John Batchelor (10 April 1820 – 29 May 1883)
was a prominent
Welsh Victorian businessman and politician, who earned the epithet "Friend of Freedom".
[David Jame]
''Friend of freedom facing capture''
South Wales Echo, 18 January 2010. Retrieved 2011-12-29.
Life and career
Although born in
Newport,
Monmouthshire, Batchelor became a prominent
Cardiff
Cardiff (; cy, Caerdydd ) is the capital and largest city of Wales. It forms a principal area, officially known as the City and County of Cardiff ( cy, Dinas a Sir Caerdydd, links=no), and the city is the eleventh-largest in the United Kingd ...
figure, having moved there in his early twenties. He set up business as a timber merchant and, later, slate merchant and also played a key role in establishing the Mount Stuart Dry Dock.
He was an active
Liberal
Liberal or liberalism may refer to:
Politics
* a supporter of liberalism
** Liberalism by country
* an adherent of a Liberal Party
* Liberalism (international relations)
* Sexually liberal feminism
* Social liberalism
Arts, entertainment and m ...
politician and served as a Liberal Councillor and, later, Mayor of Cardiff, in addition to being Chairman of the Cardiff School Board. He also campaigned against slavery.
Conflict with the Butes
However, John Batchelor's political activity brought him into conflict with the Bute family (
John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute), who had significant land-holdings in Cardiff, including
Cardiff Castle, and had built much of the docks.
The Butes supported the
Tory party
The Tories were a loosely organised political faction and later a political party, in the Parliaments of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom. They first emerged during the 1679 Exclusion Crisis, when they opposed ...
and many believed that their conspiring led to the collapse of Batchelor's shipbuilding business.
Death and legacy
John Batchelor died in 1883 and was buried at Cathays Cemetery, alongside his son Tom Eustace, who had died in infancy.
Statue
A subscription fund was established to erect a statue in his memory. This was followed by a petition of 12,000 signatures, started by his opponents, campaigning against the statue. The statue, created by the sculptor
James Milo Griffith,
was finally unveiled on 16 October 1886 and stands in
The Hayes
The Hayes ( cy, Yr Ais) is a commercial area in the southern city centre of the Welsh capital, Cardiff. Centred on the road of that name leading south towards the east end of the city centre, the area is mostly pedestrianised and is the location ...
, Cardiff. Its plinth is inscribed “JOHN BATCHELOR B.1820 D.1883 THE FRIEND of FREEDOM”.
A Conservative solicitor, T. H. Ensor, wrote a scathing piece in the ''Western Mail'', suggesting the words "Friend of Freedom" be replaced with "traitor to the Crown... hater of the clergy... sincerely mourned by unpaid creditors". He was sued unsuccessfully for libel. The case set a legal precedent in British law that the dead could not be libelled.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Batchelor, John
1820 births
1883 deaths
People from Newport, Wales
History of Newport, Wales
Businesspeople from Cardiff
Politicians from Cardiff
Mayors of Cardiff
Burials in Wales
Councillors in Cardiff
Councillors in Wales
19th-century Welsh politicians
People of the Victorian era
19th-century Welsh businesspeople