Tylorstown

The village of Tylorstown in the Rhondda Fach was built in the 1870s and was named after Alfred Tylor of 42 Newgate Street, London, who bought the mineral rights of Pendyrus Farm In 1872 and subsequently sank the Pendyrus Coffieiy.

Born in 1824 at Bunhlll Row, Shoreditch, Alfred Tylor was the second son of Joseph Tylor and Harriet Skipper. The family were Quakers and Alfred was educated at schools belonging to the Society of Friends. He was a studious pupil with an interest in scientific matters; at the age of fifteen, following the death of his father, he devoted himself to the family’s brass-founding and tea urn business. However, he did not allow this event to interfere with a love of education which was to permeate the rest of his life. He gave all his spare time to studying, even attaching himself to the St Bartholomew’s Hospital near his premises in the City to improve his knowledge of anatomy.

Tylor gained fame as a geologist and was not only a member of the Geological Society but also a member of its council. He wrote papers for the Journal of the Geological Society and the Geological Magazine. He was also highly respected for his knowledge of metallurgy.

In 1850 Tylor married Isabella Harris, sister of Fredrick William Harris, founder of TREHARRIS (q.v.), and they had two Sons and four daughters. His elder son, Joseph John, born In 1851, patented many useful inventions and together with Arthur John Williams, founder of WILLIAMSTOWN (q.v.), was a founder member of the National Liberal Club in 1882. Alfred Tylor spent the latter years of his life at Carshalton In Surrey where he died In 1884. His nterest in the welfare of young people was reflected In his will in which he bequeathed a percentage of his estate to the founding of scholarships for boys and girls in the London area and for the purchase of land for a cricket ground for the use of the youth of Carshalton.

Alfred Tylor had a younger brother, Louis, who also became a business partner in his colliery enterprises and whereas Alfred was the scientist and geologist with international Interests, Louis was more closely associated with South Wales. Born on January 30 1837 at Grove Crescent, Tottenham, Louis Tylor was educated at Grove House, Tottehani, a famous old Quaker school, and at Brighton. At the age of fifteen he entered the firm of Harris and Dixon on the London Coal Exchange.

In 1876 Tylor gave up his business interests In Yorkshire to take charge of the colliery properties In South Wales in which he was a partner, Messrs A. Tylor and Company of Cardiff and Tylorstown. The person In charge of the shipping department of the company was Samuel Lewis and he and Tylor subsequently set up their own partnership with the collieries being formed into a limited company. The new firm of Lewis and Tylor was located for some time in Bute Street and at the Pierhead, Cardiff and whilst conducting a large and important export business, also acted as agents for A. Tylor and Company. Tylor himself retained his position as a director of his brother’s firm until the collieries at Tylorstown were taken over by Messrs D. Davies Ltd in 1894.

Tylor was the author of several books, together with numerous pamphlets and papers on questions of the day and took a considemble interest in the social affairs ofSouth Wales. He was president of the Cardiff Naturalists Society and a member of the Council of the University College of South Wales and Monmouthsire. One of the founders of the South Wales and Monmouthshe Pentianent Provident Society, he ultimately became chairman of the finance committee. It was mainly due to his resourcefulness that the Society weathered the troublesome times following the passing of the Workmen’s Compensation Act and he initiated the several schemes under the Act, which, with their old age allowances, enabled the society to early on with its operations. He was eventually appointed a trustee of the Society.

Louis Tylor died at his home in Redhill, Surrey in 1905. In an interview given to the South Wales Daily News and published in 1905 Sir William Thomas Lewis gave the following appreciation of Tylor’s work for the miners of South Wales: