{"id":15382,"date":"2025-04-09T12:50:54","date_gmt":"2025-04-09T11:50:54","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15382"},"modified":"2025-04-09T12:51:40","modified_gmt":"2025-04-09T11:51:40","slug":"15382","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15382","title":{"rendered":"The Life And Times Of Mr J C Meggitt &#8211; Part 2"},"content":{"rendered":"<hr noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"5\" \/>\n<hr \/>\n<p style=\"text-align: center;\"><strong><em><span style=\"color: #008000;\"><span style=\"font-size: 18pt;\">THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT &#8211; Part 2<br \/>\n<\/span><\/span><\/em><\/strong><\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<hr noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"5\" \/>\n<p>In Part I, we learned how the 28 year old John Claxton Meggitt came from Wolverhampton and established a thriving timber supply business in Barry. Initially this was to supply the timber needed for \u201cfalse works\u201d in the construction of the Barry Dock and Railway, and subsequently for the construction of the \u201cboom town\u201d that naturally ensued. They also engaged in the business of supplying pit props to the coal mines.<\/p>\n<p>With his brother-in-law, his business became Meggitt and Jones, then subsequently Meggitt and Price. Meggitt was not only a successful business man, but he became very active in both his adopted community and nationally in many spheres of public life. Here are some of those activities:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>Bristol Channel Timber Importers Association \u2013 President<\/li>\n<li>Public Administration \u2013 Alderman, Glamorgan County Council<\/li>\n<li>Barry Local Health Board \u2013 Member<\/li>\n<li>Barry Urban District Council (Successor to the above) \u2013 Its first Chairman<\/li>\n<li>Windsor Road Congregational Church, Barry \u2013 one of the founders and Superintendent of the Sunday School. Nationally, he was Chairman of the Congregational Union of England and Wales in the late 1920s<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>In addition, together with his wife, he provided Barry\u2019s first hospital, and if all of the above were not enough he was a Justice of the Peace for the County of Glamorgan for nearly 40 years!<\/p>\n<p>As we have read in previous articles, J C Meggitt became quite wealthy from his involvement in the timber trade. At the age of 70 in 1928, he handed over day-to-day control of the company and set about travelling the world for the next decade. We are fortunate in having detailed accounts of his several voyages. He wrote these as a series of letters to the Western Mail which were subsequently published in booklet format. In these he records how he travelled by sea and rail (on the Tran Siberia railway) to visit and record his impressions of some 35 counties. In the 1931 volume he mentions that his travelling companion was Sir T P Thomas, in the other volumes no companion is mentioned.<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?attachment_id=15307\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15307\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"15307\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?attachment_id=15307\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture6.png?fit=500%2C374\" data-orig-size=\"500,374\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Picture6\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture6.png?fit=300%2C224\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture6.png?fit=500%2C374\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15307\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture6.png?resize=500%2C374\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"374\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture6.png?w=500 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture6.png?resize=300%2C224 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>Copies of these booklets were presented by Sue Culbertson to the Barry Library and are presently being digitized for posterity on the \u201cPeoples\u2019 Collection Wales\u201d website. Ms Culbertson\u2019s great aunt Doris Gooding (her maternal grandmother\u2019s sister) was head housekeeper to the Meggitt family.<\/p>\n<p>The octavo booklets are as follows:<\/p>\n<ul>\n<li>\u201cImpressions of a World Tour\u201d \u2013 December 1930 to April 1931\u201d<\/li>\n<li>\u201cJapan, Across Siberia, Russia and Germany\u201d \u2013 1935 (including impressions along the way of Yugoslavia; Suez Canal; Aden; Singapore, Ceylon; China and Hong Kong\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cSouth America (Brazil, Uruguay, Argentina), \u201cRobinson Crusoe\u201d Island (ie Juan Fern\u00e1ndez Island), West Indies\u201d \u2013 1938\u201d.<\/li>\n<li>\u201cSouth America, South Africa and the West Coast of Africa\u201d\u2013 January to March 1939\u201d.<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<p>As well as the \u201ctouristy\u201d aspects of what he witnessed, being a businessman at heart, he delved deeply into, and commented on the commercial and political environs where he was to stay for any length of time. Thus, these booklets are full of insights into the local economy and the lives of the local populations.<\/p>\n<p>I cannot hope to do any sort of justice to the overall scope of the content of the many places he visited, instead I will provide a few of examples of the topics he covered in depth to give you an insight.<\/p>\n<p>In Australia and New Zealand (1931) he pondered on whether British car manufacturers should produce vehicles better suited to local conditions, and drunkenness and the control of drinking establishments.<\/p>\n<p>In Cape Town (February 1939) he wondered whether the former German Colony of South West Africa should be returned to Germany (No, because of the abysmal treatment they had previously meted out to the indigenous population)<\/p>\n<p><a href=\"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?attachment_id=15308\" rel=\"attachment wp-att-15308\"><img loading=\"lazy\" decoding=\"async\" data-attachment-id=\"15308\" data-permalink=\"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?attachment_id=15308\" data-orig-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture7.png?fit=500%2C376\" data-orig-size=\"500,376\" data-comments-opened=\"0\" data-image-meta=\"{&quot;aperture&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;credit&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;camera&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;caption&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;created_timestamp&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;copyright&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;focal_length&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;iso&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;shutter_speed&quot;:&quot;0&quot;,&quot;title&quot;:&quot;&quot;,&quot;orientation&quot;:&quot;0&quot;}\" data-image-title=\"Picture7\" data-image-description=\"\" data-image-caption=\"\" data-medium-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture7.png?fit=300%2C226\" data-large-file=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture7.png?fit=500%2C376\" class=\"aligncenter size-full wp-image-15308\" src=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture7.png?resize=500%2C376\" alt=\"\" width=\"500\" height=\"376\" srcset=\"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture7.png?w=500 500w, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/04\/Picture7.png?resize=300%2C226 300w\" sizes=\"(max-width: 500px) 100vw, 500px\" data-recalc-dims=\"1\" \/><\/a><\/p>\n<p>From Valparaiso in Chile (1938) he took an excursion of some 345miles to the Juan Fernandez Islands. It was here from 1704 to 1709 that the Scottish seaman Alexander Selkirk voluntarily exiled himself. Based on the experiences he narrated to Daniel Defoe the novel \u201cRobinson Crusoe\u201d was written in 1719.<\/p>\n<p>The pictures were taken in Chile: at a fox farm and a local mode of transport.<\/p>\n<p>This series will continue with further notes about South America and his impressions of China, Japan, the Tran Siberia railway, Poland and Germany in the mid 1930s together with events surrounding his 90th birthday in 1947.<\/p>\n<p>Tony Hodge<\/p>\n<p>&nbsp;<\/p>\n<hr \/>\n<hr noshade=\"noshade\" size=\"5\" \/>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT &#8211; Part 2 In Part I, we learned how the 28 year old John Claxton Meggitt came from Wolverhampton and established a thriving timber supply business in Barry. Initially this was to supply the timber needed for \u201cfalse works\u201d in the construction of the Barry Dock and Railway, and subsequently for [&#8230;]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":4,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"jetpack_post_was_ever_published":false,"_jetpack_newsletter_access":"","_jetpack_newsletter_tier_id":0,"footnotes":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true,"jetpack_social_post_already_shared":true,"jetpack_social_options":{"image_generator_settings":{"template":"highway","enabled":false}}},"categories":[334,421,228],"tags":[],"jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"jetpack_shortlink":"https:\/\/wp.me\/s6cWjO-15382","jetpack-related-posts":[{"id":15231,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15231","url_meta":{"origin":15382,"position":0},"title":"The Life And Times Of Mr J C Meggitt &#8211; Part 1","author":"Alan Williams","date":"6th March 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT - Part 1 \u00a0 In his article in the April 2024 Edition of What\u2019s On, Steven Jones wrote about certain people who were notable in the early days of Barry\u2019s development. One of these was named Meggitt. Here is the story\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Interest Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/circular.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/circular.png?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/circular.png?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/circular.png?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/circular.png?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/03\/circular.png?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15618,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15618","url_meta":{"origin":15382,"position":1},"title":"J C Meggitt Story &#8211; Post Script","author":"Alan Williams","date":"30th May 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Articles of Interest THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT - POSTSCRIPT In the three previous issues of What\u2019s On, we learned how 28 year old Meggitt had come to Barry in 1884 at the start of the construction of the dock and set up a thriving timber\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Interest Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Leggit-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200,"srcset":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Leggit-01.jpg?resize=350%2C200 1x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Leggit-01.jpg?resize=525%2C300 1.5x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Leggit-01.jpg?resize=700%2C400 2x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Leggit-01.jpg?resize=1050%2C600 3x, https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2025\/05\/Leggit-01.jpg?resize=1400%2C800 4x"},"classes":[]},{"id":15483,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=15483","url_meta":{"origin":15382,"position":2},"title":"The Life And Times Of Mr J C Meggitt &#8211; Part 3","author":"Alan Williams","date":"5th May 2025","format":false,"excerpt":"Articles of Interest THE LIFE AND TIMES OF MR J C MEGGITT - Part 3 In Parts 1 and 2 we read about John Claxton Meggitt\u2019s timber trading business and his retirement at the age of 70 after which he undertook numerous world travels during which he visited over 35\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;New Items for May 2025&quot;","block_context":{"text":"New Items for May 2025","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=421"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]},{"id":14835,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14835","url_meta":{"origin":15382,"position":3},"title":"A Brief History Of Barry To 1939","author":"Alan Williams","date":"22nd November 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"A BRIEF HISTORY OF BARRY TO 1939 We all go to Barry, at least now and again, but how often do we pause to consider how the town of almost 60,000 people today became developed in a relatively short space of time? This chronology has been (mostly) taken from the\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Interest Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/11\/Picture9.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":14073,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=14073","url_meta":{"origin":15382,"position":4},"title":"David Davies \u2013 My Part In Preserving His Heritage","author":"Alan Williams","date":"14th March 2024","format":false,"excerpt":"David Davies \u2013 My Part In Preserving His Heritage The previous three editions of What\u2019s On have contained articles by Ann Jones and Stephen K Jones about David Davies, Top Sawyer and Entrepreneur of Llandinam, Montgomeryshire. It is now my turn to add personal recollections about this great man and\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;General Interest Articles&quot;","block_context":{"text":"General Interest Articles","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=334"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"https:\/\/i0.wp.com\/wenvoe.org.uk\/wp-content\/uploads\/2024\/03\/Picture7.png?resize=350%2C200","width":350,"height":200},"classes":[]},{"id":11493,"url":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=11493","url_meta":{"origin":15382,"position":5},"title":"\u00a0Planning Applications for May 2022","author":"Alan Williams","date":"2nd May 2022","format":false,"excerpt":"Planning Applications for May 2022 .\u00a0 Planning Applications Springfield, Station Road East. Construction of single storey timber clad building to provide leisure rooms for occupants of the main dwelling. Councillors raised no objections. Applications have been made for work to trees covered by Tree Preservation Orders at 9, Tarrws Close.\u2026","rel":"","context":"In &quot;Planning Applications&quot;","block_context":{"text":"Planning Applications","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?cat=151"},"img":{"alt_text":"","src":"","width":0,"height":0},"classes":[]}],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15382"}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/4"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=15382"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15382\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":15384,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/15382\/revisions\/15384"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=15382"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=15382"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=15382"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}