William Weston Young - AbsoluteAstronomy.com

William Weston Young Quaker Entrepreneur of Bristol and Glamorganshire; artist, botanist, wreck-raiser, surveyor, potter

Pottery

Pottery is the material from which the potteryware is made, of which major types include earthenware, stoneware and porcelain. The place where such wares are made is also called a pottery . Pottery also refers to the art or craft of the potter or the manufacture of pottery...

, and inventor of the firebrick.

(All information verified against Elis Jenkins' extensive research, and against records housed at Friends' Central Library, Friends' House, Euston Rd. London, UK.)

Biography

William Weston Young, born 20 April 1776, Lewin's Mead, 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...

, England

England

England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...

, into a devout Quaker family, the third son of Edward Young, a Bristolian merchant and Sarah (Sally) Young (née Weston). He was educated at Gildersome Quaker boarding school in Yorkshire

Yorkshire

Yorkshire is a historic county of northern England and the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its great size in comparison to other English counties, functions have been increasingly undertaken over time by its subdivisions, which have also been subject to periodic reform...

, which among other things gave him a rudimentary knowledge of science

Science

Science is a systematic enterprise that builds and organizes knowledge in the form of testable explanations and predictions about the universe...

which he was to apply in his invention of the silica firebrick.

After a flustered attempt to emigrate to America

United States

The United States of America is a federal constitutional republic comprising fifty states and a federal district...

in 1794, involving his ship being captured by a fleet of French men-of-war, his ultimate escape from captivity and arduous journey home, Young settled back in Bristol

Bristol

, found employment and married fellow Quaker, Elizabeth Davis, in April 1795. In 1798, Young had acquired the financial backing (with notable help from his uncle Thomas Young, father of the physicist, physician and egyptologist Dr Thomas Young (scientist)

Thomas Young (scientist)

Thomas Young was an English polymath. He is famous for having partly deciphered Egyptian hieroglyphics before Jean-François Champollion eventually expanded on his work...

) to lease a farm and water mill from John Llewellyn of Ynysygerwn, at Aberdulais

Aberdulais

Aberdulais or mouth & Dulais) is a village in Neath Port Talbot, Wales, lying on the River Neath.- History, amenities & attractions:...

, in the Neath

Neath

Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...

Valley, Glamorganshire. After a lucrative start to his new venture as a miller, corn-factor and farmer, a large purchase of corn, beans and grist coinciding with the Treaty of Amiens

Treaty of Amiens

The Treaty of Amiens temporarily ended hostilities between the French Republic and the United Kingdom during the French Revolutionary Wars. It was signed in the city of Amiens on 25 March 1802 , by Joseph Bonaparte and the Marquess Cornwallis as a "Definitive Treaty of Peace"...

, which crashed the value of his goods, as well as some unfortunate dealings with men of false credit brought Young into trouble with his own creditors, and was made bankrupt in May 1802.

The Cambrian Pottery & Friendship with Lewis Weston Dillwyn

Young's early bankruptcy

Bankruptcy

Bankruptcy is a legal status of an insolvent person or an organisation, that is, one that cannot repay the debts owed to creditors. In most jurisdictions bankruptcy is imposed by a court order, often initiated by the debtor....

had lasting impact upon his career, no longer independent - he sought employment and so put his artistic skills to use. On 23 January 1803, Young and his wife moved to new lodgings in Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

, Glamorganshire, where he had gained employment under fellow Quaker, Lewis Weston Dillwyn

Lewis Weston Dillwyn

Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Member of Parliament.He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn and Sarah Dillwyn...

, as a "draftsman" at Dillwyn's Cambrian Pottery

Cambrian Pottery

The Cambrian Pottery was founded in 1764 by William Coles in Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales.In 1790, John Coles, son of the founder, went into partnership with George Haynes, who introduced new business strategies based on the ideas of Josiah Wedgwood....

, where he remained until August 1806. Dillwyn and Young, both in their mid twenties, struck up a close friendship due to their common interest in natural history

Natural history

Natural history is the scientific research of plants or animals, leaning more towards observational rather than experimental methods of study, and encompasses more research published in magazines than in academic journals. Grouped among the natural sciences, natural history is the systematic study...

. Many of Young's painted wares feature accurately depicted flora and fauna as well as the taxonomic names of the illustrated species. Collections of this pottery can be seen at the V&A Museum, South Kensington, The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Cardiff

Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

and at the Glynn Vivian Art Gallery

Glynn Vivian Art Gallery

The Glynn Vivian Art Gallery is the public art gallery of the city of Swansea, Wales. The gallery is situated in Alexandra Road, near Swansea railway station, opposite the old Swansea Central Library and near Swansea Central police station...

, Swansea

Swansea

.

During this period, Young shared his time between decorating the Cambrian Pottery's best porcelain and assisting with Dillwyn's botanical field work. Between 1802-1814, Dillwyn worked on a groundbreaking study of British algae

Algae

Algae are a large and diverse group of simple, typically autotrophic organisms, ranging from unicellular to multicellular forms, such as the giant kelps that grow to 65 meters in length. They are photosynthetic like plants, and "simple" because their tissues are not organized into the many...

species, The British Confervae, Young's illustrative plates are to be found from Part III onwards in Dillwyn's publications. In Part IV, Dillwyn credits Young with the discovery of:-

Conferva dissiliens, (Plate 63), in Crymlyn Bog, Swansea,

Conferva youngana, (Plate 102), in the limestone rock pools near Dunraven Castle
Dunraven Castle
Dunraven Castle was a mansion on the South Wales coast near Southerndown. It was built in 1803 and demolished in 1963.The site of the castle was the location for several earlier buildings, the first of which is said to have been built by Armand Botiler in the mid-12th century...

, Glamorganshire.

Young's discoveries and collaboration on the work with Dillwyn earned him Associate Membership of the Linnaean Society.

Wreck-Raising, Surveying & Thomas Mansel Talbot's Tomb

In 1806 Young conceived of an improved "grab" or "forceps" mechanism to be used in wreck-raising and set about a wreck-raising business, retrieving sunken vessels in the Bristol Channel

Bristol Channel

The Bristol Channel is a major inlet in the island of Great Britain, separating South Wales from Devon and Somerset in South West England. It extends from the lower estuary of the River Severn to the North Atlantic Ocean...

. His first commission to raise the freight ship Anne and Teresa, salvaged a cargo of copper, making him enough money to establish himself comfortably in the village of Newton Nottage, Glamorganshire as a wreck-raiser, merchant and farmer. In 1811, the death of established local surveyor John Williams of Newland, near Margam

Margam

Margam is a suburb of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway.- History :...

, Glamorgan

Glamorgan

Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...

, enabled Young to add surveyor to his list of occupations, filling the niche that Newland left in the region for the next decade.

It was during his work as a surveyor, that Young, an amateur geologist too, discovered the potential of a limestone found at Mumbles

Mumbles

Mumbles or The Mumbles is an area and community in Swansea, Wales which takes its name from the adjacent headland stretching into Swansea Bay...

, Swansea

Swansea

, Glamorganshire being fashioned as marble. In 1814, Thomas Mansel Talbot (1747–1814) (father of Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot

Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot

Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot FRS was a landowner, industrialist and Liberal politician. He developed his estate at Margam near Swansea as an extensive ironworks, served by railways and a port, which was re-named Port Talbot.-Early life:Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot was born at Penrice, Swansea,...

(1803–1890)) died at Penrice, Gower

Gower Peninsula

Gower or the Gower Peninsula is a peninsula in south Wales, jutting from the coast into the Bristol Channel, and administratively part of the City and County of Swansea. Locally it is known as "Gower"...

, Glamorganshire and Young was commissioned to design Talbot's tomb using locally-sourced minerals. The tomb is a large and elaborate edifice, deploying Penrice alabaster and Mumbles marble, and took a whole six years of design and modelling before its completion in February 1820 in the nave of Margam Abbey

Margam Abbey

Margam Abbey was a Cistercian monastery, located in the village of Margam, a suburb of modern Port Talbot in Wales.-History:The abbey was founded in 1147 as a daughter house of Clairvaux by Robert, Earl of Gloucester and was dedicated to the Blessed Virgin Mary. The abbey was dissolved by King...

Church, Margam

Margam

Margam is a suburb of Port Talbot in the Welsh county borough of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, close to junction 39 of the M4 motorway.- History :...

, Glamorganshire.

The Nantgarw Pottery

In early 1814, Young became the major investor in William Billingsley and Samuel Walker's venture; the Nantgarw Pottery

Nantgarw Pottery

The Nantgarw Pottery was a noted pottery, located in Nantgarw on the eastern bank of the Glamorganshire Canal, north of Cardiff in the River Taff valley, Glamorganshire, Wales. It closed in 1920, when cigarettes replaced clay pipes...

, Nantgarw

Nantgarw

Nantgarw is a village in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, near Cardiff.From an electoral and administrative perspective Nantgarw falls within the ward of Taffs Well, a village some 2.5 miles south, but historically fell within the boundaries of Caerphilly, which is a major town...

, Glamorganshire. Billingsley and Walker, through their prior ties with Flight, Barr & Barr at Royal Worcester

Royal Worcester

Royal Worcester is believed to be the oldest remaining English pottery brand still in existence today.-Overview:Royal Worcester is a British brand known for its history, provenance and classically English collections of porcelain...

had signed an agreement not to disclose their new porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

recipe to a third party, but there was no clause preventing them from using that recipe themselves. The pottery was set up, but something of Billingsley & Walker's understanding of the recipe or manufacturing process was amiss, as 90% of the porcelain was ruined in the firing. The resources of the three associates soon ran out, and the group approached the British Government's Committee of Trade and Plantations asking for a grant of £500, referring to the subsidy the French Government had given the famous Sèvres

Sèvres

Sèvres is a commune in the southwestern suburbs of Paris, France. It is located from the centre of Paris.The town is known for its porcelain manufacture, the Manufacture nationale de Sèvres, making the famous Sèvres porcelain, as well as being the location of the International Bureau of Weights...

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

Factory. They were not successful, but one member of the committee, a porcelain enthusiast; Sir Joseph Banks, suggested to his friend and ceramicist Lewis Weston Dillwyn

Lewis Weston Dillwyn

Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Member of Parliament.He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn and Sarah Dillwyn...

of the Cambrian Pottery

Cambrian Pottery

of Swansea

Swansea

, Glamorganshire, should make an inspection and report on the matter.

Dillwyn made the inspection, and saw the extent of the firm's losses, but was so impressed with the quality of the surviving pieces that he offered Billingsley and Walker use of the Cambrian Pottery

Cambrian Pottery

to improve their recipe and process. An annexe was built for porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

production at the Cambrian Pottery, where Walker and Billingsley were based from late 1814. During this time, Young was preoccupied with the construction of the Tomb of Thomas Mansel Talbot, at Margam Abbey

Margam Abbey

. Billingsley's porcelain recipe was modified and improved, but was still wasteful enough for Dillwyn to abandon the project in Swansea

Swansea

and in 1817, the pair returned to Nantgarw. Young reinvested in the pottery at Nantgarw

Nantgarw

, additionally becoming an art teacher at Cowbridge

Cowbridge

Cowbridge is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan in Wales, approximately west of Cardiff. Cowbridge is twinned with Clisson in the Loire-Atlantique department in northwestern France.-Roman times:...

Free School to help raise the funds. Billingsley and Walker continued to fire their porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

at a loss however until one day in April 1820, while Young was away in Bristol

Bristol

, the pair absconded to Coalport

Coalport

Coalport is a village in Shropshire, now part of the new town of Telford. It is located on the River Severn at , a mile downstream of Ironbridge...

leaving behind them the lease to the pottery and several thousand pieces of undecorated porcelain

Porcelain

Porcelain is a ceramic material made by heating raw materials, generally including clay in the form of kaolin, in a kiln to temperatures between and...

in various stages of production.

Young put the Nantgarw Pottery and its contents up for sale via public auction in October 1820, enabling himself to buy-out his minor partners and become sole proprietor. He invited his friend and former co-working artist from the Cambrian Pottery, Thomas Pardoe

Thomas Pardoe

A talented enameler, who was noted for flower painting. He was born in Derby on 3 July 1770 and was apprenticed at the Derby porcelain factory in the 1780s. Later moving to Worcester. He painted creamware at Swansea between 1795 and 1809, coming under the influence of Lewis Weston Dillwyn...

, to aid him with the completion and decoration of the salvaged porcelain. Young and Pardoe experimented to perfect a glaze for the biscuit ware, but were unable to ever add to Billingsley's stockpile of porcelain, having no access to his recipe. The final sales of the finished porcelain (sold between 1821 and 1822), paid Pardoe and his staff's salaries in arrears, but failed to recoup Young's total losses, leaving Young narrowly avoiding a further bankruptcy.

The rare surviving pieces of Nantgarw

Nantgarw

porcelain are considered today to be among the most valuable artefacts ever produced in Wales. Collections of this pottery can be seen at The V&A Museum, South Kensington

South Kensington

South Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in London. It is a built-up area located 2.4 miles west south-west of Charing Cross....

, London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

and The National Museum of Wales, Cardiff

Cardiff

.

In 1833 the Nantgarw estate was sold to William Henry Pardoe, son of Thomas Pardoe.

The Dinas Firebrick

Young's experience of firing ceramic

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

s, together with his familiarity with the region as a local surveyor and his amateur interests in geology

Geology

Geology is the science comprising the study of solid Earth, the rocks of which it is composed, and the processes by which it evolves. Geology gives insight into the history of the Earth, as it provides the primary evidence for plate tectonics, the evolutionary history of life, and past climates...

enabled him to conceive of a heat-proof, blast-furnace brick, using silica found in large deposits at the head of the Neath

Neath

Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...

Valley. The process of "vitrifying" the walls of a ceramic

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

brick-built furnace

Furnace

A furnace is a device used for heating. The name derives from Latin fornax, oven.In American English and Canadian English, the term furnace on its own is generally used to describe household heating systems based on a central furnace , and sometimes as a synonym for kiln, a device used in the...

had been patented by William Harry, of the Swansea Valley

Swansea Valley

The Swansea Valley , one of the South Wales Valleys is the name often given to the valley of the River Tawe area in South Wales, UK. It reaches southwest and south from the Brecon Beacons National Park down to the city of Swansea. Today, administration of the area is divided between the City and...

in 1817, but Young's solution was to build the whole furnace

Furnace

from a "silica firebrick," made with a 1% addition of lime

Lime (mineral)

Lime is a general term for calcium-containing inorganic materials, in which carbonates, oxides and hydroxides predominate. Strictly speaking, lime is calcium oxide or calcium hydroxide. It is also the name for a single mineral of the CaO composition, occurring very rarely...

, to bind the blue-grey "clay" of the Dinas rock. The idea being that the interior of the blast furnace

Blast furnace

A blast furnace is a type of metallurgical furnace used for smelting to produce industrial metals, generally iron.In a blast furnace, fuel and ore and flux are continuously supplied through the top of the furnace, while air is blown into the bottom of the chamber, so that the chemical reactions...

would vitrify and be vastly more durable and ultimately economical, than a mere veneer of silica within a comparatively fragile ceramic

Ceramic

A ceramic is an inorganic, nonmetallic solid prepared by the action of heat and subsequent cooling. Ceramic materials may have a crystalline or partly crystalline structure, or may be amorphous...

shell. Young made early experiments with the recipe and fired his trial bricks at the Nantgarw Pottery

Nantgarw Pottery

kilns, while he and Pardoe finished the Billingsley porcelain for sale between 1820 and 1821 when he finalised his recipe.

In 1822, Young applied to the Marquis of Bute to lease the lands near Craig-y-Dinas, Pontneddfechan, in the upper Neath Valley

Neath Valley

The Vale of Neath , one of the South Wales Valleys, encompasses the upper reaches of the River Neath in southwest Wales. In addition to the River Neath, it is traversed by the Neath Canal and the A465 dual carriageway....

for a period of twenty-one years. Young had the lease, and the patent (No. 5047) but had no funds left to set up the required brickworks. He sought financial backing from a number of sources, including his extended family once more and on 19 October 1822, the Dinas Fire Brick Co. was established in a partnership involving David Morgan, a Neath Ironmonger, John Player and Joseph Young (William Weston Young's older brother). (W.W. Young was a party but could not be a partner in the final enterprise, owing to his previous bankruptcy in 1802 at Aberdulais watermill.) A brickworks was built at Pontwalby, about a mile down river from Craig-y-Dinas.

The lucrative company, which sold bricks to industry across the world, transferred through many hands, but the Young family, held their shares throughout, finally passing via Joseph Young to his son William Weston Young Junior (1798–1866). (William Weston Young had no children). From "The Dinas Firebrick Co." to "John Player & Co." in 1825, to "Riddles, Young & Co." in 1829 and finally, becoming world famous as "Young & Allen" in 1852, the company brochure later mentions that it had supplied firebricks to Swansea's White Rock Copper Works for forty years.

The Final Years

The Dinas Firebrick Works experienced some financial and technical troubles during 1829, and Young laid out further monies to support his nephew William Weston Young Jr.'s stake in the company, but the company traded at limited profits for some time, requiring Young to start painting commercially yet again, this time in watercolours of the Neath

Neath

Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...

Valley, where he'd moved once more, to Fairyland House, near the Ivy Tower on the Mackworth Estate, Tonna, Neath

Neath

Neath is a town and community situated in the principal area of Neath Port Talbot, Wales, UK with a population of approximately 45,898 in 2001...

, Glamorganshire.

In 1835, Young published an eighty-five page, illustrated book Guide to the Scenery and Beauties of Glyn Neath, published by John Wright & Co. Bristol and sold by Longman, Rees, Orme, Browne & Co. London MDCCCXXXV. The naive but charming book comprises a prose guide to the Neath Valley and is illustrated with landscapes, scenery and decorative topographical and geological maps.

Young's wife; Elizabeth died following an awkward fall in March 1842, prompting Young to publish in 1843; The Christian Experience of Elizabeth Young, as a tribute to her, again published by Young's friend John Wright & Co. Bristol.

William Weston Young's profit share from the Dinas Firebrick Works was ultimately a very modest pension, and he died in relative poverty in Lower Mitton, Kidderminster

Kidderminster

Kidderminster is a town, in the Wyre Forest district of Worcestershire, England. It is located approximately seventeen miles south-west of Birmingham city centre and approximately fifteen miles north of Worcester city centre. The 2001 census recorded a population of 55,182 in the town...

on the 5 March 1847.

Secondary Resources

Bibliography:-

Jenkins, Elis. "William Weston Young." The Glamorgan Historian, Volume 5. Stewart Williams Publishers; ISBN -0-900807-43-1 p. 61-101

Jenkins, Rhys. "The Silica Brick and its Inventor, William Weston Young." Transactions of the Newcomen Society. 1942.

Jones, Penelope. Quaker entrepreneur: William Weston Young and the Welsh porcelain from Swansea and Nantgarw. Antique Collector 62/7 1991. p. 78-81

Morton-Nance, E. The Pottery and Porcelain of Swansea and Nantgarw. London: Batsford. 1943

Yerburgh, David S. An attempt to depict the Vale of Neath in South Wales: a pictorial journey around the Vale of Neath as undertaken by William Weston Young in 1835. Salisbury: D Yersburgh, 2001. p. 100

Young, William Weston. Guide to the Scenery and Beauties of Glyn Neath Bristol: John Wright & Co. (sold by Longman, Rees, Orme, Browne & Co. London) 1835.

Young, Elizabeth The Christian Experience of Elizabeth Young, Bristol: John Wright & Co. 1843.

Primary Resources

Resources at The Glamorgan Record Office:-

Sally Young (1740–1811) of Bristol: Journals 1798-1811 (D/D Z 24)

William Weston Young (1776–1847) of Bristol, Aberdulais and Neath: Journals, 1801-1843 (D/D Xch);
Fact Books & Plans, 1787–1840; Fact Book, 1807 (D/D Xls)

Resources at Friends Central Library, Friends House, London:-

Quaker Digest Registers, Births, Marriages and Deaths by regional microfiche.

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