---Llangennech, Graigola and Warde's Llanelly --- between them accounted for twenty thousand five hundred and eighty-five tons. 1  It was firms such as these that were most prominent in bringing Welsh coals to the notice of metropolitan consumers. The market they were exploring, moreover, was not simply an extension of the special demand for anthracite; they were pressing the new claims of the semi-anthracite dry steam coals.

The merits of Cardiff steam coals were only slowly realised and the shipments from Swansea and Llanelly continued to predominate for over a decade. Swansea shippers possessed an advantage because the coal trade had been long established at that port and contacts had already been made with the London dealers through the small sales of anthracite. The transport facilities in the east were still insufficient to counterbalance the seaboard location of the coals in the west, while the regular trade in copper ore between Cornwall and the ports of Neath, Swansea and Llanelly made freights cheaper to obtain in the west at a time when the freight charge was probably the most important single factor determining the ability of Welsh coal to compete in the London market. 2

Even if the ports of West Wales had advantages compared with Cardiff and Newport it still needed enterprise to push sales in the London market in the face of the supplies from Newcastle. The activities of R. J. Nevill provide a good illustration of this. Nevill was primarily interested in the copper trade, being managing partner of the Llanelly Copper Works. The location of the copper industry in West Wales, however, had largely derived from the ready availability of coal supplies; it was not unnatural that Nevill should have reflected in his own activity the close connection between the two industries. In 1818 he became manager of General Warde's collieries near Llanelly and in 1829, in liquidation of a debt of nearly £30,000 owed him by Warde, he assumed ownership of these collieries. 3  Three years earlier he had gained control of the neighbouring collieries of Alexander Raby for a similar reason. 4

The bulk of the output of these collieries, which Nevill held for a few years quite separate from his copper interests, continued in find its market in the needs of the copper works and in the customary markets of Cornwall and Ireland. The colliery letter-books also show, however, that special attention was devoted to the development of fresh outlets. Thus an entry is made into the London market.

• 1. Sel. Comm. on Coals (Metropolis), 1853. App. II. In 1840 out of a total of 60,060 tons from Wales, 9,771 tons came from Merthyr and 1,557 tons from Aberdare. The possible deficiencies of these official figures are not sufficiently great to invalidate the general argument.
• 2. Nevill MSS. VIII. Letter Book 1832-42. R. J. Nevill to Samuel Rhode 18 December 1832. Nevill pointed out that it was impossible to get ships to carry coal to London at a freight of 11s. 6d. a ton and that the state of the coal market at the time made it imprudent to offer a higher rate.
• 3. Nevill MSS., Deeds 748, 817 and 821.
• 4. Raby was one of the outstanding pioneers of the industrial development of the Llanelly area. Starting in the last quarter of the eighteenth century he had not only opened collieries, built tram roads and provided harbour facilities but had also made an unsuccessful attempt to establish iron works. For these and other purposes he used the £175,000 realised by the sale of his estates at Cobham.

For the first half of 1832 Nevill's London agent, Samuel Rhode, was paid commission at the rate of 2 1/4d. a ton on the sale of four thousand, three hundred and thirty-four tons and, for the full year of 1834, on the sale of fourteen thousand, one hundred and eighty-nine tons. 1  That these sales were regarded as a novel feature is indicated by the special commercial arrangements made for them. Nevill's normal practice was to sell his coal f.o.b. at Llanelly in response to definite orders received. This avoided risks arising from freight variations and over the final sale. In the case of the London market, however, Nevill more usually sent the coal on his own account, except when an occasional direct order was received. The actual sales were conducted through Rhode, his agent, and a London factor, William Metcalfe, but the essential risks of the enterprise rested with Nevill, who bore any losses that arose from high freights or low selling prices. 2

Perhaps, in view of later trends in the Welsh coal trade, the attention paid to the establishment of yet another market, the coals for the Government steam packets, was even more significant. Here again much of the credit for winning this market tends to be given to Cardiff owners and shippers, but there is much to suggest that they were largely consolidating and extending a position already substantially gained by their counterparts in the west. In his initial attempts to introduce his coal into the Government market Nevill adopted the same commercial procedure that he employed for his London sales, his agent being authorised to submit tenders to the Navy Board at prices that included delivery at destination. 3

The anxiety of Nevill to succeed with his Government contracts is illustrated by one he obtained early in 1833 to supply five hundred tons of coal for the West Indies. 4  This cargo involved special hazards because Llanelly harbour could not accommodate vessels of the size employed in the West Indian trade. The coal had to be loaded into small ships, taken to Bristol, and there trans-shipped into a larger vessel. This greatly increased the risks of the transaction since careless handling would create a great deal of small coal which the terms of the contract debarred from inclusion in the final shipment. In a letter to the shippers at Bristol, Nevill revealed both his anxiety and his eagerness to make the venture a success. He stressed the need to avoid making small coal, stated that he was sending a special representative to Bristol to supervise the trans-shipment and .........................

• 1. Nevill MSS. VIII., 5 November 1832, 18 September 1834 and 17 February 1835. According to the Report of the Sel. Comm. on Coals (Metropolis), 1853, only 9,085 tons of 'Warde's Llanelly' and 'Nevill's Llanelly' were sold in London in 1834. These were the two main types of coal shipped by Nevill. Probably Rhode drew commission on some coal sold outside the actual London market---perhaps to the Government steam packets---and possibly some coal escaped official record if the payment of toll on it was evaded. Both sources, however, agree on the main points: that Nevill's coals were selling in the London market, and that the quantities so supplied were increasing in the early 'thirties.
• 2. Ibid. 4 May 1833 and 17 February 1834. A letter to Rhode dated 1 July 1833 referred to a direct order and added, 'Pray mention this circumstance to Mr. Metcalfe it being our decided wish that all Warde's Llanelly coal for the London market should pass through his hands, but of course we cannot refuse to execute a positive order as in the present case'.
• 3. Ibid. 18 December 1832. Rhode is instructed to submit a tender for 'Nevill's Llangennech' at 29s. a ton delivered at Gibraltar and 34s. a ton delivered at Malta. The name 'Nevill's Llangennech' was doubtless given because the Admiralty advertisement invited tenders for Llangennech coals, which were already established in the market.
• 4. Ibid. 2 February 1833.

............................ concluded with an expression of his desire that the final cargo should be good 'more particularly as this is I believe the first cargo that has been sent from this Port to Barbados'. 1

Nevill was quick to exploit the prestige value that the Government contracts conferred on his coal. 'I shall be happy', he wrote to a potential customer 'to supply the Steamer you refer to with Coals of a Quality equal if not superior to any shipped for that purpose, as a proof of which I need only state that I am at present supplying (I believe exclusively) the Government Steamers from the Plymouth Dockyard.' 2  Moreover, as the Llanelly coals became more established as a fuel for the naval steam packets Nevill tended to modify his method of dealing with Government contracts. More and more he refrained from tendering direct, preferring to let London merchants undertake the freight risks involved and restrict his own share to the provision of the coal at an agreed price, a policy feasible only when he was tolerably certain that these merchants would in fact turn to him for supplies. In May, 1833, his nephew informed a correspondent that a recent naval contract had been 'taken by Robert Johnstone of Horse Shoe Wharf, London, who purchases the Coals off us at a price free on board here.' 3  A year later, referring to contracts for which he had himself tendered, Nevill wrote 'I do not at all regret to find . . . that Mr. Johnstone has taken the Deptford and Gosport contracts for my only object is the sale of my coal'. 4  His attitude is crystallised in two letters to Rhode. One announced his decision to tender for a Government contract for coals for Malta as he was afraid that the contract might otherwise 'fall to a firm like Jackson's---who will order the coal' from Swansea. But a week later he had decided not to tender because he 'does not want to compete with Mr. Johnstone and Mr. Gillespie on any Government contracts', and he was sure that the other coals concerned---Graigola and Bryndewy---would not be quoted below his price of 8s. a ton. 5  Nevill's readiness to withdraw from making direct tenders, leaving the middleman to accept the freight risks, was prompted not by timidity but by a hard realization of the advantages a London merchant possessed for securing vessels at the right time and freight, particularly when the contract involved overseas delivery.

The drive that Nevill applied in his efforts to dispose of his steam coal was not confined to these two markets. When he noticed an advertisement, in a Scottish newspaper, for coal for India he dashed off a letter to Rhode asking him to enquire into the possibilities of this outlet; 6  he urged Robert Johnstone, the London coal shipper, to send a trial cargo of Llanelly coals to Algiers as part of his contract ........................

• 1. Nevill MSS. VIII, 7 February 1833.
• 2. lbid. 18 April 1833.
• 3. lbid. 21 May 1833.
• 4. Ibid. 26 April 1834.
• 5. Ibid. 10 and 18 February 1834. In his second letter Nevill asked Rhode to tell Johnstone and Gillespie of his decision not to compete with them, and to add a gentle reminder to these merchants that he could cut out the middleman if they did not buy from him.
• 6. Ibid. 24 June 1833,

....................... with the French Government; 1   he persuaded a Ramsgate firm to take a cargo, confident they would find it superior to the north of England coals they had previously used; 2  and an advertisement for coals for French steam packets that was limited to north of England tenders spurred him to press on Rhode 'the propriety of seeing Mon. Andell, as surely the fact of our Government using Welsh Coals exclusively for Steamers would induce the French at all events to give them a trial'. 3

The directions from which Nevill expected competition---so far as Welsh coal was concerned---suggest that other owners in the western part of the coalfield were showing similar enterprise. Consistently, it was from Swansea, Neath and the Llangennech Company at Llanelly, that the main opposition was expected. Only once is Cardiff mentioned in connection with steam coals and Newport receives similar scant notice. 4  In part, of course, the lack of attention paid to the possibilities of competition from the eastern ports of Cardiff and Newport has little significance; it was natural that Nevill should be more conscious of the opposition of the Llangennech Company on his own doorstep and of his neighbouring rivals at Neath and Swansea. But in the competition for the naval steam packet contracts, an important prestige market, it is often specifically mentioned that tenders were invited only for Bryndewy (Neath), Graigola (Swansea) and Llanelly coals. Moreover the overseas shipments of coal from Swansea and Llanelly in 1840 were fifty-two thousand tons compared with the seven thousand tons from Newport and the four thousand tons from Cardiff.

These figures were small but growing, and it is clear that the 1830s  had seen a determined attempt to win fresh outlets to supplement the traditional markets for Welsh coal. By stressing the steam-raising qualities of this coal the privilege of supplying Government steam packets and dockyards had been secured, a special position in the London market had been won and foreign sales had been extended. The evidence of the Nevill papers, supported by the figures of Welsh coal shipments to London and overseas, suggests, too, that the main impulse in this movement came first from the coal owners of the west, rather than from Cardiff and Newport who were soon to exploit the new possibilities so successfully.

J. H. MORRIS.

L. J. WILLIAMS.

University College of Wales,

Aberystwyth.

• 1. Nevill MSS. VIII, 5 October 1833.
• 2. lbid. 3 May 1834.
• 3. Ibid. 21 July 1834.
• 4. Ibid. 24 December 1834; 14 August, 7 September and 2 October 1833.

R J Nevill and the Early Welsh Coal Trade --- A Comment

By Robert Craig from the NLW Winter 1958 journal, Volume X/4

The publication of a paper by Mr. J. H. Morris and Mr. L. J. Williams on Nevill's contribution to the expansion of the Welsh overseas coal trade in your Summer 1957 issue, draws welcome attention to the widely held, but nonetheless erroneous, belief that the pioneers of this important expansion of trade, which contributed so notably to the economic growth of the area, was centered on the eastern part of the coalfield. The following note may serve to throw some further light on the activities of R. J. Nevill and others in West Wales in a different, though closely related enterprise, namely, the creation of harbour facilities. Without the foresight shown in this respect, no expansion would have been possible, and the development of the export coal trade would have followed more closely the pattern that earlier economic historians of the period have, quite wrongly, adumbrated.

The following figures show the importance of the Swansea-Llanelly area in the early days of expansion

Coal exported to places overseas 1830-1833 (in tons)   1

                                        1830      1830(?)    1832         1833
 Newport ...                     1,930      4,698       5,244         2,609
 Cardiff                               -             726       1,052         1,521
 Swansea (incl. Neath)    6,403      7,013       8,198       13,501
 Llanelly                          3,855      5,817       4,740         7,109
Milford                               10           -             214              -
Cardigan                              -            35             -                 -

The overseas export figures for Llanelly and Swansea up to the end of the decade continued to exceed those for the other Welsh coal exporting ports. In the development of the London coal trade, whilst the sale of Nevill's coal had declined by 1840, Llangennech Colliery had still the largest individual sale in the London coal market, with a total of 17,692 tons sold. 2

In discussing the coal trade of South Wales there is a tendency to disregard the principle factor involved, namely, the provision of adequate facilities for shipment. I am sure that not enough attention has been paid to the work of Nevill and others in creating the harbours and providing the navigational aids which alone would induce the masters of ships to trade to the shipping places concerned. Whilst it is not my intention to examine in detail in this note the factors which led to the expansion of the Llanelly coal trade in this period, and its subsequent decline (this forms part of a longer study, now being prepared), it is, I think, necessary to suggest that the following developments, which I place in roughly chronological........

• 1. Parliamentary Papers.
• 2. Ibid., sales of coal to the London Market

..............order, are of primary importance in appreciating the reasons for such expansion, the consequence of which led Llanelly in particular, for a brief space of about ten years, so notably to explore the potentialities of the export coal industry.

1805. Completion of the extension to Carmarthenshire Dock, Llanelly, by the Carmarthenshire Rail Road Company. A large breakwater was constructed which gave protection to ships loading in the harbour. In this year Nevill, with other local industrialists, met to discuss ways and means of further improving the harbour facilities.

1805-1808. Largely as a result of recommendations made by Nevill, the channel to Llanelly was provided with navigational buoys and beacons.

1808. General Warde's Colliery provided masters of vessels with a printed chart with navigational instructions showing the shipping places in the Burry Estuary. The chart was given free of charge to masters making use of the harbour. 1

1810. Pilot boats operating systematically from Llanelly: Nevill responsible for obtaining first pilot boat.

1813. With the establishment of the Commissioners for Burry Navigation, Charles Nevill became first principle clerk and collector of dues.

1819. Pembrey Harbour opened: 'can load 400 tons of coal daily' . 2

1824. Improvements completed at Pembrey Harbour.

1829. Two steam tugs operating at Llanelly. 3

1834. Completion of wet dock at Llanelly, the first in Wales. 4

1836. Llangennech (New) wet dock opened. Burry Port wet dock opened. 5

I would suggest that this evidence leads to the conclusion that Llanelly, in spite of geographical disadvantage, led the field in South Wales in the provision of adequate facilities for shipping, from which its early success in attracting a deepsea coal trade was the natural consequence. Shipments to the Mediterranean were regular from the early eighteen twenties, and Admiralty contracts were soon forthcoming as was shown by the loading of cargoes in the early eighteen thirties.............

• 1. The earliest chart I have found served a similar purpose, and was published by William Jones of Loughor in 1757. See my 'Notes on the Shipping of South Burry', part 2, Gower, Vol. X (1957).
• 2. See notice advertising the Harbour, The Cambrian, 5. 6. 1819: also notices in Carmarthen Journal, 1819 and 1822.
• 3. This was a most important development: steam towage was an essential factor in safe navigation for large vessels in the days of sail, particularly in narrow esturial channels. It is likely that steam tugs were operating somewhat earlier than this date at Llanelly, in which case they were the first tugs to operate in South Wales.
• 4. Cf. Llanelly Pilotage Committee minutes, 1. 12. 1834.
• 5. The reaction of Swansea harbour interests to these developments are indicated by correspondence in The Cambrian, 1836. Also see W. H. Jones: History of the Port of Swansea (1922), p. 181,

........................ for the use of H.M. Vessels in the River Tagus. In July 1833 the first cargo of coal was shipped for Bombay, and between 1838 and 1840 at least thirty to forty ships per year, each carrying up to nine hundred tons of coal sailed for Bombay, Calcutta and Ceylon. 1

Mr. Morris and Mr. Williams on p. 62 of their article mention the difficulty of loading coal at Llanelly for the West Indian market in 1833, but such difficulty as Nevill had with that particular vessel must have been of a temporary nature (possibly the onset of neap tides) since, during the year, at least five West Indiamen loaded at Llanelly for Jamaica, Bermuda and Demerara, the two largest cargoes being of five hundred and ninety-three and five hundred and ten tons of coal respectively. In 1835, apart from the rapidly increasing India trade, coal was shipped to the Mediterranean, particularly Alexandria, and to Quebec. In the following year Calcutta, Cape of Good Hope, Mauritius and Rio de Janeiro received cargoes, and later, a contract with the Royal Mail Steam Packet Company resulted in the west coast of South America being supplied. 2  It is thus reasonable to infer that, at this time, Llanelly enjoyed a brief supremacy in the spread and distribution of coal in the deepsea trades. It was only when the other ports on the South Wales seaboard developed their harbours that they competed successfully.

ROBERT CRAIG.

London.

• 1. Between 1838 and 1840 the Court of Directors of the East India Company contracted with Llanelly suppliers for large quantities of coal for India. Vessels were invited to tender for the carriage of coal from Llanelly to this market, and advertisements appeared in the Shipping Gazette and elsewhere.
• 2. From the figures quoted earlier, it will be seen that Swansea and Neath exported a greater tonnage than Llanelly, but to a more restricted range of countries: in the creation of new oversea markets the impetus came from Llanelly.

Welsh Working Lives Collection - on NLW

On the NLW site; Walter Davies ('Gwallter Mechain') and The Board of Agriculture's printed surveys of 1810 and 1815

• General view of the agriculture and domestic economy of south Wales; containing the counties of Brecon, Caermarthen, Cardigan, Glamorgan, Pembroke, Radnor, Vol. I & Vol. II
• General view of the agriculture and domestic economy of north Wales; containing the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Meirionydd, Montgomery

Here is the Wales section from Outline Map of the Mining Districts of the UK from the Childrens' Employment Commission Report of 1842. The shaded areas denote the Coal and Iron Mining Districts.
Copied from the CD published by Archive CD Books

Women and the pits - Leah Ryan's site

Victorian Professional Photographers in Wales 1850-1925 - a county based database compiled by Mari Alderman, includes sources and a bibliography

The British Book Trade Index  is an index of the names and brief biographical details and trade details of people who worked in the book trade in England and Wales and who were trading by 1851

LIST OF MINES in Great Britain and the Isle of Man, 1908  Shows owners, managers, numbers employed above and below ground

Bibliography of Mining Publications on Welsh Mines   and Welsh Mines Society

The Welsh Slate Museum

Slatesite ..... shows the Wales slate industry and the society from which it grew. Linked particularly to Gwynedd County Council Archive and Museums Services and the Welsh Slate Museum, which are both supporting partners, it aims to be the main source of interpretive and teaching materials for lifelong learning about the industry, culture and social context of the North Wales slate areas.

Richard Colyer. National Library of Wales journal. 1975, Summer, Volume XIX/1

Extracted onto the pages of GENUKI with the kind permission of the National Library of Wales

This is a complete extract of Part 3, the final part, of this article (Gareth Hicks May 2003)

See also Part 1 & Part 2

Part III.

IN the two previous articles of this series, attention was drawn to the basic 'mechanics' and economics of the Welsh cattle trade during the pre-railway years of the nineteenth century. The present contribution is concerned on the one hand with various aspects of the trade in the years proceeding the nineteenth century, and on the other with the legislation which, to a greater or lesser extent, limited and controlled the activities of the dealers and drovers involved in the conducting of the trade.

It is well known that the physical environment of much of Wales has always imposed severe limitations upon the evolution of farming systems. A comparative absence of good quality pasture together with a climate unsuited to the conservation of adequate

It is well known that the physical environment of much of Wales has always imposed severe limitations upon the evolution of farming systems. A comparative absence of good quality pasture together with a climate unsuited to the conservation of adequate forage for the winter maintenance of cattle has, until relatively recent years, prevented the development of large scale fat cattle production except on the lowland fringes. Moreover, soil type and elevation are such that in many parts of Wales the growing of cereal crops is extremely difficult. Historically, the small acreage of cereals grown on the individual farm, particularly in upland Wales, was to a large degree used for the subsistence of the family and perhaps for feeding the household pig which often represented the principal source of animal protein available to the family over the winter months. Only on the larger lowland farms was a surplus of cereal grains available for cattle fattening. It might also be argued that even if widespread cattle ften represented the principal source of animal protein available to the family over the winter months. Only on the larger lowland farms was a surplus of cereal grains available for cattle fattening. It might also be argued that even if widespread cattle fattening had been feasible, the thinly distributed population of Wales, many of whom lived at subsistence level, would not have created sufficient demand for meat and meat products. This would certainly have been the case in the period prior to the Industrial Revolution. In England, however, not only was the environment more amenable to corn growing, but also rich pastures were available in abundance for the conversion of lean animals into beef. Thus, there developed, over the centuries, the flourishing trial Revolution. In England, however, not only was the environment more amenable to corn growing, but also rich pastures were available in abundance for the conversion of lean animals into beef. Thus, there developed, over the centuries, the flourishing export trade in store cattle between Wales and the rich pasture-lands of the Midland and Southern counties which has been considered in Parts I and II of this series. Evidence for the significance of this export trade to the domestic economy of both export trade in store cattle between Wales and the rich pasture-lands of the Midland and Southern counties which has been considered in Parts I and II of this series. Evidence for the significance of this export trade to the domestic economy of both England and Wales is provided by the extensive illicit trading which took place during the Glyndwr rebellion when all transactions with Wales were prohibited. Even so, despite the preventative measures taken by the bailiffs, cattle from Wales were still brought into the Western hundreds of Cheshire. 1  The importance of cattle sales to the economy of Wales is apparent also from the frequent and evergrowing number of law suits relating to cattle from the fifteenth century onwards. In particular, among cases heard before the Court of Star Chamber in Wales, offences relating to the stealing of cattle feature prominently.  2, 3   In 1525, when the people of the lordship of Brecon petitioned the King concerning their extreme poverty, they complained that they, '... had but little sale or utterance of beasts or cattle, which is the chief.......................

....................... commodity in these parts' . 4  By the mid-seventeenth century, cattle sales had become the mainstay of the economy, as evidenced by the much-quoted letter written by Bishop John Williams of Bangor to Prince Rupert, in which the Bishop implored the Prince to permit the passage of the Welsh drovers into England, '... for they are the Spanish fleet of Wales which brings in what little gold and silver we have' . 5   At the same time Williams wrote to an anonymous official requesting that the bearer, one David Lloyd, 'a very substantial drover of these parts' be allowed to ply his trade and 'to move quietly through your parts'. 6  Following the seizure of nine hundred cattle from eighteen Welsh drovers in March 1645, the House of Commons ordered '... that Mr. Speaker shall have Power to grant Passes to such Persons as he shall think fit, that shall desire to trade for the Buying of cattle in Wales and to drive and bring them to London. 7 It is unlikely, in view of widespread Welsh support for the Royalist cause, that such an Order would have been made unless the cattle trade had been essential to the economy of Wales, and for that matter, the economy of England. 8

Undoubtedly there were sporadic movements of cattle from Wales into England since the very earliest times, and the possible existence of a regular traffic in cattle between the two countries during the pre-Norman period is particularly intriguing. Although Sir Cyril Fox noted the presence of several recognisable traffic gaps in the great Dyke constructed by the Mercian King Offa in c. 784, he tended to give a rather low assessment of their importance. 9  It is a fact, nevertheless, that at least one of these gaps, that on Spoad Hill on the Radnorshire-Herefordshire border, lies upon a drove road which was in use during the last quarter of the nineteenth century. In addition to the gaps noted by Fox, there must almost certainly have been other openings in the Dyke, particularly in the vales and lowlands, which have become subsequently obscured by more recent agricultural practices. It is tempting, although perhaps a little dangerous, to suggest that where these openings coincide with an established drove track, the track is of considerable antiquity. The tenth century 'Ordinance concerning the Dunsaetae' was an agreement drawn up by the English Witan and the borderland tribe of the Dunsaetae in c. 926 and was concerned with border arrangements across the lower reaches of the River Wye. 10  The Ordinance sets out provisions for the control of cattle stealing, and also strongly indicates the existence of a legitimate cattle trade between the Dunsaetae and the English. In particular, the Ordinance refers to established cattle 'tracks' on both sides of the river bank, and reference is made to the consequences, '... if a track is being wrongly followed'. It is clear from the context that a track being 'wrongly followed' implied that the track was being used for the trafficking of stolen cattle. The converse would seem to suggest that the normal use of the tracks was for the legitimate movement of cattle across the river, which at this time delineated the border of the lands of the Dunsaetae. If this Ordinance, drawn up by King Athelstan and his advisers, was based either upon texts or oral traditions arising from the regulations for Offa's Dyke, there would be some justification for the assertion that a legitimate cattle trade was in existence from the late eighth ...................

.................... century. This apart, the earliest indication of the Welsh cattle trade relates to the granting, at Newent, of an annual fair and weekly market to the Norman Abbot of Cormeilles in 1253. In consequence, ' . . . the Welshmen who come from the parts of Wales to sell their cattle' deviated from their normal route in order to trade in Newent. 11,12  From the beginning of the fourteenth century frequent references occur to cattle being taken from Wales into England for a variety of purposes. In 1312, for instance, the Chamberlains of Carmarthen and North Wales were ordered to supply between them some nine hundred oxen for use in the King's household at Windsor, while several years later, in 1317, the Bishop of Winchester sent John de Radynges into North Wales to purchase cattle for the household of the Chancery. 13  Among the Minister's accounts of the Earldom of Chester, reference is made to oxen being purchased at Ruthin and Abergele in 1347-48, while the Earl of Chester's stock keeper accounted for seventy-five cattle from Rhys ap Iorwerth ap Ithel and Iowerth ap Madoc in 1356-57. 14  The export trade in cattle from Anglesey, which was to achieve such prominence in the eighteenth and nineteenth centuries, appears to have been in existence in the early fifteenth century. Thus the Minister's accounts for 1407 refer to a sum of 34s. over three years '... for the passage of beasts at Porthaitho by divers persons'. 15  The presence of Welsh cattle drovers in the Midlands by the mid-fifteenth century is apparent from the accounts of John Broome of Baddesley Clinton, who purchased at Birmingham Fair in 1445, twelve oxen from Gruff Hope Wallace. 16  Later in the same century, Henry Tudor, on his long march to Bosworth Field was joined near Welshpool by William ap Griffiths of Penrhyn and Richard ap Howell of Mostyn, both of whom brought with them large herds of black cattle for the sustenance of the army. 17

In the diary of Dr. John Dee, the Elizabethan philosopher and mystic, there occur several interesting comments relating to cattle being driven from Wales. In 1596 Dee was appointed to the Wardenship of Manchester. On August l0th of that year '... Mr. Thomas Jones of Tregaron came to me at Manchester and rode towards Wales bak agayin the 13th day to mete the cattall coming.' By September 5th Dee had received '... seventeen head of cattall from my kinsfolk in Wales by the courteous Griffith David, nephew of Mr. Thomas Griffiths bought.' Thomas Griffiths was Dee's cousin from Lampeter, while his nephew Griffith David was clearly a drover. Not only did Dee receive beasts via his Welsh kinsmen, but he also sent his servant Roger Kay on several occasions to of Mr. Thomas Griffiths bought.' Thomas Griffiths was Dee's cousin from Lampeter, while his nephew Griffith David was clearly a drover. Not only did Dee receive beasts via his Welsh kinsmen, but he also sent his servant Roger Kay on several occasions to Vandyles (Llanidloes?) in order to procure cattle. 18

Notwithstanding the uncharitable criticisms levelled at them by eighteenth and nineteenth century observers, some of which are quoted in Part I of this series, the drovers played a vital part in the forging of an economic and cultural link between England and Wales which was beneficial to both countries. Besides their straightforward trading function the drovers had often been responsible for the execution of financial transactions and the conveyance of mail and other goods. This was particularly so in the sixteenth and seventeeth centuries ...................

.................... when communications between Wales and the remainder of Britain were extremely limited. On April 19th, 1585, Sir George Chaworth explained to the Countess of Rutland that '... I have done my best to procure you some money to be paid in London, but I could not do so as most of the drovers who were likely to have served you had already gone to London'. 19  Material preserved among the Wynn papers sheds interesting light upon this aspect of the droving saga. David Lloyd, a tenant of the Wynn estates, frequently combined his activities as a drover with the transmission of correspondence and money between various members of the Wynn family. Thus in 1624, Henry Wynn wrote to his father, Sir John, complaining of the small sum sent him in London by David Lloyd . 20 Almost forty years later, Lloyd was still actively involved in the cattle trade. Writing to Sir Richard Wynn in 1661, Robin Hughes explained that the £65 which Sir Richard had ordered the writer to send to London had been paid to, 'old David Lloyd, the drover', who was bound by his bill of exchange to pay this sum through Henry Maurice of the King's Head tavern in Fleet Street. 21  By 1671, however, Lloyd had disappeared from the scene Nevertheless, the Wynns continued to employ the services of drovers for the execution of financial transactions, the name of Thomas Hewes featuring frequently in this context . 22 Although by the mid-eighteenth century improved transport had reduced the importance of the drovers as a means of communication, William Bulkeley was still trusting to their services in order to forward money to his sons in the metropolis. In the midseventeen thirties, for example, he is recorded as having sent sums of £15 and £20 to his son by way of the drover Thomas Lewis of Trefeibion Meyrig, while in 1741 he employed the services of another drover, Hugh Lloyd, for the delivery of £60 to London . 23  In general the drovers avoided travelling during the winter months. In this respect, a letter received in 1637 by Richard Bulkeley from his cousin in Newborough is of interest: '... we pray you endeavour that our money (i.e. the Ship Money) be paid by November 1st yearly as we cannot return our money (to London) otherwise than by drovers.' More than a century later, the delivery of the North Wales taxes to London was to some extent determined by the seasonal activities of the drovers. In 1743, the Receiver General of Taxes for North Wales, one Mr. Bull, was threatened with prosecution by the Treasury for failing to send the tax to the capital. Bull, however, contended 'that he had very few opportunities of remitting the moneys but by the drovers, and desires indulgence from Candlemas to the beginning of May, in which time the drovers transact all their affairs ...' 24

The involvement of the drovers in the collection of the Denbighshire Ship Money is well known and well documented in the Domestic Series of the Calendar of State Papers. The collection and delivery of the Ship Money did not always proceed smoothly. Hugh Lloyd, Sheriff of Denbigh, was informed in 1636 that although the money had been delivered 'by sufficient men who are drovers of that county', it had not been paid in, owing to the presence of the plague in the City of London. Occasionally. it would seem. the drovers defaulted on their ...................

................ commission to safely deliver the Ship Money. Writing to Kenrick Endisbury in 1637, Richard Lloyd explained that '... My nephew Wynne, the new sheriff of co. Denbigh, having been entrusted with the collection of the Ship Money, entrusted a drover with the return of £400, in payment whereof the drover has disappointed him, whereby he is in danger of being committed before the Lords' . 24  The temptation to abscond with large suns of money must have been very great indeed. It is however, reasonable to assume that such cases of default were relatively rare, for had they been of more frequent occurrence, the authorities would 24  The temptation to abscond with large suns of money must have been very great indeed. It is however, reasonable to assume that such cases of default were relatively rare, for had they been of more frequent occurrence, the authorities would doubtless have had recourse to some alternative means of sending the money to the capital.

A great deal has been written about the contribution of the drovers to the cultural and social life of Wales. This is rightly so, especially before the nineteenth century when mobility was restricted and a relatively small proportion of the working population had the opportunity of travelling far beyond their home villages. The drovers enjoyed the advantages of extensive contact with English culture, social life, farming systems and financial matters. Indeed, they represented an essential communications link with England, whereby news of political, social and economic change reached the remote villages of Central and Western Wales. Thus, Edmund Hyde Hall's observation that 'the drovers are distinguished persons in the history of this country's economy' was by no means an overstatement. 26  Moreover, throughout many parts of Wales there remain a rich tradition of 'drovers tales'. If it is accepted that stories, sometimes apocryphal, of 'characters' became enshrined in folk memory, then the drovers must have been persons of considerable local importance. While the bulk of the drovers doubtless made little contribution to life outside their own communities, there are numerous examples to illustrate the profound influence of individuals upon the cultural, spiritual and financial life of Wales. One of the finest of seventeenth century Welsh poets, Edward Morus of Perthi Llwydion, regularly plied his trade as a drover between North Wales and Essex, where he was regarded by local farmers as being of unimpeachable character. 27  More than once did the drovers lend financial support to the publication of Welsh literature, both sacred and profane, as indicated by the following list of subscribers to various literary enterprises : 28

Drover Subscribers to Welsh Publications

Rhys Jones: Gorchestion Beirdd Cymru. (1773)

• Hugh Jones of Bala, Drover.
• Mr. Hugh Jones, Drover.
• Thomas Jones, Ty Isaf, Drover.
• Mr. Hugh Parry of Penmorfa, Drover.
• John Thomas of Bala, Drover.

The Holy Bible (Carmarthen, 1779)

• John Watkins, Drover, Narberth.

John Bunyan: Dull priodas mab y Brenin, (1758):

• Robert Jones, Drover, Llangwm.

Timothy Thomas: Traethiad am y wisg-wen ddisglair. (1759):

• Mr. David Jones, Dderi, Drover.
• Mr. William Jones, Nant-henfor, Drover.

Thomas Edwards: Gardd o gerddi. (1790):

• Mr. Robert Evans, Eglwysfach, Drover.

Dafydd Jones, Blodeugerdd Cymru:

• Mr. Thomas Jones, Pengwern, Drover.

The establishment of an efficient system of banking in West Wales was made possible by the pioneering efforts of certain drovers, while others became deeply involved in the business life of the country. 29, 30 The cause of Nonconformity was also well served by several members of the droving fraternity. The Pembrokeshire drover, Benjamin Evans, became pastor of Llanuwchlyn in 1769, and among the many ministers of Yr Hen Gapel he was perhaps the best known and most loved . 31 Another drover William Jones of Trawsfynydd (1770-1837), having been converted by the preaching of William Romaine, began his preaching career in 1802. 32   The celebrated Dafydd Jones of Caeo (1711-77), the great hymnologist, achieved a mastery of the English language as a result of his activities as a drover. After his 'conversion' he put his fluency in English to good purpose by translating the hymns of Isaac Watts in addition to writing his own Welsh hymns. From time to time Jones' hymns reflect his earlier calling, as indicated by the imagery employed in the hymn below, which is concerned with the Day of Judgment:

'Fe ddeuant oll o'r Dwyrain,
 Gorllewin, Gogledd, De,
 A Seion yn Ddiatal
 Mae digon eto o le.'

[They all came from the East, West, North and South to unlimited Seion,
Nevertheless there is plenty of room for still more.]

Thus are the souls of men equated with the droves of cattle converging upon Jones' native village of Caeo. There is a picturesque local story in the Beulah / Llanwrtyd area relating to Jones' renunciation of his former attitudes and his embracing of the Christian way of life. Seemingly, Jones was returning from one of his droving enterprises when he was attracted by singing from the old chapel of Troed-rhiw-dalar, near Newbridge-on-Wye. On entering the chapel, it is said, he was so deeply moved by the e Christian way of life. Seemingly, Jones was returning from one of his droving enterprises when he was attracted by singing from the old chapel of Troed-rhiw-dalar, near Newbridge-on-Wye. On entering the chapel, it is said, he was so deeply moved by the eloquence of the preacher, that he was dramatically converted. However, although Jones may have received inspiration from the chapel choir, it seems more likely that his conversion took place in Brecon where he is known to have listened to the open air sermons of John Wesley. 33

While the nineteenth century drover was regarded with mistrust and suspicion by many of his contemporaries, it is nevertheless true that from among the ranks of the drovers arose many men of the highest integrity and cultural attainment, whose contribution to the economic and social life of their times was of the greatest importance.

Legislation concerning the cattle trade.

In Tudor and Elizabethan Britain travelling was both difficult and dangerous. Footpads lurked by the roadside, vagrancy was widespread and life was relatively cheap. Consequently, a long journey by a merchant, tradesman or any other citizen was not undertaken without a certain degree of trepidation. Prior to the passing of two statutes which carefully set out the conditions under which they could ply their trade, the Welsh drovers had been liable for arrest under the vagrancy laws. Hence the cryptic comment that 'Most of these that walk about be Welche-men'. 34  However, an attempt was made to reduce the extent of vagrancy by the statutes of 5 & 6 Ed. VI cap. 14, 21 and 39 Eliz. I cap. 12. It was necessary, under the terms of these statutes, for a drover or dealer to be a married householder of above 30 years of age, and not a hired servant. If he could fulfil these conditions, the drover was free to apply to the local Quarter Sessions for a licence, which if granted, cost him the sum of 12d. At the cost of a further 8d. the drover was bound to register the licence with the Clerk of the Peace who recorded the names and dwelling places of drovers, together with details of the type of licence granted. An Order in the Council of the Marches of Wales at Ludlow in 1617 drew attention to the fact that many drovers were disregarding the statutory requirement of a licence. The Lord President had apparently been informed of the numerous wrongs perpetrated by unlicensed drovers, most of whom were '... suspicious and base persons of evil name and of little or no worth ... who under cover of driving their droves ... not only receive cattle stolen by thieves, but themselves do steal by the way other men's cattle or sheep'. It was ordered, therefore, that drovers might only follow their calling if they were '... known to be honest men of good sufficiency according to the statutes.' Furthermore, any drover found without a licence was to be apprehended and brought before the Council. 35  Transgression generally resulted in a fine of £5 together with a prison sentence under a charge of vagrancy. Details of licences were frequently set down in Quarter Sessions Order Books, which accordingly represent a useful means of establishing the identity of drovers who may have been active in a particular area. In April 1709, it was ordered in the Shrewsbury Quarter Sessions, '. . . that all badgers and drovers appear at next sessions to take licences, and such as refuse be prosecuted ishing the identity of drovers who may have been active in a particular area. In April 1709, it was ordered in the Shrewsbury Quarter Sessions, '. . . that all badgers and drovers appear at next sessions to take licences, and such as refuse be prosecuted according to the law'. No doubt pressure was applied in some cases, for in July of the same year, the Order Book records that the justices instructed the high constable, '... to take care that all badgers, drovers, etc. be presented at the next Sessions'. 36  The Order Books contain numerous references to personnel involved in the droving trade. Thus, in 1719, Joseph Harryman of Much Wenlock was licensed to be a buyer and seller of cattle, while in 1765 and subsequently in 1770 '... Thomas Hinton of Whitchurch, butcher, was licensed by three of his Majesty's justices to be a common drover of cattle for one next year ensuing'. 37

Although the Order Book does not record the fact, it is highly likely that Hinton, being a butcher would have provided '... recogniscances not to sell any cattell by him brought within the distance of sixty miles where he bought the same'.

Such recogniscances were required by both graziers and butchers under 22 and 23 Chas II, cap 19 (1670) before droving licences were granted. It was believed that this measure would reduce local price inflation.

Substantial penalties were levied upon unlicensed drovers for engrossing, forestalling and regrating, while those in possession of licences were theoretically protected against charges concerned with forestalling. Essentially, the various ancient statutes relating to engrossing, forestalling and regrating, aimed to reduce the disrupting effect of these practices on the normal processes of supply and demand and thus of fair competition in local markets and fairs. Clearly, if cattle were sold on route for the fair, supply would be reduced, and thus the selling price inflated. Moreover, toll owners would suffer loss of revenue as a result of cattle not passing through the fair. 38  During the reign of Edward III, a series of statutes had emphasised the illegality of pre-fair trading, while under 3 & 4 Ed. VI, cap 18, 19 (1551-2) it was enacted that '... no person shall buy or commune and conclude to buy, any manner of oxen, steers, Runts, Kine, Heyfers and Calves, but only in the open fair or market, where the same shall happen to be bought or put to sale, and shall not sell the same again alive in that market or fair ... upon pain of the forfeiture of the double value of such cattle'. The second part of this statute was extended by 5 & 6 Ed. VI cap 14 (1552) which forbade speculative traders from re-selling cattle within five weeks of the initial purchase. The burgesses of Carmarthen condemned the 'fraudulent and illegal practices of drovers and jobbers' at a meeting in 1764, resolving that the stipulations of 3 and 4 Ed. VI be 'strictly put into execution', and that those drovers buying and re-selling cattle at the same fairs be suppressed. 39  The tolls from the fair held at Newport, Monmouthshire, had been granted to the town burgesses by Edward VI. In 1843, the burgesses petitioned the Lords Commissioners of the Treasury, with the complaint that the annual toll had been severely reduced '... owing in great degree to the drovers of cattle selling their stock at home and elsewhere, where better prices may be obtained'. 40  While the statute of 5 & 6 Ed. VI cap 14 was repealed in 1772, the fmal repeal of the remaining offences of forestalling, regrating and engrossing was not effected until 1844. 41, 42  Even so, the authorities in some areas attempted to limit the extent of forestalling by means of local statutes and byelaws. Thus in 1852, the Portreeve of Usk issued a proclamation which declared that '... persons repeating the offence of forestalling the market after this notice will be punished with the utmost rigour'. 43

An interesting glimpse of the cattle trade in Tudor Wales is provided by two statutes enacted during the reign of Henry VIII. It appears that during the sixteenth century, cattle straying from droves had frequently been seized by local people and subsequently claimed as their own property. Under the terms of 26 Hen, VIII cap. 7 (1535-6), however, this practice was deemed illegal. Thus, if cattle straying from a drove into the possession of another party were claimed by their original owner, the person quently claimed as their own property. Under the terms of 26 Hen, VIII cap. 7 (1535-6), however, this practice was deemed illegal. Thus, if cattle straying from a drove into the possession of another party were claimed by their original owner, the person fmding the cattle was bound to return them within a year and a day. 44 Contravention of this statute rendered the offender liable to a fine of twice.......................

................... the value of the cattle concerned. By way of further reducing the incidence of cattle stealing, 34 & 35 Hen. VIII, cap. 26 (1542) stipulated that no person could buy or sell cattle in Wales '... unless he can bring forth sufficient and credible witness of the name of the person (and) what place he bought the same'. Infringement of this statute resulted in the offender being subject to an unspecified punishment as determined by the President of the Council. In spite of Ellis Wynne's reference to the drovers as 'the very worst kind of highwayman', and subsequently of the uncharitable comments of Twm o'r Nant, only one early reference to the conviction of a Welsh drover for stealing has been found. 45  Thus, in 1634, Humphrey Davies, a drover of Guilsfield, Montgomeryshire, was committed to gaol in Northampton for stealing two heifers, the property of Edward Taylor of Stretton-upon-Dunsmore in Warwickshire. 46 There are, however, frequent cases in Quarter Sessions and Great Sessions records, some of which were mentioned in Part I of the series, which would tend to support the view, widely held by contemporaries, that in spite of their valuable role in the economy of rural Wales, many of the nineteenth century drovers were not overburdened with scruples.

A reference in the Depositions by Commission out of the Exchequer of the 1730's suggests that on at least one occasion a mutually advantageous pact was forged between a member of the tax administration and a drover. One Robert Clayton, Receiver General of His Majesties Taxes for Hereford, was arraigned for his practice of lending tax money at the rate of £5 per cent to drovers for the purchase of cattle. Upon selling their cattle the drovers would then pay the sum (plus interest) owing to Clayton into of His Majesties Taxes for Hereford, was arraigned for his practice of lending tax money at the rate of £5 per cent to drovers for the purchase of cattle. Upon selling their cattle the drovers would then pay the sum (plus interest) owing to Clayton into the Bank of England before returning to Wales. The benefits of such an arrangement to the drovers were made clear by one David Williams who contended that the availability of cash permitted him to buy cattle at a cheaper rate than would have been possible had he been forced to obtain credit. 47

An interesting case, held before the Cardiganshire Great Sessions of 1793, illustrates the considerable pecuniary risks taken by persons advancing capital for the financing of the cattle trade. 48  This case was extremely complex. In essence, however, one Charles Jones of Llanddewibrefi, was attempting to recover debts of £1,300 from his stepfather, David Rowlands, drover, of the same parish. It had been necessary for Jones to provide his stepfather with this money for the purchase of cattle, '... otherwise he could not have gone on with the purchase for the bankers would never enable him to buy cattle'. 49  In his deposition, Jones stated that he had been forced to provide continual fmancial support for Rowlands in the forlorn hope that he might eventually recover the earlier loans. It also transpired during the course of the case that Rowlands, in addition to not repaying his debts, had also wilfully sold some of his stepson's cattle and appropriated the proceeds. This became clear following the evidence on one Edward Abel, drover, who appeared as a witness on behalf of Jones. Seemingly, Abel had been commissioned by Jones to conduct a drove of the latter's cattle to Steyning Fair in Sussex. Abel maintained that Rowlands, who was also present at Steyning, had been heard to................

..................offer one guinea to any person who might be prepared to assist him in removing a number of Jones' cattle from the drove. Assistance was apparently forthcoming, for the case records that Rowlands removed, and sold, twenty-seven of Jones' cattle on the evening before the fair.

A further example, involving a clear cut case of bankruptcy, is provided by the confrontation of Edward and Ellis Jones, drovers, with Thomas Owen, farmer, held at the Caernarvonshire Great Sessions of 1806. 50 The Joneses had managed to persuade Owen to give them, '... credit and countenance in the island of Anglesey by endorsing their drafts and joining them in some notes for cattle'. Having eventually purchased their cattle, the Joneses had failed to make profitable sales in England. Accordingly they had been unable to neet the demands of their creditors, who had turned to the unfortunate Owen for settlement of the brothers' outstanding debts.

Notwithstanding the cases quoted above and in Part I, evidence laid before the Committee on the Bank of England Charter would seem to suggest that many country bankers had sufficient confidence in the drovers to lend substantial sums of money upon little or no security. John Wilkins of the Old Bank at Brecon, for example, was prepared to advance large amounts of cash to drovers provided their promissory notes were underwritten by 'responsible persons'. Other banks, however, such as the 'Black Ox' of Llandovery, and Waters, Jones and Co. of Carmarthen had lent between £5,000 and £7,000 to drovers unable to offer any security.   51, 52

Severe limitations on the activities of the drovers were imposed by the statute of 3 Chas I cap. .22 (1627) and subsequently by 39 Chas. II cap. 7 (1676). The latter stipulated that '... noe Drover, Horsecourser, Waggoner, Butcher, Higler, or any of their servants shall travell or come into ... an Inne or lodgeing upon the Lord's Day or any part thereof ... upon pain that each and every such offender shall forfeit twenty shillings for every such offence'. No doubt this statute was frequently contravened. In 1817, for example, two Welsh drovers were convicted for '... profanation of the Sabbath in driving cattle through the village of Mordiford in Herefordshire'. It was hoped that '... such legal interference will tend to check a practice which has of late been too general and must have proved truly painful to the Christian observer'. 53 As late as 1886, the Anglesey dealer, John Evans, was deeply concerned about starting his journey to London on a Sunday. As he wrote to his wife, '... I could not tell (my children that I was going to London on the Sabbath Day, it would have grieved their hearts. It will do no good to tell your mother. It will only fret her to think how unfortunate you have been in being yoked to such an ungodly husband. 54

In the City of London, the markets of which were the final destination of many drovers of Welsh cattle, numerous ordinances and decrees strictly regulated the hours during which cattle could be moved through the streets. Thus, no cattle were permitted

In the City of London, the markets of which were the final destination of many drovers of Welsh cattle, numerous ordinances and decrees strictly regulated the hours during which cattle could be moved through the streets. Thus, no cattle were permitted to be driven to Smithfield Fair before midnight on a Sunday, while it was forbidden to drive animals within one mile of Smithfield before ......................

...................... 11 p.m. on market days. It was possible, however, after 1867, to drive cattle through the streets of London, provided the prior permission of the police commissioner had been obtained . 55 Such regulations applied both to local city drovers and to those persons bringing cattle from afar. Public concern with the barbaric ways with which the city drovers frequently treated their cattle prompted the Mayor's Court to issue an ordinance forbidding drovers from using '. . . any stick or other instrument the point of which shall be of greater length than one quarter of an inch . 56 Any drovers caught using sticks which had not been approved by the Clerk of the Court and marked accordingly, could be fined a sum not exceeding forty shillings. Edward Cook had perhaps contravened this regulation, for he is recorded in the Metropolitan Market Convictions Book as having been fined twenty-four shillings in 1875, '... for cruelly beating a calf in York Road', while in the same year one James Bailey received fourteen days hard labour '.. . for cruelly torturing a cow'. 57  The convictions Books do not record any cases of contravention of that part of the Intoxicating Liquor Act (35 and 36 Vict. cap 94, 1872) which allowed for a fine of forty shillings or one month's imprisonment for drovers who had been found guilty of driving cattle while under the influence of drink. 58  In 1870, however, Francis Flanaghan, an Irishman, received two calendar months in prison for '... being drunk, annoying and assaulting Louisa Martin'. Again, in 1875, one Humphrey ap Phillip spent five days in prison for drunkenness and using obscene language, while George Mussin paid a fine of five shillings '. . . for being drunk and incapable of taking care of himself in Offord Road, Islington'. Such examples tend to confirm the impression gained from literary sources, that the drovers ing obscene language, while George Mussin paid a fine of five shillings '. . . for being drunk and incapable of taking care of himself in Offord Road, Islington'. Such examples tend to confirm the impression gained from literary sources, that the drovers in general were not averse to over-indulgence.

It would be interesting to know how many Welsh drovers had read Vicar Prichard's Cannwyll y Cymry and to what extent they heeded his stern warnings of the potential dangers of alcohol.

Gochel feddwi wrth Borthmonna,
Gwin hel borthmon i gardotta;
Os y porthmon a fydd meddw,
F'ar holl stoc i brynu'r cwrw.   59

RICHARD COLYER

Aberystwyth

Notes;

1  H. J. Hewitt, Medieval Cheshire, A Social and Economic History of Cheshire in the reigns of the three Edwards, (Manchester, 1929), p. 84.

2  I. Edwards, Star Chamber Proceedings in Wales, (Cardiff, 1929), passim.

3  The annual tribute of 25,000 oxen imposed by Athelstan upon the Welsh suggests that cattle were also vital components of the rural economy of Wales during the tenth century. (C. Price, in The Agrarian History of England and Wales, (Cambridge, 1972), II, p. 318.

4  In H. Thomas, A History of Wales, 1485-1660, (Cardiff, 1972), p. 127.

5  A. H. Dodd, A History of Caernarvonshire, 1284-1900 (Denbigh, 1968), p. 92.

6  Calendar of Wynn Papers (National Library of Wales, 1926), p. 302.

7 C. Skeel, Trans. Royal Hist. Soc. IX, 1926, p. 140.

8 The Parliamentary army included at least one cattle drover among its officers. Captain Edward Taylor of Pickhill, Denbighshire, who was buried at Marchwiel in 1679, led a troop of horse. This stalwart was voted a reward of £200 by Parliament for personally capturing Sir John Owen, leader of the Royalist up rising in Bangor in 1648. N. Tucker, Denbighshire Officers in the Civil War (Denbigh, n.d.), pp. 131-22.

9 C. Fox, Offa's Dyke (1955 edn.), pp. 34-5, 112-3, 156-7.

10 1 am indebted to Mr. F. Noble for kindly drawing my attention to this Ordinance.

11  H. P. R. Finberg, 'An Early Reference to the Welsh Cattle Trade', in Agric. Hist. Rev., 2, 1954, pp. 12-14.

12 The settlement of Welsh estates upon the younger sons of Norman magnates may possibly have resulted in supplies of cattle from Wales being sent to the family estates in England.

13 Calendar of Close Rolls, Ed. II, 1309-13, p. 292.

14 Hewitt, op. cit., pp. 53-4.

15 H. R. Davies, The Conway and Menai Ferries, B.C.S. No. 8, p. 45.

16 C. Dyer, 'A Small Landowner in the fifteenth century', Midland History, 1(3), 1972, p. 7.

17 D. Williams, A History of Modern Wales (London, 1969), pp. 19-20.

18 J, O. Halliwell, ed., The Diary of Dr. John Dee (Camden Society 1842), passim.

19 H.M.C., Duke of Rutland MSS. Vol. I, p. 246.

20 Calendar of Wynn Papers, op. cit., p. 201.

21 ibid., p. 365.

22 ibid., p. 404.

23 G. Nesta Evans, Social Life in raid-Eighteenth Century Anglesey (Cardiff, 1935), P. 122-3.

24 Calendar of Treasury Books LVIII, 1743, p. 225.

25 J. E. Lloyd, Arch. Camb.. Ser 4, III, 1870, p. 47.

26 Edmund Hyde Hall, A Description of Caernarvonshire, 1809-11 (ed. E. Gwynne Jones, Caernarvon, 1952).

27 H. Ellis Hughes, Eminent Men of Denbighshire (Liverpool, 1946), p. iii.

28 I am indebted to Miss E. Rees of the National Library of Wales for providing me with the names of the subscribers on this list.

29 R. T. Jenkins, Y Ffordd Yng Nghymru (Wrexham, 1933), p. 75.

30 F. Green, 'Early Banks in West Wales' in Trans. His. Soc. West Wales, 1916, pp. 129-164.

31 P. G. Hughes, Wales and the Drovers (Denbigh, 1944) p. 32.

32 Dictionary of Welsh Biography (London, 1959), p. 524.

33 Personal Commnnication: Professor E. G. Bowen.

34 Tawney and Porter, Tudor Economic Documents (London, 1924), III p. 142.

35 Calendar of the Records of the Borough of Haverfordwest, 1539-1660, B.C.S. No. 24.

36 Salop Q.S. Order Book, April 1709.

37 Salop Q.S. Order Book, July 1770.

38 The considerable tolls demanded of drovers at local fairs were highly unpopular and only reluctantly paid. The burgesses of Dinas Mawddwy explained to the Lord of the Manor that the drovers had refused to pay toll at the Easter fair of 1843. They had drawn his attention to the fact '. . . in order that he may enforce payment thereof and uphold our ancient privileges'. (N.L.W. Schedule of Dinas Mawddwy Records 1940).

39 N.L.W., Dynevor Deeds and Documents, Parcel 4.

40 Monmouthshire R.O., Wand TM/B27. However, despite such complaints, 'pre-fair' trading was still widely practised and the tradition of dealers purchasing cattle directly from farmers persists in Wales to this day.

41 12 Geo. III, cap 71 (1792).

42  7-8 Vict., cap 24 (1844).

43 Monmouthshire R.O., D/156/32.

44 The necessity of impounding these animals may explain the widespread distribution of 'cae pound' and 'cae ffald' field names throughout Wales.

45 Ellis Wynne, Bardd Cwsg (Carmarthen, 1864), pp. 19, 102.

46 Northants R.O., I.L. 1961.

47 P.R.O. E134/8, Geo, II, Easter 8, quoted by O. Parry, B.B.C.S. 8, (1935-7).

48 N.L.W. G. E. Owen MSS. 7266-7.

49 Clearly Rowlands was a bad risk, for see Wilkins' evidence to bank of England Charter committee discussed below.

50 U.C.N.W., Porth yr Aur MS. 33281.

51 Report of the Committee on the Bank of England Charter, B.P.P. VI, 1831-2, pp. 115-8. Wilkins observed that Banks often lent cash to drovers on the understanding that the suns would be collected by their agents after the cattle sales at Barnet Fair.

52 In addition to fmancing local drovers, the Brecon Old Bank extended its facilities to drovers from the Midland counties. These people arrived at the bank with notes for denominations between £5 and £30 from local Midland banks which they changed for Brecon notes, these being 'well known' in Cardiganshire, Pembrokeshire and Glamorgan, where the Midland drovers purchased the bulk of their cattle. (R. O. Roberts, Brycheiniog, VII, 1961, p. 65).

53 Gloucester Journal, August 4th 1817.

54 N.L.W. Broadhead Evans MS. 102.

55  30 & 31 Vict. cap. 134. Numerous convictions for driving cattle during prohibited hours are recorded in Metropolitan Market Conviction Books, ( City of London R.O. MS. 407A).

56 City of London R.O. MS 39.

57 Miss Alice Bowen of Shrewsbury, who renumbers drovers of cattle being bought to Welshpool Market before the beginning of the present century, witnessed the cruelty of some of the drovers. 'These drovers carried a stout hazel stick with which they beat the animals mercilessly ... across the face and blood would ooze from their nostrils; also their language was unrepeatable.' Miss Bowen is perhaps referring to market drovers, for the long-distance Welsh drover, keen to preserve the condition of his charges, would have been unlikely to treat them in this bestial manner.

58 In mid-nineteenth century Pembroke, drovers wilfully misbehaving while in charge of cattle or permitting animals to cause damage as a result of their own negligence, were liable to a fine of forty shillings. (Carmarthen R.O. Cawdor MS. 260).

59 Rhys Prichard, Cannwyll y Cymry (Carmarthen, 1807), p. 149.

[including Gunsmiths, Gunlock makers and Gunbarrel makers]

Stan Cook established the Gunmakers & Allied Trades Index in 1982. As of April 2004 over 9000 surnames are listed, covering a total of at least 25,000 individual workers. The index continues to grow at the rate of about thirty names each month, and additional information most welcome.

The collection has information about gun trade people working in the U.K. from the start of the trade before 1500 up to 1901. The sources include parish and church records, many trade directories, various census records, the documents of the Board of Ordnance, the registers of the London Gunmakers' Company, apprenticeship records, patent listings and a variety of publications.

The database includes a complete index of the London Gunmakers' Company apprentice records from 1656 to 1902; an index of the gunmakers listed in the Inland Revenue Apprentice Stamp Duty records, 1710-1775; a list of the gun trade people who were listed in the 1851 census of Devon, Norfolk, Gloucestershire, Warwickshire and large parts of other counties; a list of at least 600 Wills of guntrade people. Information about various fire insurance policies taken out by gunmakers. An index of the guntrade people recorded in the 1881 census [over 7300 names] of the UK [this includes Scotland and the Isle of Man, Jersey and Guernsey]. So far the names of about 2000 guntrade workers have been collected from the 1901 census. These are obviously subject to the special copyright provisions of this particular census.

Beyond the UK records, the records of guntrade people [mostly of UK or Irish origins] in Australia, Canada, Ireland, South Africa and some parts of the USA, along with the records of a number of British Trading organisations such as the Hudson Bay Company and British East India Company, have also been researched.

Due to illness Stan Cook is currently not actively researching or responding to queries.  The records are being prepared with the intention of (hopefully) making them more widely available when time permits.  In the meantime the email address below is still active.

e-mail address: gunmakers_cook20@btinternet.com

General

Full text of A Dictionary of Occupational Terms Based on the Classification of Occupations used in the Census of Population [for Great Britain], 1921 - "by far the most comprehensive dictionary of British occupations, with almost 30,000 terms".

Hurley, Beryl, (Ed.). The Book of Trades: Or Library of Useful Arts: Vol 1, Devizes, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Family History Society (1991) 63 pp. [ISBN 0951225340]
[FFHS GENFair: "Reproduction of 'job descriptions' giving fascinating descriptions of the many labour- intensive occupations and crafts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries, Taken from the original 1811 edition, with numerous hand-engraved illustrations. This volume looks at the work of Apothecaries, Bakers, Basket Makers, Bricklayers, Carpenters, Coach Makers, Comb Makers, Coopers, Curriers, Dyers, Feather Workers, Gardeners, Gold Beaters, Hair Dressers, Hat Makers, Jewellers, Lace Makers, Mariners, Milliners, Plumbers, Potters, Sawyers, Shipwrights, Smiths, Spinners, Stone Masons, Straw Hat Makers, Soap Boilers, Tallow Chandlers, Type Founders, Watermen, and Wool Combers"]

Hurley, Beryl, (Ed.). The Book of Trades: Or Library of Useful Arts: Vol 2, Devizes, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Family History Society (1992) 63 pp. [ISBN 0951225359]
[FFHS GENFair: "Reproduction of 'job descriptions' giving fascinating descriptions of the many labour- intensive occupations and crafts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Taken from the original 1811 edition, with numerous hand-engraved illustrations. This volume covers Bookbinders, Braziers, Brewers, Brick Makers, Brush Makers, Button Makers, Cabinet Makers, Calico-Printers, Carpet Weavers, Copper-Plate Printers, Cork Cutters, Cutters, Engravers, Glass Blowers, Iron Founders, Ladies' Dress Makers, Merchants, Needle Makers, Painters, Paper Makers, Paviours, Pin Makers, Printers, Rope Makers, Saddlers, Shoe Makers, Statuaries, Stocking Weavers, Tailors, Tin-Plate Workers, Trunk Makers, Turners, Watch Makers, Weavers, Wheelwrights, and Wire Drawers."]

Hurley, Beryl, (Ed.). The Book of Trades: Or Library of Useful Arts: Vol 3, Devizes, Wiltshire, Wiltshire Family History Society (1994) 52 pp. [ISBN 1898714029]
[FFHS GENFair: "Reproduction of 'job descriptions' giving fascinating descriptions of the many labour- intensive occupations and crafts of the late 18th and early 19th centuries. Taken from the 1818 edition, with numerous hand-engraved illustrations. This volume looks at Attorneys, Bleachers, Booksellers, Chemists & Druggists, Confectioners, Distillers, Gun Makers, Linen Drapers, Looking-Glass Makers, Machinists, Musical Instrument Makers, Opticians, Pewterers and Tanners."]

Raymond, Stuart A. Occupational sources for genealogists: a bibliography, Birmingham, Federation of Family History Societies (1996) 81 pp. [ISBN: 1860060366]
[FFHS GENFair: "Were your English ancestors railwaymen or tradesmen, lawyers or tax inspectors? Or perhaps you have pipemakers or policemen amongst your forebears? It is probable that at least some members of your family are listed somewhere by the occupation they pursued, and it is well worth knowing where such information is to be found. There are many published sources of occupational information, which are listed in the second, greatly expanded, edition of this extensive guide to published works."]

Shepheard, Wayne. The History of Old Occupations. Family Tree Magazine (March 2019) pp.12-19. "[Investigation of] the history of occupations, key sources, and the cultural and climatic background against which the times played out . . ." 

Waters, Colin and Titford, John. A Dictionary of Old Trades, Titles and Occupations, Countryside Books (2002) 302 pp. [ISBN 1 85306 601 X] ["This excellent reference book explains the meaning of nearly 4,000 terms and contains over 70 illustrations."]

• The Black Sheep Index to people named in newspaper articles and journals organsed under various headings, including a number of occupations - copies of the original reports are available for purchase (archived copy).
• John Hitchcocks's Glossary of Ranks, Professions, Occupations & Trades (archived copy).
• Obsolete Occupations from Olive Tree Genealogy
• Old Occupations from the USGenWeb Project
• Old Occupation Names from Rodney Hall
• Occupations Glossary from ScotlandsPeople
• Old English Census Occupations from the World Through The Lens website (archived copy).
• Jane Hewitt's Dictionary of Old Occupations
• Colin Mackie's Directories - of British Diplomats, British Civil Servants (1900-), British Armed Forces (1860-), Composers, and U.S. Senators (1863-).
• The ABCs of Old Time Occupations by Jenny Ashcraft.

Accountants

• Obituaries and other biographical notes/profiles - from ICAEW Library and Information Service .

Agriculture

Armstrong, A. Farmworkers: A Social and Economic History 1770-1980, Batsford (1988).

Fussell, G.E and Fussell, K.R. The English Countrywoman: From Tudor Times to the Victorian Age, Blomsbury Books (1985).

Hammond, J.L. and Hammond, Barbara. The Village Labourer, 1760-1832, Sutton Publishing (1987) 432 pp. [ISBN: 0862993458]
[John Woodgate: "The Village Labourer focuses specifically on the life of the poor in rural districts during the period 1760 - 1832. It illustrates in detail what was happening to this section of the working classes under a government in which they had no share. Opening with a chapter describing the concentration of power, the authors go on to explain the common-field system and village class structure which set the scence for what must be considered the most important social and economic event of the periof - enclosure. Subsequent chapters examine its inception, implementation and effects. the book concludes with a picture of the village labourer's plight in 1795, together with a discussion of the remedies which were proposed but not adopted. Desite the importance which is placed on enclosure, there is a full consideration of other contributory factors, making this a valuable introduction to an understanding of the lives and fortunes of a class that had no voice in its own destiny."]

Waller, Ian. My Ancestor was an Agricultural Labourer, Society of Genealogists (2010). [ISBN: 9781903462980]

• Anyone with ancestors involved in farming may find the British Agricultural History Society of interest.
• The Mills Archive provides a searchable database of more than 30,000 names of millers, millwrights and associated trades, assembled by volunteers from original data.
• The Museum of English Rural Life's online catalogue of their extensive collections.
• The Village Labourer 1760-1832 (archived copy), by J.L. and Barbara Hammond.

Apprentices

• National Archives Leaflet: Looking for records of an apprentice or master.

Artists

• Though aimed principally at providing art and antique auction data, The Invaluable Group's Artists Database (archived copy) provides a searchable index to information, in some cases extensive, about "500,000 international artists". (And the facility for searching on objects can be used to look for placename information.)

Blacksmiths

• History of Blacksmithing from Oldfield Forge, Hereford (archived copy).
• The Worshipful Company of Blacksmiths.
• Ann Spiro's Blacksmiths Index

Brickmakers

• British Brick Society.

Brushmakers

• Society of Brushmakers' Descendants - "a Historical Society/Family History Society that specialises in the brush/broom making trades and those who have worked therein for the past few hundred years."
• Brushmakers Union Archives at the Working Class Movement Library.

Canal People

• Family History Checklist, from the London Canal Museum.
• Waterways History by Jim Shead.
• Canal and River Trust Archive - "Explore over 200 years of waterways history! "
• Railway & Canal Historical Society - web-site.

Church Officials

P. Towey. My Ancestor was an Anglican Clergyman. Society of Genealogists (2006).

• The Clergy of The Church of England database - "Its objective is to create a relational database documenting the careers of all Church of England clergymen between 1540 and 1835."
• Crockford's Clerical Directory - "first published in 1858, contains biographies of over 25,000 Anglican clergy in the UK, details of English, Welsh and Irish benefices and churches and much more. This online version carries information that goes right back to 1968." (Paid subscription required.)
• SOAS - sources for missionary and church archives.
• Steve Pickthall's Parish Clerk Index, derived initially mainly from the book "The Parish Clerk", by PH Ditchfield (Metheun, London, 1907).

Clothiers

Frank, M. and Brownstone, David M. Clothiers (A Volume in the Work Throughout History Series), Facts on File Publications (1987). [ISBN 0-8160-1442-6] [Covers: Cloth Finishers, Fiber Workers, Hatters, Milliners, Shoemakers & Other Leatherworkers, Spinners, Tailors & Dressmakers and Weavers]

Court Officials

• Database of Court Officers (1660-1837).

Criminals

We all have the occasional "black-sheep" in our families. This publication may help us to document their careers:-
D.T. Hawkins. Criminal Ancestors: A Guide to Historical Crime Records in England and Wales. Stroud, Alan Sutton, 1992, 458 pp. ISBN 0 86299 817 4.

• Smuggler's Britain - extensive information about smuglers and their haunts.

Customs, Excise, Coastguard

• National Archives Leaflet: The Coastguard
• National Archives Leaflet: Looking for records of a Customs officer
• National Archives Leaflet: CExcise and Inland Revenue Officers
• H.M. Coastguards - A brief history, based on "Coastguard! An Official History Of HM Coastguard" by William Webb.
• British Coastguards 1841-1901 - a detailed index to coastguards found mainly in census records. This material has been provided by Stan Waight and his team of contributors.
• British Coastguard Records - from Mariners-L.
• HM Customs & Excise - its History, Officers and their Work - on the (archived) HM Waterguard site.

Dentists

• The General Dental Council hold registration records which show the original application, list of addresses, correspondence, etc going back to the compulsory registration in the 1920s.

Doctors

Wallis, P.J., Wallis, R.V., Whittet, T.D. and Burnby, J.G.L. Eighteenth Century Medics (subscriptions, licences, apprencticeships), Newcastle upon Tyne, Project for Historical Biobibliography (1988).
[An alphabetical index of individuals, compiled from a number of sources, including National Archives apprenticeship records, subscriptions to the publication of medical treatises, alumni of UK medical schools for the 18thC and some membership lists of the medical Royal Colleges.]

• Was Your Ancestor a Doctor? (archived copy) is a an article on the subject written by Alex Glendinning.
• National Archives Leaflets: Looking for records of doctors and nurses, and Military Nursing.
• Researching Your Medical Ancestors from the Royal College of General Practitioners.
• The Royal College of Physicians provide the Munk's Roll which is a near-complete online index to the obituaries of past fellows from 1518 to the present (and licentiates from 1518 to 1825)
• Directory of medical licences issued by the Archbishop of Canterbury 1535-1775 from the Holdings of Lambeth Palace Library.
• Peter Davis' website includes a list of Naval Surgeons, Assistant Surgeons, Physicians and Dispensers in 1840.  
• Google Books have full text of the London Medical Directory (a commercial, and therefore voluntary. register) for 1846 and other years which include some doctors outside London.  
• Ancestry provides subscription access to UK Medical Register (a compulsory register published by the General Medical Council) 1859-1959 listing the doctors who were licenced to practice in the UK, with each doctor’s residence, qualification, and date of registration. 
• The archive of the British Medical Journal allows free full text search of articles since 1840 for those who may have written, or been mentioned in, their articles.
• Trade directories can provide some information (including for doctors in private practice)

Engineers

• The records of the Steam Engine Maker's Society are a unique source, providing detailed information about many aspects of individual lives from 1835 to the First World War; details concerning unemployment, sickness, aging and migration which are available from no other source.

Inns, Hotels and Pubs

Fowler, Simon. Researching Brewery and Publican Ancestors, Birmingham, Federation of Family History Societ es (2003) 48 pp.
[FFHS GENFair: "This booklet is an attempt to help people who discover that they have innkeepers or brewers in their family. The first section is a brief survey about the changing nature of brewing, the public and the people who worked there. The second part offers advice about the records and where you can find them. There is also a glossary of terms you may come across in the course of your research, a short bibliography and list of relevant web sites."]

Gibson, Jeremy. Victualler's Licenses - Records for Family and Local Historians, Federation of Family History Societie (2009) 64pp., [ISBN-13: 978-1906280147] 

• Simon Fowler's Pub History resource guide.
• Pub History Society
• UK Pub History and Street Directory
• The Pubs Galore website contains some useful lists of inns, hotels and public houses.
• Lost Pubs Project  is a volunteer contributed list of closed pubs.
• Barmaids and Skinkers (archived copy) - details the various jobs found in public houses, coaching inns and the brewery trade over the centuries, by Elaine Saunders.
• Trade directories can provide some information about pub licensees through the years.

Lawyers

• Searchable database of Admissions to the Inner Temple (1547-1940).

Manufacturers

• The website of the British Association of Paper Historians.
• The Society of Brushmakers' Descendants is a historical/family history society devoted to brushmaking and brushmakers.
• Bryan Mawer's Sugar Refiners and Sugarbakers Database covers mainly the United Kingdom from the 16th to 20th centuries.
• Websters' Scientific Instrument Makers Database compiled by Roderick S. and Marjorie K. Webster and made available online by the Adler Planetarium & Astronomy Museum, Chicago, Illinois, U.S.A.
• Stan Cook's Gunmakers & Allied Trades Index

Maritime

Watts, Christopher and Watts, Michael. My Ancestor was a Merchant Seaman, London, Society of Genealogists (2004) 84 pp. [ISBN 1-903462-51-7]
["The new and heavily revised edition is some two thirds bigger than the first edition and is sure to become one of the 'bibles' for family historians wanting to research ancient mariners. Packed full of places to search and the records that can be found in such record offices and archives, full listings of the same, their class and piece numbers, what to look for and where to find little known records."]

• National Archives Leaflet: Royal Naval Dockyards
• Association of Lighthouse Keepers - website
• Bob Sanders' Mariners Research Links
• The Historical Diving Society - "aiming to protect and preserve our diving heritage".

• National Archives' Hospital Records database

Merchants

• Dan Byrnes' Merchants and Bankers From before 1400 to 2001 (archived copy) provides genealogical and historical information about merchants and traders from the times of the Crusaders to the present day.

Millers

• The Mills Archive has large databases on mills, and on the people associated with them.

Miners

Tonks, David. My Ancestor Was a Coalminer, Society of Genealogists Enterprises Ltd (2003) 136 pp. [ISBN: 1903462711]
["This book addresses documentary evidence to be found on miners and mining and where to go for further research. A must-have book for anyone researching an ancestor who was a coalminer in Great Britiain."]

• Ian Winstanley's Coal Mines History Resource Centre (archived copy).
• British Mining Database - a general portal site for mining.
• Mining Index - of miners killed or injured c.1850-1920 (archived copy).

Missionaries

• SOAS - sources for missionary and church archives.

Musicians

• The National Pipe Organ Register has a Directory of Organ Buildres which "aims to list every organ builder who ever worked in the British Isles, from the earliest times to the middle of the twentieth century". This Directory is housed in the University of Birmingham Cadbury Research Library.

Nurses

• National Archives Leaflets: Looking for records of doctors and nurses, and Military Nursing.
• Royal College of Nursing Archives - "A unique collection of material on British nurses and nursing" - fully text searchable.
• Nursing registers held at the Royal College of Nursing on Ancestry.co.uk (charges apply). (Before the General Nursing Council was established in 1919 the registers were kept independently by individual hospitals and this collection brings many of those registers together, along with the central registers which were subsequently compiled.)
• Nursing History and Midwifery History - from nurses.info (archived copies).

Pharmacists

Hudson, Bryony. Tracing People and Premises in Pharmacy, Genealogists' Magazine, vol. 28, no. 6, (2005) pp.242-246.

Photographers

• Finding Photographers is a worldwide index of the books and websites that list photographers and when they worked.
• An Index of UK photographers up to c1950 compiled by Rosemary and Stan Rodliffe.
• Rosemary and Stad Rodliffe's Index of Victorian, Edwardian and early Twentieth Century UK Photographers.
• Photographers of Great Britain & Ireland 1840-1940 - "the world's largest collection of British and Irish carte de visite photographs and trade directories".

Pirates

Hollick, Helen. Pirates: Truth and Tales. Amberley Publishing (2017) 328pp. [ISBN-13: 978-1445652153].

Police

Sherman, Antony. My Ancestor was a Policeman, London, Society of Genealogists (2000) 44 pp. [ISBN: 1903462002] ["This work comprises a short history of the police in Britain, the types of record available and a comprehensive directory of the sources of British police force records."]

Stallion, Martin and David S Wall. The British Police: Police Forces and Chief Officers 1829 – 2000. Police History Society (1999) 262pp. [ISBN 0-9512538-4-0].

• National Archives Leaflet Police
• Police Index - compiled from Newspaper reports and others of court cases, inquests etc. (archived copy),
• Police history resources provided by Louis R. Mills.
• Shanghai Municipal Police - by R.A. Bickers.
• British Transport Police History Group - "exists to promote the history of the British Transport Police and to preserve the historical records and artefacts of all its constituent forces wherever railway, dock and canal police forces were operational'.

Postal workers

• The The British Postal Musem and Archive (formerly Post Office Archives and Records Services) holds the records of the British Post Office from the 17th century to the present day.
• Example set of names extracted from Post Office Files, by Ted Wildy.
• Trade directories can provide some information about post masters and mistresses through the years

Railwaymen

Richards, Tom. Was Your Grandfather a Railwayman? (4th ed.), Birmingham, Federation of Family History Societies (2002) 132 pp. [ISBN: 1860061613] - [FFHS GENFair: "This expanded edition of the guide includes a comprehensive listing of records and documents for railway companies in Great Britain and overseas, showing what information they contain and where they can be found. There is also a detailled introduction to the railways and the records they generated, a guide to ordering records at the Public Record Office, and details of railway memorials in the UK and Ireland."]

• Hardy, Frank. My Ancestor was a Railway Worker. Society of Genealogists Enterprises Ltd (2009), 110pp., [ISBN 9781907199028]
• Drummond, Di. Tracing Your Railway Ancestors: A Guide for Family Historians. Pen & Sword (2010) 288pp. [ISBN-13 : 978-1844158645]
• Industry: the Industrial Revolution and the Railway System presents a wide variety of information on the 19th century railway system.
• Railway Index - The names of railwaymen of all classes and companies (archived copy).
• Railway & Canal Historical Society - web-site.
• Railway work, life and death - "details of railway worker accidents investigated by the state (1911-15) & applications to the Great Eastern Railway Benevolent Fund (1913-23), for assistance after an accident".
• The Railway Work, Life and Death Project - a collaboration between the University of Portsmouth, the National Railway Museum, and the Modern Records Centre at the University of Warwick about railway worker accidents in Britain and Ireland from the late 1880s to 1939.

Servants

Symes, Ruth A. A Governess in the Family, Family Tree Magazine, vol. 23, no. 6, (2007) pp.18-22.

The Georgian Papers Online project is a fascinating insight into the Royal Household in the eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries and provides access to descriptions and digital images of letters, diaries, account books and household records and receipts. And via Findmypast you can search more than 386,000 employment records, which include staff at royal residences across the UK between 1526 and 1924. The database is drawn from a number of different types of document, but records usually include dates of employment, salary and career history.

Slave-Owners

• Legacies of British Slave-Ownership - a database containing the identity of all slave-owners in the British Caribbean at the time slavery ended.

Stonemasons

• Stonemasons & Quarrymen - information provided by the Modern Records Centre, Warwick University Library. (They have put online the first part of an index to the obituaries of stonemasons included in the Fortnightly Returns of the Operative Society of Masons, Quarrymen and Allied Trades of England and Wales. This currently (as of Aug 2010) covers 1836-1875.)

Sugar Refiners & Sugarbakers

• Sugar Refiners & Sugarbakers - "a database of some of those involved in the cane sugar refining industry, mainly in the UK, 16-20C" compiled by Bryan Mawer.

Theatre, Circus, etc.

• Dave Jassie's THEATRE-UK pages are dedicated to helping those researching ancestors who were actors, music hall or circus performers.
• Miles Templeton's boxinghistory.org.uk provides lists of names and photographs of boxers, details of venues and historical articles.
• The Galloper Magazine
• Circus Historical Society website.
• University of Bristol Theatre Collection - has a catague of over 100,000 items.
• Association of Performing Arts Collections - "the Subject Specialist Network of performing arts collections in the UK and Ireland".
• Advice on locating music hall and variety artists - from Hiss & Boo.
• The Search for Theatre AncestoRs (STAR) website - based on the National Trusts's archive of Ellen Terry and Edith Craig papers.

Trade Unions

• Trade Union Archives at the Modern Records Centre, University of Warwick, with a list of twenty-four occupations for which genealogical guides are available.
• Mark Crail's Trade Union Ancestors website.
• Trades Union Congress Library Collections at London Metropolitan University.
• The Trade Union Congress's listing of Links to Other Resources identifies numerous trade union-related archives and other resources.

Travellers, Gypsies, Pedlars, etc.

• The National Fairground Archive - "a unique collection of photographic, printed, manuscript and audiovisual material".
• British Fairground Ancestors - Showmen, Circus and Fairground Travellers 
• Gary Stanley's Romani website - "a heritage project dedicated to finding, tracking and recording any mention of Romany Gypsy families and individuals between the years 1500-1900, in the United Kingdom & United States of America".
• The Romany and Traveller Family History Society website.