Grace's Guide To British Industrial History

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Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 167,051 pages of information and 246,705 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

Grace's Guide is the leading source of historical information on industry and manufacturing in Britain. This web publication contains 147,919 pages of information and 233,587 images on early companies, their products and the people who designed and built them.

John Henry Vivian

From Graces Guide

John Henry Vivian (1785–1855) was a Welsh industrialist and politician of Cornish extraction.

1785 August 9th. Born the son of John Vivian, of Truro, Cornwall, and his wife Betsey, daughter of the Reverend Richard Cranch, and the brother of Richard Hussey Vivian 1st Baron Vivian.

1806 appointed manager of the Pen-clawdd copper-smelting works of the Cheadle Brass and Wire Co in south Wales, in which his father was a partner.

1809/10 John Vivian established his own smelting works at Hafod, north of Swansea, going into partnership with his sons Richard Hussey and John Henry Vivian. Vivian and Sons soon established itself as a major manufacturer of copper.

By 1811 his father had returned to Cornwall; John Henry managed the Hafod works.

John Henry also owned copper mining, copper smelting and trading businesses in Liverpool, Birmingham and London.

1816 Vivian married Sarah, eldest daughter of Arthur Jones, of Reigate on 30 October 1816. Their eight children included Henry Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea, Sir Arthur Vivian and Richard Glynn Vivian. His wife survived him by over 30 years and died on 8 September 1886.

1823 Elected Fellow of the Royal Society

1832 Elected Member of Parliament for the Swansea District.

1839 Vivian founded the Swansea Coal Co, both to supply the Hafod smelting works and to trade independently

Major in the Royal Stannary Artillery, Justice of the Peace and a Deputy Lieutenant.

He died on 10 February 1855.



See Also

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Sources of Information

  • Wikipedia [1]
  • Biography of John Henry Vivian, ODNB [2]