Edward Heylyn was a merchant and entrepreneur who was one of the founders of the Bow porcelain factory

Bow porcelain factory

The Bow porcelain factory was an emulative rival of the Chelsea porcelain factory in the manufacture of early soft-paste porcelain in Great Britain...

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The Heylyn family originally came from North Wales

North Wales

North Wales is the northernmost unofficial region of Wales. It is bordered to the south by the counties of Ceredigion and Powys in Mid Wales and to the east by the counties of Shropshire in the West Midlands and Cheshire in North West England...

. Heylyn was the third son of John Heylyn, a saddler of London who is said to have made a fortune supplying saddles for the Duke of Marlborough

Duke of Marlborough

Duke of Marlborough , is a hereditary title in the Peerage of England. The first holder of the title was John Churchill , the noted English general, and indeed an unqualified reference to the Duke of Marlborough in a historical text will almost certainly refer to him.-History:The dukedom was...

’s army, and his wife Susanna Sherman. His brother Dr John Heylyn

John Heylyn

John Heylyn was an Anglican divine, who had a major influence on religious thought in eighteenth century England. Because of his interest in mysticism he was known as the Mystic Doctor....

, known as The Mystic Doctor, was a powerful preacher and prebend of Westminster Abbey

Westminster Abbey

The Collegiate Church of St Peter at Westminster, popularly known as Westminster Abbey, is a large, mainly Gothic church, in the City of Westminster, London, United Kingdom, located just to the west of the Palace of Westminster. It is the traditional place of coronation and burial site for English,...

. Edward was born in Westminster and took an entrepreneurial role in various businesses in London and Bristol

Bristol

Bristol is a city, unitary authority area and ceremonial county in South West England, with an estimated population of 433,100 for the unitary authority in 2009, and a surrounding Larger Urban Zone with an estimated 1,070,000 residents in 2007...

, being a member of the Worshipful Company of Saddlers

Worshipful Company of Saddlers

The Worshipful Company of Saddlers is one of the most ancient of the Livery Companies of the City of London. The Guild of Saddlers, the Company's predecessor, is thought to have been an Anglo-Saxon Craft Guild – it certainly existed at some point in the eleventh century. The Guild became a Company...

 in London and described as a clothier

Cloth merchant

Cloth merchant is, strictly speaking, like a draper, the term for any vendor of cloth. However, it is generally used for one who owned and/or ran a cloth manufacturing and/or wholesale import and/or export business in the Middle Ages or 16th and 17th centuries...

 in Bristol. His fortunes fluctuated, rendering him repeatedly bankrupt and avoiding creditors. By 1741 he is said to have become a glass-maker with a glass-house in Bromley, Middlesex

Bromley-by-Bow

Bromley-by-Bow, historically and officially Bromley, is a place in the London Borough of Tower Hamlets. It is an inner-city district situated east north-east of Charing Cross.-Toponymy:...

. He was one of the nominees on a patent for Bow porcelain manufactory there in December 1744 in partnership with Thomas Frye

Thomas Frye

The Anglo-Irish painter Thomas Frye The Anglo-Irish painter Thomas Frye The Anglo-Irish painter Thomas Frye (c. 1710 – 3 April 1762 best known for his portraits in oil and pastel, including some miniatures and his early mezzotint engravings, was also the patentee of the Bow porcelain factory,...

. Edward could have met Frye through his uncle Thomas Sherman, master of the Saddlers Company, who had obtained commissions for Frye. He may have become involved as a result of his experiments with glass making. A clay known as Unaker was used to begin with at Bow; this is known to have been shipped from North Carolina

North Carolina

North Carolina is a state located in the southeastern United States. The state borders South Carolina and Georgia to the south, Tennessee to the west and Virginia to the north. North Carolina contains 100 counties. Its capital is Raleigh, and its largest city is Charlotte...

, where another brother Henry Heylyn had interests

Although his name did not appear on subsequent patents he remained involved with the Bow works as his name appears in the insurance papers. He also had a business at Cornhill and a porcelain warehouse at St. James's. It is not clear if he was an agent for Bow or in competition, but these businesses appear to have failed in 1757, and he died on the Isle of Man

Isle of Man

The Isle of Man , otherwise known simply as Mann , is a self-governing British Crown Dependency, located in the Irish Sea between the islands of Great Britain and Ireland, within the British Isles. The head of state is Queen Elizabeth II, who holds the title of Lord of Mann. The Lord of Mann is...

, a haven for people escaping creditors

There exists today a Heylyn Square and Wrexham Road nearby in London E3.

The Diary of John Heylyn the Younger is conserved at the Bristol Record Office.