Henry Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea (6 July 1821 – 28 November 1894), known between May 1882 and June 1893 as Sir Hussey Vivian, 1st Baronet, was a
Welsh industrialist and politician from the
Vivian family
Vivian may refer to:
*Vivian (name), a given name and also a surname
Toponyms
* Vivian, Louisiana, U.S.
* Vivian, South Dakota, U.S.
* Vivian, West Virginia, U.S.
* Vivian Island, Nunavut, Canada
* Ballantrae, Ontario, a hamlet in Stouffville, ...
.
Biography
Born at
Singleton Abbey
Singleton Abbey ( cy, Abaty Singleton) is a large, mainly 19th-century mansion in Swansea, Wales. Today, the buildings are used to house administration offices for Swansea University. They can be found at the eastern end of the Swansea Universit ...
,
Swansea, Henry was the eldest son of industrialist and
MP John Henry Vivian
John Henry Vivian FRS (9 August 1785 – 10 February 1855) was a Welsh industrialist and politician of Cornish extraction. He was a member of the Vivian family.
Vivian was the son of John Vivian (1750–1826), of Truro, Cornwall, and his wi ...
and his wife Sarah, daughter of Arthur Jones, of
Reigate
Reigate ( ) is a town in Surrey, England, around south of central London. The settlement is recorded in Domesday Book in 1086 as ''Cherchefelle'' and first appears with its modern name in the 1190s. The earliest archaeological evidence for huma ...
. His younger brothers were
Arthur Vivian (who would become an industrialist and MP),
Richard Glynn Vivian (afterwards an art collector and philanthropist) and Graham Vivian. His uncle was
Richard Hussey Vivian, first baron Vivian. He was educated at
Eton and studied metallurgy in Germany and France from 1838 before entering Trinity College,
Cambridge
Cambridge ( ) is a College town, university city and the county town in Cambridgeshire, England. It is located on the River Cam approximately north of London. As of the 2021 United Kingdom census, the population of Cambridge was 145,700. Cam ...
in 1839.
After two years he became manager of the
Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...
branch of the copper-smelting business founded by his grandfather,
Vivian & Sons Vivian & Sons was a British metallurgical and chemicals business based at Hafod, in the lower Swansea valley. The firm was founded in 1810, disappearing as a separate entity in 1924. Its chief outputs were ingot and sheet copper, with sulphuric ac ...
. Three years later he became a partner of the firm before coming to Swansea to manage the
Hafod Works during the last ten years of his father's life (1845–1855). He developed a range of by-products from copper-smelting and diversified into other metallurgical activities. He is credited with originating the "sliding scale" of miners' wages after the strike of 1889, though other authorities attribute the idea to William Thomas Lewis, afterwards Lord Merthyr. He was one of the chief promoters of the
Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway
The Rhondda and Swansea Bay Railway was a Welsh railway company formed to connect the upper end of the Rhondda Fawr with Swansea, with the chief objective of transporting coal and other minerals to Swansea docks. It was incorporated in 1882, but ...
, helped to further extend the harbour facilities of the town and championed the merits of Welsh coal in Parliamentary debates. It was largely due to his efforts that Swansea became a major industrial centre.
He served as a
Member of Parliament
A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members o ...
(MP) for
Truro
Truro (; kw, Truru) is a cathedral city and civil parish in Cornwall, England. It is Cornwall's county town, sole city and centre for administration, leisure and retail trading. Its population was 18,766 in the 2011 census. People of Truro ...
1852–7,
Glamorganshire
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto ...
1857–85 and
Swansea District 1885–93. In 1889 he became the first chairman of the
Glamorgan County Council
Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Local ...
. He was also a Justice of the Peace, Deputy Lieutenant for Glamorgan and for some years first Lieutenant-Colonel of the 4th Glamorgan Rifle Volunteers.
He was created a
baronet
A baronet ( or ; abbreviated Bart or Bt) or the female equivalent, a baronetess (, , or ; abbreviation Btss), is the holder of a baronetcy, a hereditary title awarded by the British Crown. The title of baronet is mentioned as early as the 14t ...
of
Singleton
Singleton may refer to:
Sciences, technology Mathematics
* Singleton (mathematics), a set with exactly one element
* Singleton field, used in conformal field theory Computing
* Singleton pattern, a design pattern that allows only one instance ...
, in the Parish of
Swansea in the
County of Glamorgan, on 13 May 1882, and Baron Swansea, of Singleton in the County of Glamorgan, on 9 June 1893.
After his death on 28 November 1894, probate was granted to his sons Henry Hussey Vivian and Odo Richard Vivian valuing his estate at £163,707 1s 9d, he was buried in the churchyard of St Paul's Church in
Sketty
The suburban district of Sketty ( cy, Sgeti) is about 2 miles (3.2 km) west of the Swansea city centre on Gower Road. It falls within the Sketty council ward of Swansea. It is also a community.
Description
The area approximates to the Vivi ...
. There is a bronze statue of Henry wearing a frock coat and gown in St. David's Shopping Centre, Swansea, created by Italian sculptor
Mario Raggi. There is also a plaque at St John's Church in Hafod. It was erected by his widow and contains the words 'Life's race well run. Life's work well done. Life's crown well won. Then comes rest'.
Lord Swansea's younger brother
Sir Arthur Vivian was also a Liberal politician.
Marriages and children
Lord Swansea married, on 15 April 1847, to Jessie Dalrymple Goddard (c. 1825 – 28 February 1848), the daughter of
Ambrose Goddard, of the Lawn, Swindon. His wife died of childbed fever a few weeks after the birth of their only child.
*
Ernest Ambrose Vivian, 2nd Baron Swansea (11 February 1848 – 17 July 1922); died unmarried
On 14 July 1853 he married
Lady Flora Caroline Elizabeth Cholmeley (died 25 January 1868), daughter of
Sir Montague Cholmeley, 2nd Baronet. They had one son;
* The Hon. John Aubrey Vivian (23 July 1854 – 1 March 1898); died unmarried
Lord Swansea took as his third wife, on 10 November 1870, Averil Beaumont (1841 – 14 January 1934), daughter of Capt. Richard Beaumont, R.N., and granddaughter of the
3rd Baron Macdonald of Slate. He and his third wife had seven children;
* Violet Averil Margaret Vivian (3 December 1871 – 30 March 1943)
* Henry Hussey Vivian (5 February 1873 – 11 December 1898); died unmarried
*
Odo Richard Vivian, 3rd Baron Swansea (22 April 1875 – 16 November 1934)
* Averil Vivian (4 December 1876 – 1 February 1959); married
George Tryon, 1st Baron Tryon
George Clement Tryon, 1st Baron Tryon, PC (15 May 1871 – 24 November 1940) was a British Conservative politician who served in a number of ministerial positions in the inter-war years.
George Clement Tryon was son of Vice-Admiral Sir George ...
* Alexandra Gladys Vivian (c. 1879 – 17 July 1966)
* Alberta Diana Vivian (10 February 1883 – 1968)
* a daughter (10 February 1883)
References
*
*
Further reading
*
*
External links
*
{{DEFAULTSORT:Vivian, Henry
Swansea, Henry Vivian, 1st Baron
Swansea, Henry Vivian, 1st Baron
People educated at Eton College
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Swansea, Henry Vivian, 1st Baron
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Henry
Henry may refer to:
People
*Henry (given name)
* Henry (surname)
* Henry Lau, Canadian singer and musician who performs under the mononym Henry
Royalty
* Portuguese royalty
** King-Cardinal Henry, King of Portugal
** Henry, Count of Portugal, ...
Members of the Parliament of the United Kingdom for Swansea constituencies
Peers of the United Kingdom created by Queen Victoria
19th-century British businesspeople