George Haynes & William Dillwyn

 Everyone likes a mystery!

George Haynes.  Why he came to Swansea is a mystery, but who was he and what did he do?

George Haynes was born in 1745. His place of birth is unclear, but the family originated from Warwickshire.   As a young man, he emigrated to Philadelphia, the Quaker colony of Pennsylvania.  He established himself as a merchant.  He subscribed to the Bank of Pennsylvania and had two shares in the Bank of North America, where he was a director from 1782 until he returned to the United Kingdom in 1783.

On returning to the United Kingdom, he settled in Swansea, where he became a partner with the Swansea Pottery in 1786. By 1790, Haynes became the managing partner, and he set out to modernize the pottery in the lines adopted by Josiah Wedgewood.  It was during this time that he changed the name of the pottery to that of Cambrian Pottery.  Under his management, the pottery was successful. Following the death of John Coles, who was the son of the founder of the pottery, Haynes traded on his own under the name of Haynes & Co. 

1802, William Dillwyn purchased the lease of the remained and invested a substantial amount of capital into the business. It would be Dillwyn’s son, Lewis Weston Dillwyn who was taken into the business as an active partner, on instructions from his father.  Haynes continued to manage the business, however, by 1810 Haynes terminated the arrangement of the pottery, where he concentrated on other business interests.

William Dillwyn was born in Philadelphia in 1743.  He was a Quaker, who had Welsh descent, he was the son of John Dillwyn and Susanna Painter. 

He was educated at Friends’ English School of Philadelphia, where he was taught by an unknown man Anthony Benezet.  Benezet was a French-born, son of a French Huguenot, who initially fled to London, after having been persecuted.  Whilst in London, Benezet, converted to Quakerism and then emigrated to Philadelphia.  William became his first pupil at the school. Benezet was acknowledged as one of the founding fathers of the great campaign for the abolition of the slave trade.

William first married Sarah Logan Smith, in May 1768 at Burlington County, New Jersey. They were to have one daughter, Susanna, born March 1769.  A month later Sarah died.

Benezet had sent William across to the United Kingdom, to establish links with the growing movement of abolition here in the United Kingdom.   1774, William came to England, where he started to campaign against slavery, whilst he was in England he made friends and decided to settle.  William acted as Benezet's emissary. 

Whilst in London, William convinced his fellow Quakers that one man who could galvanize the abolitionist movement into a radical action, was Anglican clergyman Thomas Clarkson.  Clarkson had the support of William Wilberforce.

Whilst on one of his campaign trips in the United Kingdom, in 1774, William Sally Weston.  On returning to his home in Burlington, New Jersey in 1777, William found himself in a dilemma.  The Declaration of Independence in Philadelphia was proclaimed following the American colonist's revolt. 

William considered himself a patriotic American but as a Quaker pacifist he could not bear arms, also William was engaged to Sally at this time.  William sold his business in Burlington and sought permission from General George Washington, to grant him a passport to travel safely through the American and British armies so that he could embark from New York, to sail to London to marry Sally.

Following his marriage to Sally in 1777, at the Tottenham Meeting House, they were to live at Higham Lodge, Walthamstow. Establishing a prosperous business with his father-in-law, William carried on with his antislavery activities.

William didn’t have any connections with South Wales other than some cousins in Pembrokeshire.  Before his marriage to Sally, William visited Swansea where he met some Quaker friends it was whilst at Swansea he visited the Swansea Pottery.  He saw the future possibilities of the business. 

1807 saw the successful conclusion of the formal abolition of the slave trade.  This gave William satisfaction to see that the trade was passed simultaneously in the US Congress.  It would be thought Clarkson and Wilberforce would take the credit; William was overlooked. 

William died in 1824, in Tottenham, where he was buried at Friends Burial Ground, Tottenham.

So before looking at what George Hayes did next, we can look at Susanna.

Following her mother’s death, Susanna was raised in Burlington by her aunt, Susanna Dillwyn Cox who had support from an additional uncle and aunt, George and Sarah Hill Dillwyn. 

April 1795, Susanna married Samuel Emlen Jr., and they lived in Philadelphia, before moving to a newly built home, West Hill, Burlington. During the Yellow Fever epidemic of 1797, Samuel was an influential Quaker, and he concerned himself with issues concerning slavery and Indian affairs with the Society of Friends.

Towards the end of 1813, Susanna aged 44, discovered that she had a tumour in her breast. In June 1814, after deliberations and professional medical help, the tumour was removed by five doctors.

1816, the Emlens travelled to England, where they visited William and his family.  Whilst here, Susannah discovered another tumour.  This time Susanna was treated with compression treatment.  Returning during the summer of 1818, to New Jersey, Susanna’s health deteriorated, and she died November 1819.

Samuel died in 1837, he established a trust of $20,000 for an agricultural school, The Emlen Institute for the Benefit of Children of African and Indian Descent.

Returning the George Hayes.  What did he do after parting company with Lewis Weston Dillwyn?

1800, George was associated with Henry Pocklington in a banking house.  Following Pocklington’s death in 1816 George was the senior partner of the business with his son, also George a junior.  George Day and William Lawrence were subsequentially admitted as partners and the bank traded as Hayes, Day, Hayes & Lawrence. A further bank was opened in Neath in 1820.  The Swansea bank acted as Treasurer to the Swansea Tontine, which was formed in 1805 to build the Theatre Royal and the Assembly Rooms.  George became Treasurer of the Swansea Society for the Education of Children and in 1816, was also Treasurer of the Swansea Saving Bank and the Royal Swansea Lancasterian Free School.

1803, George formed a company and raised the necessary capital after the publication of the weekly newspaper in Swansea was proposed.  The publication of The Cambrian in 1804 commenced. George and his son, George controlled the paper until 1822, when they sold their interest.

George was also the founding member of the Glamorgan Library, in 1804, and proprietor of the Cambrian Brewery, in 1805. 1810, George established a short-lived soap works, adjacent to the Cambrian Pottery.  Was this started in a fit of pique followed by his forced departure from the pottery?  Lewis Weston Dillwyn took legal action against George for the nuisance caused by the soap works, and it closed immediately.

George was instrumental in the establishment of the Glamorgan Pottery in 1813/14 a rival to the Cambrian Pottery, however, George was never a partner in the concern.

1825, there was a Banking Crisis, Haynes, Day, Haynes & Lawrence were forced in bankruptcy.  The bank in Neath was made bankrupt.  The following years, properties were sold.

George Hayes, died on the 2^nd January 1830, in Clydach.  His contributions to Swansea development and its aspects of social and economic life, was considerable, however, there he hasn’t been sufficiently recognised.