PRICE
,
JOSEPH TREGELLES
(
1784
-
1854
),
Quaker and ironmaster
;
b.
17 Jan. 1784
, in
Cornwall
, the son of
Peter
Price
(
1739
-
1821
), and his wife,
Anna
(
née
Tregelles
)
Price
(
1759
-
1846
). The family moved to
Neath
in
1799
when the father became the
manager
of the
Neath Abbey Iron Works
in which they were interested with other
Quaker
families. The father was a faithful member of the
Society of Friends
, noted for acts of charity, relieving the poor and distressed, supporting missionaries and the
Bible Society
. He
erected a free school for the poor children
of
Neath Abbey
. The mother was one of the most remarkable women of her time, taking an active part in
Quaker
meetings and
promulgating the benefits of peace
. In addition to the
Neath Abbey iron-works
, with their blast furnaces, forge, and foundry, the
Prices
were also interested in
coal-mining
, in
iron ore working
at
Aberpergwm
, and in
copper smelting
in the locality. On
6 Dec. 1817
Joseph Tregelles
Price
advertised the iron-works for sale, but on
31 March 1818
, obtaining a new lease, he, with his brother,
H. H.
Price
, and others, signed a contract to take over the works, paying therefor £1,000.
Joseph
became
managing director
of the new company in
1818
. For a long period of years the firm had the reputation of pre-eminence for the
manufacture of all kinds of machinery
, pumps, boilers, marine and stationary engines, etc. The
Western Mail
of
30 May 1923
reported that machines that had been made at the
Neath Abbey
works a century earlier were still used to commercial advantage in the
Forest of Dean
.
Price
visited
‘
Dic Penderyn
’ (q.v.)
, then under sentence of death (
1831
), in
Cardiff gaol
, became convinced of the prisoner's innocence, and rode post-haste to interview
lord Melbourne
, the
Home Secretary
. He obtained a reprieve, but only for 10 days. It was due to him that the first
Peace Society
was formed in
1816
in
London
; of this he became the first
president
. He never relaxed his rule that no cannon, shot, or gun was to be made by his men. He was also
patron
of the
Anti-Slavery Movement
, and the chief promoter of the
Neath Abbey works school
, which was reported on by the
Educational Commissioners
of
1846-7
. After a most successful business and philanthropic career, he d., unmarried, on
Christmas Day 1854
, and was buried in the
Friends’ cemetery
at
Neath
. The works were afterwards carried on for a while by his nephew,
HENRY
PRICE
(b.
1825
). Another nephew
was
Elijah
Waring
(q.v.)
,
biographer
of
Edward
Williams
(
Iolo Morganwg
)
, while
ISAAC
REDWOOD
, his brother-in-law, assisted
Iolo
in his old age [see under
Tregelles
].
Bibliography:
-
D. Rhys Phillips
,
The Hist. of the Vale of Neath
,
Swansea, 1925
;
-
T. M. Rees
,
A history of the Quakers in Wales and their
emigration to North America
, 1925
;
-
David Jones
,
The Quakers of Swansea and Neath
,
Swansea, 1936
;
-
John Lloyd
,
The early history of the old South Wales
Iron Works (1760 to 1840) from original documents
,
1906
;
-
Cardiff and Merthyr Guardian
,
29 Dec. 1854
;
-
H. Tobit Evans
,
Rebecca and her Daughters. Being a history
of the agrarian disturbances in Wales known as "The Rebecca
Riots."
, Cardiff, 1910
;
-
Annual Monitor
,
1836
;
-
Friends’ Quarterly Examiner
,
1894
;
-
[
A. C. F. Beales
,
The History of Peace. A short account of the
organized movements for international peace
, London,
1931
,
1931].
Author:
Watkin William Price, M.A., (1873-1967), Aberdare
