THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT – Part 1
In his article in the April 2024 Edition of What’s On, Steven Jones wrote about certain people who were notable in the early days of Barry’s development. One of these was named Meggitt. Here is the story of that man. J C Meggitt was born in Wolverhampton in 1858 and after leaving school he joined the firm of Shelton and Sons, Wolverhampton in the timber supply trade. His duties included travelling widely throughout Britain seeking business opportunities for expanding the timber trade.
His keen business sense lead him to believe that there were major prospects in south east Wales and to further develop his understanding of this area he joined Alexanders and Co in Cardiff who were at that time the largest importers of timber in the Bristol Channel area.
Whilst thus employed he was a diligent saver as he had ambitions to start his own business, which he eventually did at the age of 26. He posted the above circular just three weeks before the Earl of Plymouth ceremoniously cut the first sod for the new dock on 14th November 1884.
One cannot help but think that the young J C Meggitt had perhaps bitten off a bit more than he could chew. The nearest railway station at that time was at Penarth Dock, some six miles away. The local roads were undeveloped being narrow unsurfaced lanes totally unsuitable for heavy traffic. Some of the gradients were steep and the cost of transporting materials was inevitably high.
At that time only horse drawn wagons were available and in the early days of the venture as many as 30 horses were being used. As an alternative to delivering by road, small coastal vessels into Barry Old Harbour were used but the costs of loading at Cardiff, delays at sea, unloading at low tide and storage of materials near the original Ship Inn proved to be as costly as delivery by road. There was much double and triple handling of materials involved.
The tenacious Meggitt overcame the difficulties and proved to T A Walker, the main contractor for the dock construction, that he “could deliver the goods” at competitive prices and the new business continued to thrive. As it became evident that the Barry Harbour option was becoming increasingly unworkable, Meggitt moved his operations to Cadoxton.
It wasn’t just the dock construction that required vast quantities of timber for “false works”. Hundreds of houses and shops were being built which further increased the demand for timber. Until the new Barry Railway was functional some three years later the struggle with transporting timber persisted.
It is of interest to note that the imports of timber in those early days were from Archangel (Russia), Norway, and Canada. The supplies were negotiated though local agents.
In 1888 he went into partnership with his brother-in-law Mr D Sibbering Jones and the firm now known as Meggitt and Jones opened other depots and facilities in East Moors Cardiff, Gloucester and Aberystwyth from which places they supplied high quality timber to their respective hinterlands. At each of these principal locations, the firm operated large saw mills and the business continued to flourish.
…to be continued.
Tony Hodge
