Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot

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Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot FRS (10 May 1803 – 17 January 1890) was a wealthy South Wales landowner and industrialist and Liberal politician. He saw the potential of his family's estates as a site for an extensive ironworks, served by railways and a port at what became known as Port Talbot.

[edit] Early life

Talbot was born at Penrice on the Gower Peninsula near Swansea, the son of Thomas Mansel Talbot. His father died in 1813, and he had inherited the family estates at Penrice and Margam, which were held in trust until he came of age in 1824. He was educated at a private school in Dorset, and then at Harrow School and Oriel College, Oxford, from where he graduated in 1824 with a 1st class honours degree in mathematics. He then undertook a Grand Tour of Europe. His favourite activities were yachting, racing and hunting. In 1823 he was elected a member of the Royal Yacht Club (later the Royal Yacht Squadron), and he was its Vice Commodore from 1851 to 1861

[edit] Parliamentary and public career

Talbot was an elected Liberal Member of Parliament for Glamorganshire in 1830, the seat being vacated by his stepfather Sir Christopher Cole and he remained in parliament for the rest of his life. He was Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan, from 1848 to 1890.

On redistribution of parliamentary seats in 1885, he was elected for Mid Glamorganshire. He retained his seat until his death, becoming Father of the House of Commons. He was described as "a tall, elderly gentleman ... wearing a long woollen comforter" in Sir Henry Lucy's Diary of the Salisbury Parliament for 10 June 1888 which was published in book form in 1892.^[1]

[edit] Industry and transportation

Talbot recognised that improved transportation could stimulate industrial growth, and as Member of Parliament he introduced a Bill in 1834 to improve the old harbour at Aberavon; two years later, a further Bill provided for the harbour's expansion and a change of name to Port Talbot in his honour. He also encouraged the development of Swansea docks, and pioneered the introduction of railways to south Wales, being chairman and a shareholder in the South Wales Railway Company, which was acquired by the Great Western Railway in 1863, with Talbot joining the board of the GWR.

Talbot also invested in the area's extractive and metal production industries. The Port Talbot ironworks opened in early 1831, part of the industrialisation then taking place across south Wales; copper had been smelted at nearby Neath since 1584, and there were tinworks and ironworks at Pontardawe.

In 1869 aboard his private yacht Lynx he attended the opening of the Suez Canal, accompanied by members of his family and several guests. When he was in Egypt, Gladstone offered hima peerage, but he declined on this and two other occasions. He was adjudged the wealthiest commoner of his time.^[2]

[edit] Margam Castle

Over a ten-year period from 1830, Talbot set about redeveloping the family estate at Margam Castle. The mansion was designed in the Tudor Gothic style by architect Thomas Hopper (1776–1856), while Edward Haycock (1790–1870) was supervisory architect and designed parts of the interior and exterior of the house, the stables, terraces and lodges. Talbot also took a keen interest in the project, encouraging his architects to borrow elements from Lacock Abbey in Wiltshire (ancestral home of the Talbots and home to his cousin William Henry Fox Talbot) and Melbury House in Dorset (home of his mother's family, the Fox-Strangways, Earls of Ilchester). Margam Castle is a Grade I listed building owned by Neath and Port Talbot County Borough council.^[3]

Talbot encouraged his relations William Fox Talbot and John Talbot Dillwyn Llewellyn in the development of photography and was himself a Fellow of the Royal Society.

[edit] Legacy

On the 31st October 1880, C.R.M. Talbot, M.P., laid the foundation stone of Maesteg Town Hall, Maesteg. He gave £500.00 towards the building fund, and the miners of the valley agreed to levy themselves a day's wages towards the cost.

In Llanfair, his name still survives in "Talbot Terrace". In 1865 there was a public house in the village called the "Talbot Arms".^[4]

Talbot married Lady Charlotte Butler, daughter of the first Earl of Glengall, at Cahir House, County Tipperary on 28 December 1835. She died at Malta on the 23rd March 1846, where the Talbots were on their yacht "Galatea".^[5]

Talbot's only son Theodore died in 1876 following a hunting accident. It was therefore his daughter Emily Charlotte Talbot (1840–1918) who inherited her father's fortune and became just as notable in the development of ports and railways.

[edit] References