{"id":17060,"date":"2026-06-01T17:05:33","date_gmt":"2026-06-01T16:05:33","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17060"},"modified":"2026-06-01T22:57:11","modified_gmt":"2026-06-01T21:57:11","slug":"two-entrepreneurs-who-made-penarth-their-home-part-1","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/wenvoe.org.uk\/?p=17060","title":{"rendered":"Two Entrepreneurs Who Made Penarth Their Home (Part 1)"},"content":{"rendered":"
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ARTICLES of GENERAL INTEREST<\/span><\/strong><\/span><\/p>\n

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TWO ENTREPRENEURS WHO MADE PENARTH THEIR HOME (Part 1)
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As part of my work in Barry library to process historical artifacts for the \u201cPeoples Collection Wales\u201d I came across an engineering drawing of a sewerage scheme for Penarth and west Cardiff proposed by a Mr John Kyte Collett. Unfortunately it is undated but appears from the context to be from the late 1800s. Text on the drawing says that JKC\u2019s scheme is far superior to that being promoted by the Cardiff City Engineer.<\/p>\n

The document intrigued me so I set out to find more about its author. From Internet and Ancestry searches using his unique name together with helpful staff at Cardiff\u2019s Heritage Library in Cathays I was able to reveal a wealth of interesting information about him and his many and varied interests in matters of his time. The second entrepreneur is his nephew Fredrick Speed, about whom, more later.<\/p>\n

JKC was born in Kilvert Street, Shepton Mallet in 1836. The 1841 census records that his mother Julia is the Head of Household as Robert his father had died in June 1838. Also mentioned in this record is his sister Ann Mary Collett born in 1831. What an impoverished start to life he must have had.<\/p>\n

JKC won a place to Shepton Mallet Grammar School but he left at the age of 15 to work for a linen draper in Bristol. He then moved with his mother and sister to the Bute Town area of Cardiff in 1853 where together they established a grocery shop, and also had stalls in the Cardiff Market.<\/p>\n

From such humble beginnings, JKC expanded his business interests and reputedly became a millionaire \u201cprovision factor and commission agent\u201d and importer of foodstuffs from USA and Canada in partnership with a Mr Whitefield. This was at a time when Cardiff was growing exponentially and the business in the wholesale supply of foodstuffs thrived and made them wealthy. In 1872, and before fridges, he took out a patent \u201cfor an improved means of preserving and transporting butter\u201d. Historical records show how the firm of Collett, Whitefield & Co (Cardiff) Ltd continued to grow in the second half of the 1800s.<\/p>\n

In 1866 JKC married Sarah Ann Orledge Reeves (1840 – 1922) in Pilton Somerset and they had a daughter Florence Edith Jeffries Collett, born in 1875. Judging from the census records as to where the family were living, the business was obviously thriving: from Bute Town, to Canton, to (in the early 1900s) a 12 room mansion at 5 Beach Road, Penarth (Rose Mount) in the 1901 census.<\/p>\n

His nephew Fredrick Speed was born in Shepton Mallet in 1846. The 1871 census records him living in Romilly Crescent, Cardiff, a lodger with a Julia Collett, i.e. JKC\u2019s mother. He is a single man working as a carpenter. FS moved away from south Wales for a number of years, but in the mid 1880s his uncle enticed him back to exploit the potential for Penarth\u2019s development after its connection to the Taff Vale Railway. More about FS in Part 2.<\/p>\n

Amongst his many acts of philanthropy, JKC founded, substantially contributed funds and ran \u201cThe Children\u2019s League of Peace and Goodwill\u201d. As an adjunct to this, provided a sanctuary for adolescent girls who had migrated from the Valleys seeking work as domestic servants locally. There is some evidence that the League was eventually subsumed into The League of Nations which was being promoted contemporaneously by David Davies, 1st Baron Davies (1880 – 1944).<\/p>\n

The firm of Collett, Whitefield & Co (Cardiff) Ltd is recorded in several trade directories of the era, viz;<\/p>\n