Nevill, Druce and Co
of Swansea and Llanelli
See also Llanelly Copper Works Co
1794 Charles Nevill, owner of a Worcestershire copperworks and sometime mayor of Birmingham, established a copper works at Swansea[1] for the Birmingham Mining and Copper Co
1804 On behalf of John Guest, a merchant and industrialist from Birmingham (so is this the right John Guest?), and William Savill, a copper merchant from London, Charles Nevill established the Llanelli Copperworks - Llanelly Copper Works Company. Agreed terms for coal supply with Roderick, Bowen and Griffiths.
1805 Co-partnership deeds signed between Ralph Allen Daniell (a merchant and banker from Truro), William Savill, John Guest and Charles Nevill. Although Charles’s son Richard Janion was involved in the formation of the Copperworks Company, he was not made a partner at that time. Smelting started.
1806 Copperhouse Dock built
1813 The leadworks were rebuilt near the copperworks; smelting at the Llanelly Lead Works probably began early in 1813.
1813 Charles died; the works were developed further by Richard Janion Nevill.
The Copperworks Company provided accommodation for its workforce and, in time, a form of welfare system
1816/7 Richard Nevill was made a full partner; John Guest sold his interests; the partnership became Daniell, Savill, Sons, and Nevill
1819 The partnership was Daniell, Son, and Nevill
1824 A new partnership was formed in April. Thomas Daniell, Joseph Savill, Richard Janion Nevill and Alexander Druce traded under the name Daniell Nevill and Co.
1829 Purchased all of the Carmarthenshire collieries of General Ward, and became involved in numerous business partnerships.
By 1833 The company was responsible for 13 per cent of Britain's copper production, making it the nation's joint third largest copper smelting concern, a position it maintained over the following two decades.
1837 The partnership became Sims, Willyams, Nevill, Druce and Co.
1844 The company became Sims, Willyams, Nevill Druce and Co.
1849 The Llanelly Copperworks Co took over the disused Cambrian Copperworks and converted it into a lead and silver smelting works.
1856 Richard Janion Nevill died; his son, Charles William Nevill, became managing director
Charles William Nevill, became MP for Carmarthenshire and High Sheriff of the county.
1873 The business was renamed Nevill, Druce and Company; partners included members of the Druce and Devas families.
The business declined due to competition from ore exporting countries, which started smelting their ores, and the exhaustion of the profitable seams at the company's collieries
1888 Charles Nevill died
1907 Closed its last coal mine, Pencoed.
1925 The copperworks closed.
See Also
Sources of Information
- ↑ Society and Economy in Modern Britain 1700–1850, by Richard Brown