This family seems to have originated from Dillwyn (or Dilwyn, but the name does not appear to be
Welsh
— see
Ekwall
,
Dict. of English Place-names
), near
Weobley, Herefords.
, but afterwards settled in
Llangorse
parish (
Brecknock
). After the death of a
Jeffrey
Dillwyn
there (
1677
), some of his family used ‘
Jeffreys
’ as a surname and migrated to
Brecon
; this branch had apparently died out by
1800
(
Theophilus
Jones
,
Hist. Brecknock
, 3rd ed., iii, 65 — but the statement there that the poet
Ieuan Deulwyn
(q.v.)
was of this family cannot stand). Of the remainder, who retained their name, a
WILLIAM
DILLWYN
, a
Quaker
, emigrated to
Pennsylvania
c.
1699
(ibid. 70). His son,
JOHN
DILLWYN
, had a son
WILLIAM
DILLWYN
(
1743?
-
1824
), who returned from
America
, settling at
Higham Hall
,
Walthamstow
, and m. (
1777
)
Sarah
Weston
, of
High Hall
,
Essex
.
Their son,
LEWIS
DILLWYN
(
1778
-
1855
), b. at
Ipswich
21 Aug. 1778
, was in
1802
placed by his father in control of the ‘
Cambrian Pottery
’ at
Swansea
, to which he removed in
1803
, living at first at
Burrough Lodge
and afterwards at
Sketty Hall
. In
1814
, this pottery took over the designers and craftsmen of the
Nantgarw potteries
, and began to
manufacture porcelain
(see
Williams
,
Guide to the Collection of Welsh Porcelain at the National Museum of Wales
, with portrait of
Dillwyn
). But
Dillwyn
, though he experimented in improving the ‘body’ of the
Swansea
ware, was primarily a
naturalist
, and
published works of considerable scale and importance on botany and conchology
; he was elected
F.R.S.
as early as
1804
(see the
D.N.B.
article on him for a list of these works, and
Trans. Cymm.
,
1932-3
, 69-70, for a list of his minor papers). Retiring from active concern in the pottery in
1817
, he
engaged in public life
; he became
high sheriff
(
Glamorgan
) in
1818
, and additional
M.P.
for the county in the
Reform Parliament
,
1832-7
. At
Swansea
(of which he was
mayor
in
1839
), he was one of the founders of the
Royal Institution of South Wales
; and he published in
1840
a small book on the history of the town. He d.
31 Aug. 1855
. He had m. (
1807
)
Mary
, daughter of
John
Llewelyn
, of
Pen-lle'r-gaer
,
Llangyfelach
; the family of
LLEWELYN
, originally of
Ynys-gerwn
(
Neath
), had succeeded to the
Pen-lle'r-gaer estates
c.
1790
, on the extinction of their cognates the
Prices
(
Nicholas
,
Hist. of Glamorgan
). The two sons of this marriage were:
(1)
JOHN
DILLWYN
(
1810
-
1882
),
(who took the surname of his maternal grandfather, and lived at
Pen-lle'r-gaer
; b.
between 6 and 13 Jan. 1810
(
The Cambrian
,
13 Jan. 1810
), he went to
Oriel College
,
Oxford
(
1827
), and was
high sheriff of Glamorgan
in
1835
. He inherited to the full his father's
scientific interests
, and was elected
F.R.S.
in
1836
; he collaborated with
Wheatstone
in his
work on the electric telegraph
, and with
Fox
Talbot
(a connection by marriage) he
made important improvements in photography
; he was also a sedulous
botanist
. He d.
24 Aug. 1882
. He had m.
Emma
, daughter of
Thomas Mansel
Talbot
of
Margam
(see articles
Mansel
and
Talbot
). Their son,
(
Sir
)
JOHN
DILLWYN
(
1836
-
1927
), b.
26 May 1836
, was at
Eton
and
Christ Church
, and became an
important public figure
. He was
high sheriff of Glamorgan
in
1878
,
mayor
of
Swansea
in
1891
, and (after several unsuccessful attempts to enter
Parliament
)
Conservative M.P.
for
Swansea
,
1895-1900
; he was created
baronet
in
1890
. He
took great interest in secondary education
and was
an active supporter of
S. David's College
,
Lampeter
, and of
University College
,
Cardiff
; and he was a
member of the royal commission on land in Wales
,
1896
. He d.
6 July 1927
. He had m. (
1861
)
Caroline Hicks
Beach
. Their younger and only surviving son m. the heiress of the
VENABLES
family, of
Llysdinam
(
Newbridge, Rads.
), and adopted the style
VENABLES
; on the
Venables
(a
Cheshire
family originally) see
Williams
,
Hist. of Radnorshire
(2nd ed., 383-4).
Lady
Venables-Llewelyn
was the daughter of
Richard Lister
Venable
(
1809
-
1894
),
vicar of Clyro
, who figures in the diaries of
Francis
Kilvert
(q.v.)
, and whose brother
George Stovin
Venable
(
1819
-
1888
),
classical scholar and writer
in the
Saturday Review
, is in the
D.N.B.
— his fight with
Thackeray
the
novelist
, when they were both at school, will be remembered; he
built the church
at
Newbridge
, and was buried there. The father of the two brothers was
RICHARD
VENABLES
, who d. at the beginning of
1858
, aged 84 (
Haul
,
1858
, 60); he was
vicar of Nantmel
,
archdeacon of Carmarthen
from
1832 to 1858
(
West Wales Records
, v, 152), and for twenty-five years
chairman
of
Radnorshire quarter sessions
.
(2)
LEWIS
DILLWYN
(
1814
-
1892
),
b.
19 May 1814
, was educated at
Bath
, m. (
1838
)
Elizabeth
, daughter of the
geologist
Sir
Henry de la
Beche
(his father's friend), and was himself something of a
geologist
; he lived at
Hendrefoilan
. While his brother, and still more his nephew, worthily represented the traditions of the squirearchy with which they were connected by marriage,
Lewis
Dillwyn
reflected rather the
industrial and commercial interests
, and the political
Radicalism
, of his father and of his
Quaker
forebears.
Prominent in railway and banking circles
, he was even more important in the industrial development of
Swansea
(of which he was
mayor
in
1848
); he was
head of the firm
of
Dillwyn and Richards
at the
Landore spelter-works
, and later on was associated with
Siemens
in the
Landore-Siemens Steel Company
, of which he was
chairman
. From
1855
to
1885
he was
M.P.
for
Swansea
, and from
1885
to
1892
for the newly-formed
Swansea Town division
. Throughout this unusually long parliamentary career, he was a conspicuous
Radical
. In the
Commons
, he championed the cause of the
Cardiganshire
farmers
evicted for their votes in the
1868
election, and of the
Denbighshire
tenantry who in
1886-7
agitated against tithe; in
1873
he moved an anti-clerical amendment to the
Endowed Schools Act
; in
1879
he censured recent exercises of the royal prerogative. From the first (
1870
) he supported the movement for
Welsh Church Disestablishment
, and from
1883
was himself the mover of almost annual resolutions calling for it; in
1887
it was
Dillwyn
and
Stuart
Rendel
(q.v.)
who affirmed the
Welsh Liberal Party
's support of
Irish Home Rule
. He d.
19 June 1892
; his only son had predeceased him, but he left two daughters.
