David Davies 1818 – 1890

Though when he died he was one of the best-known men in the country, David Davies' beginnings were humble enough.

He was the eldest of nine children and both his parents had a typical Welsh respect for the value learning, and David was sent to the village school. This, of course, was before the days of state education, and Landinam had no school building. The classes were field in the parish church, and had to be paid for.

David was an intelligent boy who made rapid progress. By the time he was eleven years old, he had absorbed all that the village school-master could teach him, but with eight younger brothers and sisters it was out of the question that he should be sent elsewhere. So, soon after his eleventh birthday, he began work as his father's assistant on the farm and, later, at the saw-pit, for his father worked as a sawyer to supplement his income.

The sawyers were important members of a rural community at that time, when many implements, as well as buildings, were still made of' wood. Two men using a double-handed pit saw, six feet in length sawed planks by hand. The tree-trunk to be sawn into planks was clamped lengthways across a saw-pit, and both men worked on it, one, known as the 'bottom sawyer', standing in the pit, the other, the 'top sawyer', balancing on the log.

The top-sawyer's work had to be very accurate. It was he who guided the long saw, kept the cuts straight and estimated the width of the planks. He was the man in charge of the operation, and young David Davies soon showed his talent for the work. He was known in the village as 'Davies Top-sawyer', and the nickname never left him.

The father died, very suddenly, and David, not quite twenty, found himself faced with the responsibility of supporting his mother and the rest of his family. Many a young man would have felt that this was too much for him to undertake, but David quietly stepped into his father's place as head of the household. With the help of his brother he ran the farm and continued to work as a sawyer.

He was shrewd, and had an eye for a good bargain. He made it his business to understand thoroughly every- thing to which he put his hand, and at that period in his life lie understood timber. A local land-owner, Captain Crewe-Read, had on his estate a large oak tree which he wished to have cut down and disposed of. He told David Davies that, if he would do the job, he could have the tree for £5. David accepted the offer. The tree was felled and carted to the saw-pit, where he and another man sawed it into planks. When the timber was sold, lie had realised a profit of £80.

David Davies quickly realised that, by utilising his knowledge, a man could become prosperous. He understood timber and he understood farming, so in 1848, when he was thirty, he decided to strike out for himself.

Leaving his mother and her youngest children at Neuaddfach, which he kept for her home as long as she lived, lie took a much larger farm at Tynymaen. Everything he touched seemed to make money, and before long lie could afford to run a third farm, Gweriierin, on the opposite bank of' the Severn. Farming, however, was not his only interest, although lie always supervised the organisation of his land. Like Thomas Telford, he was self-taught, and his interests, too, lay in what would now be termed civil engineering. At that time, a great number of smaller undertakings in road repair and construction were contracted out to local men. The County Surveyor gave instructions and made periodic checks, but in general left the work to the man on the spot, provided lie was satisfied as to his reliability. David Davies already understood the use of' wood and the construction of wooden buildings; lie now began to study the use of stone, and before long was obtaining contracts for road repairs in and around Landinam.

In 1850 lie secured the contract to make a road bridge over the River Severn at Llandinam. His work satisfied the County Surveyor, a Mr. Penson, so well that lie recommended the Montgomery County Council to pay Davies a sum Of £15.00 over and above the amount agreed upon in the con- tract. He was probably also impressed by Davies' adherence to his religious principles, for the young man was a very strict Calvinistic Methodist, and all his life insisted on rigidly keeping holy the Sabbath Day. He would not even open letters on a Sunday, feeling that they were connected with work, which for that one day every week he must lay aside.

A story is told that, while he was working on the road and bridge at Llandinam, the Surveyor drove on a Sunday from Welshpool, on purpose to see him about his work. The journey covered a distance of some twenty miles, taking a considerable amount of the official's time. He arrived while Davies was in Chapel, and sent in a message that he wished to consult him when the service was ended. The reply was that Mr. Davies would see the Surveyor on the following day, as he would not negotiate any work on a Sunday. He was young and ambitious; his refusal could have lost him further business, and he well knew it. But, although it meant a wasted journey, Mr. Penson was impressed.

All his life, David Davies was quick to grasp details. He had a facility for estimating costs rapidly, and was always quick to make up his mind. He was still a young man when Oswestry Borough decided upon the building of a new cattle-market, the Smithfield, and lie was one of several contractors who applied. He went to Oswestry, where he was shown the plans and specifications, and was asked how long it would take to make up his mind before submitting an estimate of the cost for materials and labour. 'Five minutes', was his reply, and five minutes lie took. The other contractors demanded several days. The job went to Davies.

In 1851 Davies married. His wife, Margaret Jones, came from Llanfair Caereinion, a small town not far from Landinam, to the north of Welshpool. The marriage was a very happy one, lasting until his death, almost forty years later. They had one child, Edward, who inherited his father's vast business interests.

While working on the Oswestry Smithfield, Davis met Thomas Savin, who for a time became his partner. Savin was a railway engineer, and the mid-nineteenth century saw the high water mark of railway building, when rural areas were being linked to local market towns by this new and popular mode of transport, which enabled a journey to be made so much more quickly than by road. Each of the two men possessed great business acumen, coupled with inherent mechanical ability and a determination to succeed. They were jointly responsible for the construction of several railways in North Wales, the first of which was a twelve-mile stretch of line linking Llanidloes and Newtown. There was no railway within thirty miles of this area, the nearest station being at Oswestry. The materials needed for the work had to be brought to Newtown by canal, and when the line was completed the locomotives and carriages which were to run on it came up to Oswestry on their own steam and then had to be conveyed to Newtown by road, on huge specially-made wagons, each pulled by a team of ten horses. The line was opened for traffic in August i859, but meanwhile Davies and Savin had built a shorter stretch., linking Rhyl and Denbigh.

By this time the partners were well known in Wales, and many other contracts came their way. Oswestry was linked to Newtown, and the line extended to Machynlleth and on to Aberystwyth. Savin then embarked upon an ambitious project. Not only did he plan to push the line on along the coast; he speculated on the prospect of a rush on the part of the general public to take sea- side holidays, and began building large hotels at Aberystwyth, Borth and Aberdovey, which at that time were little more than fishing villages. But the great era of 'summer at the seaside' had not yet dawned. Savin's dream was in advance of his age; Davies was more practical. He tried to dissuade Savin from putting his development scheme into practice, and, when his friend would not give way, insisted on dissolving their partnership. Davies proved to be right, for in 1866 Savin became bankrupt. Davies, however, continued his work with other partners and became a director of the Cambrian Railways Company. He was now a very rich man, and in 1864 bought for himself a large estate not far from Llandinam, commanding a beautiful view of the Severn Valley. Here he built a fine new house, Broneirion, which became the home or himself and his wife, and where, after his death, she spent the days of her widowhood.

By the time David Davies was forty- seven, he had already made a fortune, and although Broneirion was within sight of his birthplace, Draintewion, the difference in the style of living between the two homes was the difference of two worlds. Not that Davies ever allowed his wealth to alter his character. For the whole of his lire, lie retained the same standards of integrity, hard work and high principle; lie was, however, now in a position to help those less fortunate than himself, and he was always liberal to anyone in whom lie recognised a genuine will to succeed. He was a great believer in education, and remembering the brevity of his own schooldays, he paid for the building of a school and a school-house at Llandinam, so that the village children could receive free tuition. He also gave £6,ooo - a very large sum - towards the upkeep of the new University College of Aberystwyth.

In 1865 Davies turned his attention from the Cambrian Railways construction, although he remained a prominent member of the Board. Rich seams of coal had been discovered in Glamorgan, and, together with one or two of his friends, he purchased a piece of land at the head of the Rhondda Valley, where he sank a few experimental pit-shafts. The coal obtained was of very good quality, and ideal for industrial use, particularly for the smelting of iron. Davies decided to buy as much land as he could in the valley, for it seemed likely that the seam of coal extended for practically its entire length. The principal landowner in the Rhondda was at that time a Mr. Crawshay Bailey, who rented out a few hill-farms. As farmland, the valley was not productive, but Bailey had all the landowner's traditional suspicion of the rising industrial magnates, and stated roundly that lie would not part with his land 'to speculators and adventurers'.

Davies' reply was typically forthright. 'Sir,' he said, 'I am no adventurer, but an honest trader, and for every honest guinea you will put down, 1 will put another.' Bailey was impressed; Davies bought the land and the fate of the Rhondda Valley was decided.

Much has been said and written about the despoliation of the Rhondda, and it must be accepted that different generations have differing Viewpoints. Certainly Davies worked the coal seams in order to make himself rich. He also brought prosperity to a poor area, and, though despotic, was a benevolent employer. His miners were, for that period, well housed and fairly paid, and he cannot be blamed for the fact that subsequent owners did not keep pace with the advance of progress; houses and conditions considered good in his day were obviously below standard a century later. Moreover, he began his mines at a time when coal was in great demand; the tragedy of the Rhondda had its roots in the fact that that demand practically ceased. Davies was a man of high principle, who would have been horrified at the minimal wages and poor conditions prevailing in the Valleys fifty years after his death. In the golden hey-day of Victorian prosperity, he could have not foreseen the desolation which was to follow.

By 1873 there was a tremendous demand for Rhondda coal, both at home and abroad. There were seven pits, and their total output of coal every year averaged one and a half million tons. More than six thousand miners were kept in constant employment, and the annual wage-bill amounted to £50,000. Davies and his partners formed themselves into a limited company, known as The Ocean Coal Company. Of course, these vast stocks or coal lied to be dispersed, and most of it went by rail to Cardiff docks, from ,which it was transported by sea.

It was at this juncture that the Ocean Coal Company came up against another monopoly. The only railway line running between the Rhondda and Cardiff belonged to the Taff Vale Railway Company while the sole owner of the dock accommodation for the export of coal was the Marquis of Bute. Both the Marquis and the Railway Company intended to take full advantage of the situation, and as the output of coal increased, so their charges soared. When the Ocean Company protested that excessive prices were being forced upon them, the Taff Vale Company reduced its number of coal trains and at the same time the dockyard facilities were restricted.

It seemed that an impasse had been reached, but Davies, though always prepared to strike a fair bargain and adhere to it, had an obstinate determination that no-one should take advantage of him. He had built roads and railways in the past; why should he not build a dock for his coal exports? A few miles to the south-east of Cardiff lay Barry Island. Once it had been a real island, the home of' Giraldus Cambrensis' Norman ancestors; through the centuries, the channel between it and the mainland had silted up, and it was now a semi-derelict strip of shore jutting into the Bristol Channel, with a deep, curved bay which formed a natural harbour. David Davies planned to construct here a private dock, which was to be linked to the mines of' the Rhondda twenty-seven miles of a new railway, thus ending out the use of the Taff Vale line and Cardiff docks.

Surveys were made, plans drawn up, and in November 1882 the Ocean Coal Company gave official notice of' the project. But, even in the years prior to town planning, such an undertaking had to have Parliamentary backing, and a Bill to sanction the work was introduced early in the following year. It was hotly contested by Members with interests in the Taff Vale Rail Company, but after twenty-six days' acrimonious discussion it passed the House of Commons Committee, only to be rejected by the Lords' Committee, who were influenced by the Marquis of Bute. Davies was persistent. In the following year, the Bill was re-introduced. This time, the Lords' Committee spent thirty-three days discussing it, but at length it was passed, and in August, 1884, received the Royal assent. It had cost the Ocean Company £70,000 from first to last, but Davies was convinced that it was worth it, and events proved him correct.

It was he who was really responsible for getting the Bill through, for as chief share- holder lie was constantly having to give evidence and to clarify various technical points. Money, of course, was a prime factor, and the capital of the Company was stated at one point to amount to £2,500,000. Davies was asked by a member of the Committee how, if necessary, this sum could be realised. The reply was characteristic. 'If the public will not come forward,' he declared, 'then 1 can find the whole of the money myself.'

The fact that no-one questioned the statement gives some measure of his wealth and of the confidence people had in his financial stability.

Work on the new dock was begun immediately, and in i889 it was officially opened by Mr. Davies. Behind it grew up a complex of streets and houses and ware- houses, for before long coal was not the only commodity to be exported. Modern Barry is a busy, industrial centre, with factories and shops as well as a large fairground which is one of the playgrounds of South Wales. But the bronze statue of David Davies still stands at the entrance to the original dockyard, a reminder of the fact that, but for him, this prosperous place might be still a sandy shore of dunes and marram grass.

Following the example of many other Victorian magnates, David Davies became a Member of Parliament. His first candidature was in 1865, when he stood as a Liberal for the county of Cardiganshire. His opponent, Sir Thomas Lloyd, was also a Liberal; the vote was split and Sir Thomas defeated him by a small majority. Some years later, Davies was returned unopposed as Member for the Cardigan Boroughs, which he continued to represent until, under the Reform Act of 1885, they were merged into the county. The Reform Act was followed by a General Election at which Davies once more stood for the county of Cardiganshire. On this occasion, his opponent was a Conservative over whom he gained a victory by over 2,ooo votes. But he retained his seat for little over a year, for lie opposed Gladstone's policy on Irish Home Rule, left the Liberal party, and joined the newly-formed Liberal Unionists, for whom lie stood in the election which followed Gladstone's defeat. A Liberal stood against him, and won Cardiganshire by only nine votes. This was a particularly bitter contest in which party feeling ran high, and Davies, resentful of the fact that he had been beaten by such a narrow margin when he had been confident of victory, withdrew from politics altogether. Instead, he devoted his energies to local affairs, and was made a Justice of the Peace for Montgomeryshire in 1873 and County Councillor for Llandinam in 1889.

As lie grew older, David Davies took more and more interest in local affairs, for despite his great financial empire, he always regarded Llandinam as his home. He gave very large sums to local charities, and although lie never deviated from his own strict Calvinism lie was not a bigot, remaining on good terms with the clergy of all denominations in his area. He was always ready to contribute to- wards either religious or educational causes, and frequently, if he heard of any small chapel in debt or needing money for repairs, or in order to maintain a Minister, lie would provide it. He was once asked how much money he gave to religious charities in a year, and after a quick mental calculation answered that it was probably in the region of £10,000, but that he never troubled to keep an account of such gifts. If a genuine need arose, then he would provide the money.

He bought more land in and around Landinam, and became one of the principal landowners of Montgomeryshire. He was a good landlord, always ready to improve property by erecting new outbuildings and paying for good drainage systems-both costly and necessary for farmland lying near to the Severn, always notorious for flooding. He never forgot his youth at Draintewion, and spoke to his tenants on a man-to-man basis, never attempting to intimidate anyone by his wealth and position in the county. As a result, his tenants always respected him and also showed him their gratitude for the fact that, although. he paid for improvements to so many farms, he never increased the rents. Some of them, who remembered him as a young man, would proudly recount his feats of strength, for in his days at Tynymaen and Gwernerin it had been his habit, at times when the weather was too wet or snowy for outdoor work on the farms, to tour the sheds where the labourers had gathered for shelter. Many farmers, in these circumstances, used to send the men home, and that meant the loss of a day's pay. Instead, David Davies would organise what would now be called keep-fit classes, and joined with his labourers in weight-lifting, wrestling and other exercises.

On one thing he remained adamant all his life. He was a strict teetotaller, and would never allow either his servants or his guests any form of intoxicating drink. No home brewing was allowed on his farms, and, even at a harvest supper-one of the major celebrations of the countryman's year-though there was lavish provision of food, the only drinks supplied were water, milk or butter- milk.

All his life Davies was a man who enjoyed robust health, but when lie was seventy he became ill and never fully recovered. In all probability, sixty years of unceasing work and responsibility had taken their toll, and for the last two years of his life lie became a semi-invalid, confined to the warmth of Broneiron except on very sunny days, when lie would be carried out into the garden. There lie could sit and look over the valley towards his birthplace.

On 20 July 189o, he died, and was buried in Llandinam churchyard. He was so well known, and had so many interests in industry, farming and religion, that about 2,000 mourners filled the village on the day of his funeral. As a memorial to him a bronze statue, the replica of the one at Barry, was erected at Llandinam. But David Davies would have valued far more the comment of a local historian who, four years after his death, wrote of him: 'He ever m