Sir Jeremiah Homfray

JEREMIAH HOMFRAY ( 1759 - 1833 ), ironmaster, the third son of Francis Homfray, and the elder of the Penydarren brothers, in 1789 (with two others), started the Ebbw Vale iron-works, which became famous. He continued to be associated with the Penydarren works, but gave up his share of the management to his brother, Samuel, who thus became the sole managing director.

Jeremiah Homfray m. ( 1787 ) Mary, daughter of John Richards of Llandaff , and for many years resided at Llandaff House . After a few years, he complained of his brother's arbitrary management. This led to a quarrel between the brothers ( 1796 ) and to legal action. About the same time Jeremiah quitted the Ebbw Vale iron-works , of which for a few months he was the sole owner, until Messrs. Harford, Partridge & Co. joined him as the more responsible managers , employing him as the salaried superintendent of the works.

We next hear of him at Aber-nant, in the Aberdare Valley . With Birch as a practical engineer , he commenced arranging leases of mineral lands at Aber-nant , Cwm-bach , and Rhigos ( 1800 ) which he transferred to the Tappendens . By 1803 he had become a partner in the Hirwaun iron-works, but again soon quitted this field of operations. He ‘was … a great prospector in the South Wales mineral field. He arranged leases of mineral properties, and then sought partners; and after helping to establish the respective iron-works, and set them going, he retired … ’ He was entitled to an annuity of £2,500 payable during his life (probably from Penydarren ), and £10 from the Aber-nant iron-works . But having a large family, and living in style (especially during the period when he was high sheriff of Glamorgan in 1809-10 — he was also acting high sheriff in 1810-11 ) and taking up costly leases of coal-mining properties and farms in the neighbourhood of Pontypridd , he soon got into financial difficulties. In 1813 , Sir Jeremiah Homfray , then cited as of Cwm Rhondda , coal-merchant , dealer , and chapman , was declared a bankrupt. In Nov. 1813 , his dwelling-house at Cwm Rhondda was sold together with its contents. He then left for Boulogne to avoid paying all his creditors and to live on his reduced income, and it was there that his wife ( 1830 ) and he ( 1833 ) d. and were buried. His son, JOHN HOMFRAY , bought Penllyn castle .

Other References

• Burke, Bernard, Sir. A genealogical and heraldic history of the landed gentry of Great Britain & Ireland 6th ed. London : Harrison 1879. Vol I. page 803

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https://biography.wales/article/s-HOMF-RAY-1726

HOMFRAY family, of Penydarren, Merthyr Tydfil, iron-masters, etc.
FRANCIS HOMFRAY (1726 - 1798),

of Wollaston Hall, Worcestershire, having attained ample means by his success as an iron-master in the counties of Stafford and Worcester, and having two energetic and capable iron-workers as sons, Jeremiah and Samuel, sought an outlet for their further perseverance and enterprise by leasing from Anthony Bacon, Cyfarthfa, a mill for boring cannon, a foundry, forges, etc. (September 1782). The sons arrived with a number of workers from the Midlands and for a time all went well and their works were prosperous. But on account of a quarrel with Bacon, they transferred their lease to David Tanner in 1784. The same year the brothers together took a lease of one of the richest iron-ore deposits in the district, and with the financial assistance and advice of their father, and with another brother, THOMAS, as a partner in the undertaking, they erected their furnace and other necessary works at Penydarren, on the banks of the Morlais brook. They turned out from their works, over many years, manufactured iron in large quantities, and of the best quality. A mansion called Penydarren House was built on high ground on the opposite bank of the brook for the use of the partners.

But the brothers had to face many handicaps and inconveniences. Their whole taking was small compared with the huge area of the adjoining Dowlais ironworks. The latter, being built higher up the same stream which supplied water to both, and being the older-established concern, had the first call and command of its use, a most important factor during dry seasons. The Penydarren works had very little coal, and had to take a lease for coal from the Dowlais Co. In another case, on the same plot of land, the Dowlais Co. worked the coal while the Homfray brothers worked the iron-ore. Constant quarrels ensued which led to fierce and costly lawsuits, in which the Penydarren partners were generally the losers.

After many years of co-operation the two brothers, Jeremiah and Samuel, as managing directors of the Penydarren iron-works, sought new fields of enterprise for their superabundant energy.
JEREMIAH HOMFRAY (1759 - 1833), ironmaster,

the third son of Francis Homfray, and the elder of the Penydarren brothers, in 1789 (with two others), started the Ebbw Vale iron-works, which became famous. He continued to be associated with the Penydarren works, but gave up his share of the management to his brother, Samuel, who thus became the sole managing director.

Jeremiah Homfray married (1787) Mary, daughter of John Richards of Llandaff, and for many years resided at Llandaff House. After a few years, he complained of his brother's arbitrary management. This led to a quarrel between the brothers (1796) and to legal action. About the same time Jeremiah quitted the Ebbw Vale iron-works, of which for a few months he was the sole owner, until Messrs. Harford, Partridge & Co. joined him as the more responsible managers, employing him as the salaried superintendent of the works.

We next hear of him at Aber-nant, in the Aberdare Valley. With Birch as a practical engineer, he commenced arranging leases of mineral lands at Aber-nant, Cwm-bach, and Rhigos (1800) which he transferred to the Tappendens. By 1803 he had become a partner in the Hirwaun iron-works, but again soon quitted this field of operations. He ' was … a great prospector in the South Wales mineral field. He arranged leases of mineral properties, an then sought partners; and after helping to establish the respective iron-works, and set them going, he retired … ' He was entitled to an annuity of £2,500 payable during his life (probably from Penydarren), and £10 from the Aber-nant iron-works. But having a large family, and living in style (especially during the period when he was high sheriff of Glamorgan in 1809-10 - he was also acting high sheriff in 1810-11) and taking up costly leases of coal-mining properties and farms in the neighbourhood of Pontypridd, he soon got into financial difficulties. In 1813, Sir Jeremiah Homfray, then cited as of Cwm Rhondda, coal-merchant, dealer, and chapman, was declared a bankrupt. In November 1813, his dwelling-house at Cwm Rhondda was sold together with its contents. He then left for Boulogne to avoid paying all his creditors and to live on his reduced income, and it was there that his wife (1830) and he (1833) died and were buried. His son, JOHN HOMFRAY, bought Penllyn castle.
SAMUEL HOMFRAY (died 1822), iron-master,

the younger brother of Jeremiah, became, after 1789, the sole manager of the prosperous Penydarren works. About the year 1793 he discovered the method of making the 'finers metal,' the leading feature in the manufacture of bar iron, by improving the quality and increasing the quantity made. He was one of the chief promoters of the Glamorgan canal, which proved so convenient for the transit of the heavy manufactured iron to the port of Cardiff instead of by the mule and pack-horse method. This was opened in 1795 and cost £103,000, of which he subscribed £40,000. He then became the chief promoter of the tramway from Penydarren to ' Navigation,' (today Abercynon) a distance of nine miles, on which Richard Trevithick accomplished the wonderful task of hauling five wagons, carrying ten tons of iron and seventy men, at a speed of five miles an hour. This was the first locomotive engine to run successfully upon a railway, and won the 1,000 guineas bet made by Homfray against Richard Crawshay, 21 February 1804. Homfray was the chief instigator of the suit, at Hereford Assizes, 1795, of the commoners against the Dowlais Company, when the defendants again won. Homfray incurred £300 damages in the libel action brought against him by William Taitt of the Dowlais Company in 1807. In 1811, at the Hereford assizes, Homfray and his partners in the Penydarren iron-works again sued the Dowlais Company for fouling and choking the Morlais brook with cinders and slag.

Samuel married Jane, daughter of Sir Charles Gould Morgan (see Morgan of Tredegar family), 1st bart., of Tredegar Park, and this enabled him to obtain a lease of mineral land of about 3,000 acres upon very cheap terms at Tredegar, in conjunction with Richard Fother-gill and Matthew Monkhouse (1800). Here again, as his brother did at Ebbw Vale, he was able to work off some of his superabundant energy by establishing the Tredegar iron-works with such success that during 1809 the Monmouthshire canal carried 9,105 tons of iron from their works, a quantity greater than that of any of the other dozen or so of the Monmouthshire iron-works except that of Blaenavon. In 1806 he issued an address as a candidate for a seat in Parliament for Brecknock, but withdrew before the election day. He became high sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1813 and, in June 1818, M.P. for the borough of Stafford. He died 22 May 1822 in London and was buried at Bassaleg. His eldest son, SAMUEL GEORGE HOMFRAY (born 7 December 1795, died 16 November 1882) was high sheriff of Monmouthshire in 1841 and alderman of Newport (and mayor 1854-5).
Author

   Watkin William Price, (1873 - 1967) 

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

Sir Jeremiah Homfray (16 February 1759 – 9 January 1833) was an English ironmaster, best known for mineral developments in South Wales for and starting the Ebbw Vale ironworks.[1][2]
Early life

The third son of Francis Homfray of Stourton Castle, joint owner with his younger brothers (Thomas and Samuel) of the Penydarren Ironworks. On the death of his father, he was made co-owner and joint Managing Director of the ironworks with his brother Samuel Homfray, M.P., of Coworth Park, Berkshire.[1][3]

In 1787, he married Mary, the daughter of John Richards, of Llandaff, and after this for many years resided at Llandaff House.[citation needed]
Ebbw Vale Ironworks
Main article: Ebbw Vale Steelworks

In 1789, Walter Watkins was the owner of a forge at the Clydach Ironworks in Glangrwney, Clydach Vale near Crickhowell, which lacked an adequate supply of pig iron. In agreement with two business partners, his son-in-law Charles Cracroft and Jeremiah Homfray, the three leased land at Pen y cae farm in the parish of Aberystruth from John Miles.[4] Situated on the northern tip of the South Wales coalfield, with iron ore obtainable from patch working, and located next to the Ebbw fawr river, they had easy access to the basic iron making materials: coal and iron ore locally mined, plus water and power from the river. Limestone was to be transported by mule train from Llanelly Hill in Blaenavon.[4] The partnership erected a single blast furnace and casting shop against the hillside, which created an output of 25 tons of pig iron per week. Called "Pen y cae" after the original river by the locals, the partners Anglicanised the rivers name to the Ebbw Vale Furnace Company, hence naming both the works and the developing township.

In 1793, Homfray bought out his partners with help from the Bristol-based Quaker family Harford Partridge & Co. He had continued his associated with Penydarren, but after an argument with his co-owning brother Samuel, in 1796 gave up his shares after legal action for an agreed annuity of £2,500 for life. To pay his legal bills from the dispute with his brother, Jeremiah sold the Ebbw Vale ironworks to the Harford family.[3][4] They subsequently employed him as the salaried superintendent of the works, which he undertook until 1799.[1]
Subsequent career

In 1800, he began to develop the business scheme format in which he would become best known: speculating by taking mineral leases on plots of land; making tests drillings to prove the riches below, often with engineering partner Birch; and then seeking development partners or selling onwards for a profit. Using this form, in 1800 he leased initial lands at Abernant in the Aberdare Valley, and then further leases of mineral rights at additional land in Abernant, Cwmbach, and Rhigos. These were then all sold as a package to the Tappendens. Monies from this sale allowed him to buy into the Hirwaun Ironworks, but he soon quit this project to go back to mineral lease speculation.[1]
High Sheriff of Glamorgan

By 1813, he had accumulated holdings that included: £2,500 annuity from Penydarren; £120 annuity from the Abernant Ironworks; numerous mineral leases in most of the South Wales valleys; and various farm leases in preparation for test drilling for minerals. In 1810 he been appointed High Sheriff of Glamorgan for a year, and his resultant extensive entertainment expenditure plus a large family placed extreme stress on his finances.[1]
Bankruptcy and later life

In November 1813, Sir Jeremiah Homfray "of Cwm Rhondda, coal-merchant, dealer, and chapman" was declared bankrupt. Ordered to sell his house and its contents, the family left for Boulogne, France to avoid paying all of his creditors and enable them to live on his reduced income.[1]

After the death of his wife in 1830, Homfray died and was buried in Boulogne, France, in 1833.[1] His son John Homfray then returned to South Wales, and bought Penllyn Castle.[1]