IX Anthony Bacon and Richard Crawshay

Abstract

Far up the Taff Valley in Glamorgan, some 570 feet above sea-level, stands the town of Merthyr Tydfil, and on the western side of the river at the point where the Taff begins to cross the coal measures, there grew up one of the largest ironworks in the world. The story of Cyfarthfa, which was the name of the site and, subsequently, of the works themselves, begins with Anthony Bacon, that “energetic and influential man”,¹ who, after occupying himself for some time as a storekeeper in colonial Maryland, returned to England and by 1745 was established in London. His activities and rôles were many and varied, ranging from shipowning to the possessing of fishing rights off the coast of Cumberland and coal mines on Cape Breton Isle. In addition, he held general government contracts, such as that for supplying garrisons in Senegal with provisions, and of furnishing negroes to the government in the West Indies.² However, he relinquished all his contracts on the excuse that they were unprofitable to him, ³ and although this was very probably the case, a contributory cause was, undoubtedly, the transference of his interests to the barren mountains of Wales.⁴

Reprinted from J.P. Addis, The Crawshay dynasty: a study in industrial development and organisation, Swansea, 1952

Ibid, p 43

Reprinted from J.P. Addis, The Crawshay dynasty: a study in industrial development and organisation, Swansea, 1952

Ibid, p 43

Notes

Reprinted from J.P. Addis, The Crawshay dynasty: a study in industrial development and organisation, Swansea, 1952

Ibid, p 43