by Andrew Green
The end of the eighteenth and the beginning of the nineteenth century saw the rise of local ‘literary and philosophical institutions’ throughout the British Isles. They aimed to bring together like-minded people to discuss issues of the day. The label ‘philosophy’ usually meant not logic or metaphysics, but an interest in the latest developments in science and technology, at a time when their study was in rapid flux as the industrial revolution gathered pace. Typically, members gathered to listen and respond to lectures by visiting speakers. Some societies also owned premises, issued publications, maintained libraries and museums, and even, as in the case of the Swansea Philosophical and Literary Institution (later the Royal Institution of South Wales), equipped and ran a scientific laboratory.
Most literary and philosophical societies were dominated by the upper and middle classes: members of the gentry and clergy, scientists, industrialists and engineers. And so, on the face of it, was the Cyfarthfa Philosophical Society, set up in Merthyr Tydfil in 1807. But all was not quite as it seemed.
At this time Merthyr was entering its heyday as one of the most dynamic and rapidly expanding towns in Britain, thanks to the numerous iron works set up in and around its centre. The ironworks – Cyfarthfa was one of the two largest – employed large numbers of skilled and semi-skilled workers, and the town also housed the works’ owners, engineers, managers and agents, and others like shopkeepers who serviced the residents. Early on in its explosive growth, despite its lack of physical infrastructure, like decent housing, sanitation and schools, Merthyr had a lively community culture, centred on its many chapels. From the start of the nineteenth century its people developed a tradition of industrial protest and political radicalism. In 1831 disaffection boiled over into what became known as the Merthyr Rising.
Most of what’s known about the Cyfarthfa Philosophical Society comes from Charles Wilkins’s A History of Merthyr Tydfil, published much later in 1867. This is how Wilkins (left) describes how the Society began, apparently with a strong interest in astronomy:
On December 15th, 1807, sixty persons, living in Merthyr and its neighbourhood, met together, and subscribed a guinea each towards buying such apparatus as was deemed suitable; but that sum proving inadequate, it was augmented by a good many of them subscribing another half-guinea. The instruments were had, a code of rules drawn up, and a few books on astronomy purchased. It gives us a tolerable notion of the capacity of the members when we learn that the list of instruments was composed of a good reflecting telescope, a pair of globes, a microscope, a planetarium, an orrery, an equatorial, and other philosophical apparatus. (p.269)
Wilkins gives the names of the most prominent of the founding members:
J. Bailey, Esq., an M.P., and a large iron-master; the poet and stone-cutter, Rees Howell Rees; John Griffiths and William Williams, afterwards famous as engineers and mechanicians; William Aubrey, the mill contractor; Thomas Evans, the philosopher, astronomer, and mathematician, of Cyfarthfa ; Benjamin Saunders, the ingenious moulder; Henry Kirkhouse, the mineral agent; and several others more or less able in their respective callings.
Joseph Bailey was the nephew of Richard Crawshay, the founder of the Cyfarthfa Ironworks. He inherited a quarter share in the works, but sold it in 1813 and bought the Nant-y-Glo works. Later he added the Beaufort works. He converted much of his large profits into land, and lived at Glanusk Park. Possibly Bailey was chosen as the ‘respectable figurehead’ of the Society.
Most of the other men Wilkins mentioned were highly skilled technologists connected with the Cyfarthfa Ironworks. John Griffiths and William Williams were both engineers there. Griffiths built steam-engines. In 1829 Williams invented the first machine for testing the tensile strength of metals. In later life, it was said, he became so large that he had to be moved around the works in a specially built trolley. His son, Morgan Williams, became the leading Merthyr Chartist. William Aubrey of Tredegar helped design the extensive water systems at Cyfarthfa. ‘None of his contemporaries’, his obituary in Seren Gomer said, ‘was as skilful as he was in inventing and setting up all kinds of engines and machines worked by fire and water’. Benjamin Saunders, the ‘ingenious moulder’ at the Cyfarthfa works, later described as ‘an amalgam of an inventive brain and a deft hand’, built a planetarium, a quadrant, a thermometer, a water-gauge and a weather-glass. Henry Kirkhouse was the mineral agent at Cyfarthfa for more than half a century, and ‘retained the respect of all who came in contact with him – from Mr Crawshay to the humblest miner’.
To be continued……
Reproduced with the kind permission of Andrew Green. To see the original, please click https://gwallter.com/history/the-cyfarthfa-philosophical-society.html
