WILLIAMS
,
THOMAS
(
1737
-
1802
),
attorney, outstanding figure in the copper industry
at the
end of the 18th cent.
As son (b.
13 May 1737
) of
Owen
Williams
of
Cefn Coch
in
Llansadwrn
, who owned also
Tregarnedd
and
Treffos
, and his wife, the daughter of
Hendre Hywel
by
Llangefni
, it was comparatively easy for
Thomas
Williams
to become intimate with the great men of
Anglesey
; it was he who straightened out the tangled estate of
Bodior
; he spent years in getting reason out of the stubborn people at
Plas Coch
,
squire
William
Hughes
and his son, the first
W. Bulkeley
Hughes
; he drafted the deeds by which the
earl of Uxbridge
purchased
Plas Llanfair
from
John
Lewis
of
Llanfihangel Tre'r Beirdd
(
1791
). Some years before that, about
1785
,
Williams
had become
chief agent of the copper mines
of
Mynydd Parys
by
Amlwch
, mines that were owned partly by the earl and partly by the family of
Llysdulas
; for a time both parties entrusted the management to
Williams
alone. The success that followed was marvellous; not only were immense quantities of copper exported, but numerous subsidiary concerns grew up under the shadow of the main industry — huge buildings at
Ravenhead
and
Stanley
, smelting furnaces at
Amlwch
itself, a cluster of mills in the
Holywell
district, and there was a veritable fleet of coasters sailing out of
Port Amlwch
.
Williams
got the ear of the
Board of Admiralty
during the
Napoleonic wars
and made handsome bargains with the
East India Company
; he caused not a little consternation to the capitalists of
Cornwall
, the native home of the copper industry and the stabiliser of its standards; he was called before special committees of the Commons to give evidence as an expert; by
1800
he admitted that half the resources of the industry were in his hands, with a financial background of close upon a million pounds. Whatever the big capitalists of
Cornwall
thought of him, or the brass-founders of
Birmingham
, he was ‘
Twm Chwarae Teg
’ (
Tom Fairplay
) to the
Anglesey
countryside.
Naturally enough, the
Uxbridge
connections brought him into close contact with the political life of the period and the intricacies of
political management
; he did as much as anybody to get the
Pagets
, sons of
Uxbridge
, elected for
Anglesey
and the
Caernarvon boroughs
from
1790
onwards; in his letters he emphasised again and again how necessary it was to have close co-operation between the earl and
lord Bulkeley
of
Beaumaris
. There was no good fellowship between that lord and
bishop
Warren
of
Bangor
, more especially because the
bishop
had done his utmost in
1796
to prevent the election of
Sir
Robert
Williams
,
Bulkeley
's half-brother, as
Member of Parliament
for
Caernarvonshire
;
Uxbridge
was deeply offended with the
bishop
because of his provocative delay in building a new church at
Amlwch
; these are the main considerations behind the theory that it was
Williams
who wrote the savage pamphlet against
Warren
which appeared under the name of
Shôn Gwialan
in
1796
, a pamphlet whose real authorship has remained a mystery to this day. That
Williams
actually wrote it is not likely; but it is very near certainty that the fierce diatribe and well-rounded phrases were the work of
David
Williams
(
1738
-
1816
)
, founder of the
Royal Literary Fund
(q.v.), at that juncture a
clerk
in
London
at the office of
Williams
. In a letter to
Uxbridge
in
1788
,
Thomas
Williams
gave a hint that he himself had ambitions to become a
Member of Parliament
; he was elected for
Great Marlow
in
1790
, and held the seat till his death on
30 Nov. 1802
. His descendants gradually released their hold on the copper industry; they are now remembered as owners of the
Craig-y-don estate
and the
founders of banks
. Several were
Members of Parliament
; three of the daughters of
Thomas Peers
Williams
, son of
OWEN
WILLIAMS
(
1764
-
1832
), and grandson of
Thomas
Williams
, were married to members of the
House of Lords
, two others to sons of lords; a brother to these daughters was
Hwfa
Williams
, prominent (he and his wife) at the court of
Edward
VII
.
Bibliography:
-
J. E. Griffith
,
Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire
Families
, 1914
, 68, 102;
-
Henllys Manuscripts
(U.C.N.W.), 192-205, 757-9, 851-4;
-
Plas Coch Manuscripts
(U.C.N.W.), 738-72;
- Mona Mine Records (U.C.N.W.), 1267-8,; 1281, 3052-5, 3057-8;
- Plas Newydd Correspondence (U.C.N.W.) i, 1976-90; ii, 11-4, 201, 211, 2459;
-
Bangor Manuscripts at University College North
Wales Library, Bangor
, 3010-7;
-
A. H. Dodd
,
The Industrial Revolution in North
Wales
, Cardiff, 1933
, 155-9;
-
Caernarvonshire Historical Society
Transactions
,
1940
, 77-86;
-
Y Traethodydd
,
1947
, 35.
Author:
Thomas Richards, D.Litt., (1878-1962), Bangor
