Octavius Williams, John Simmons Tregoning,

John Henry Rogers, Thomas & Walter Davies

Census details 1841-1891

Specification of House

Originally known as the Llanelly Tinplate Works, the Morfa Tinplate Works was built on marshland leased from the Board of Health and fronting what was later Dafen Row. The Works was managed from Liverpool until the Bissoe, Liverpool and Llanelli businesses came under one ownership. During this time it was necessary to have a resident manager to oversee the works and Octavius Williams was appointed manager. Mr Williams was a first-class engineer and built the two mill works, which also had a tinning plant. Before long Octavius Williams developed the works and by 1854 his tinplate works was employing 110 people and producing 500 boxes each week with an approximate weight of 30 tons.

John Simmons Tregoning probably arranged for Highfield to be built for his engineer and an engineer of Octavius Williams’ standard would have expected to live in a house which reflected his position. The 1861 census shows that he was living at Highfield in the Tyisha district of Llanelli and a perusal of census details reveals that Octavius and his wife Harriet were both from Hayle in Cornwall and they lived at Highfield with their nephew Frank Williams who was also from Cornwall.

Octavius Williams was still living at Highfield when a trade directory was published in 1867, but he was no longer working at the Llanelly Tinplate Works (Morfa Tinplate). He was in fact employed as a manager for Boughton, Smith & Co., Limited, Hendy Tinplate Works, Pontardulais. The same trade directory shows that John Simmons Tregoning (junior) was also living at Highfield House.

By 1871 Octavius was no longer living at Highfield because the census shows that John Simmons Tregoning (junior) and his wife Sophia were residents. The evening the census was taken John Simmons Tregoning was not at home, perhaps he was ‘away’ on business. The census also reveals that John and Sophia had two children, John Simmons and William Edward Cecil, who inherited the business in later life.

1872 The original house was extensively altered, in the Italian style, by Wilson of Willcox and Wilson of Bath. The partnership of the Llanelly Tinplate Works (then known as the Morfa Tinplate Works) ended and John Simmons Tregoning junior became the Managing Director. He remodelled the works and extended the plant adding two new mills and cold rolls, a new tinhouse and a second forge.

The new owner also arranged for 55 houses to be built near the works for his employees. According to Chalinders Trade Directory of 1872, John Tregoning junior was living at Highfield the former home of Octavius Williams and the property was substantially renovated around this time. Shortly after 1872, Tregoning left Highfield and moved to Iscoed Mansion near Ferryside.

1878 John Simmons Tregoning junior became sole owner of the Morfa Tinplate Company and traded as John S Tregoning and Son. Around this time advances were being made in metal technology and steel was produced on a commercial scale which led to iron being replaced by steel as the basis for tinplate. This was a time of great expansion for the tinplate trade and Edmund Morewood and his partner John Henry Rogers had established the South Wales Steel Works at Machynys.

With Tregoning living at his mansion at Ferryside, Highfield House was available for another tinplate manufacturer to take up residence. An affidavit signed by John Henry Rogers in July 1810 stated ‘I live at Highfield, Llanelly and am a managing partner in the South Wales Works, the property of E Morewood and Co.’

According to the Llanelly Guardian of 21st April 1881, John Henry Rogers was appointed churchwarden of St Pauls when he was living at Highfield House.

Edmund Morewood, uncle to John Henry Rogers, died in 1887 and was buried in Llangennech Churchyard, close to the grave of Richard Janion Nevill of the Copperworks.

Following his uncle’s death, John Henry Rogers turned his sights to America where the family had business connections. In 1887 a natural gas field was discovered near the small hamlet of Harrisburg, Indiana, which led to the area being known as Gas City. Rogers spent the next few years visiting America trying to find an ideal location for a new tinplate factory. The Gas City boom ended after a several years when the gas ran out. He moved from Highfield House and spent the next few years travelling between Llanelli and America where he built E. Morewood & Co’s huge tinplate factory, which was said to be the largest in the world.

John Henry Rogers and his family had already moved from Highfield House when the census of 1891 was taken and two female servant girls where the only residents. It is not known if another family had taken up residence or whether the house was being managed by agents until suitable tenants could be found. Whatever the reason, the former home of the Rogers family, was in the care of the two young female servants which was quite a responsibility for a 16 year old and 20 year old.

During his frequent trips to America, John Rogers and his family lived at Glyncoed as seen by the 1891 census. Following the imposition of the McKinley Tariff [In 1891 the American President imposed the McKinley Tariff which was a tax on tinplate imports. This hit the local tinplate industry very hard because they depended heavily on the American export market.]

John Henry Rogers moved to America where The Morewood Tinplate Mill was opened in Gas City, Indiana, on 28 June 1893. Mr Rogers, who was the Superintendent, is said to have held Church meetings in the annealing room of the factory. He was also said to be instrumental in establishing the Protestant Episcopal Church in Jonesboro and Gas City, Indiana.

In 1894 Rogers’ only son John Edmund Morewood Rogers, entered Rugby School as a boarder in Whitelaw House (where the author Arthur Ransome also lived). He only remained there for one year, leaving in 1895 when his address was given as Glencoed [sic], Llanelly – his father John Henry Rogers having moved before 1891 from Highfield House, to Glyncoed (near the former home of Arthur Raby).

In February 1898 the South Wales Works went into liquidation with the loss of hundreds of jobs and when it re-opened some months later it had been sold to Richard Thomas and Co, with an entirely new management. Following the closure, Rogers decided to retire and he and his family left Llanelli to live in London.

GLYNCOED

On Thursday afternoon at the Thomas Arms Hotel Mr John Francis Auctioneer offered for Sale that Pretty Local residence “Glyncoed” which was for some years the home of Mr J H Rogers. The bidding started at £2,000 and rose to £3,300. There being no better offer the property was withdrawn.

Messrs Roderick & Richards were the Solicitors for the Vendor.

A house as important as Highfield would not have stayed vacant for long; it was situated close to the industrial heart of New Dock, Morfa and Seaside, yet located in the Tyisha district which was situated on a hill overlooking Machynys Point and looking across the Estuary to the Gower.

During the latter part of the 19th century many men had come to town to try to make their fortune, including two brothers who had come from North Court in the Parish of Spittal, Pembrokeshire.

Thomas & Walter Davies and their Stepney Spare Wheel

Around 1895 the brothers formed their own business, Davies Brothers, Ironmongers and Cycle Engineers, Stepney Works. The motor department was added in 1902 and by 1904 they had invented the famous Stepney Spare Wheel.

Thomas and Walter Davies founders of the Stepney Spare Wheel, a pioneering venture, were two young brothers who had left Pembrokeshire to open an ironmongers shop in the developing town of Llanelli. Eighteen-year-old Walter Davies was born in North Court Parish, Spittal and educated at Spittal National School, Ellis Private School, Haverfordwest, and Cardigan Grammar School. His older brother, 21 years old Tom, was the senior partner when they opened their shop in Stepney Street in 1895. Besides running the ironmongers they assembled bicycles in a workroom which they occupied in Stepney Lane and sold from premises in the adjoining arcade.

In 1902 the brothers added a motor department when they purchased a motorcar and started a car hire business, which became quite successful. One day a Judge hired the service to take him to Llandovery Court House. Unfortunately, or fortunately for the brothers, one of the tyres of the hired car had a puncture. This event cost the brothers time and money but set them thinking, and an idea was born that was to make them a fortune.

The idea led to the invention of the revolutionary ‘spare’ wheel in 1904 which could be carried on a bracket on the side of the car and be clamped on to the wheel with the punctured tyre. The brothers’ invention was known as the ‘Stepney Patent Spare Wheel for Motorcars and was an instant ‘hit’ with motorists.

According to the Chief Accountant who worked for the company from around 1906 Tom Davies possessed the inventive flair whilst Walter was more of a businessman.

As the demand for the spare motor wheel grew, the brothers closed their ironmongery and cycle engineering business. They opened a large works near the Great Western Railway Station, capable of manufacturing over 2,000 wheels per month with a London distributing depot. There were also depots in France, Germany, Austria, Belgium, United States, Italy and Canada.

Highfield House would have been a convenient location for the Davies brothers, close to their business premises but situated away from the industrial areas of New Dock and the Morfa, on a hill with a beautiful view of the Gower. By 1910 the brothers were the new occupants.

The Who’s Who of Llanelli 1910 records:

Established his own business in 1895 as the senior partner in Davies Brothers Ironmongers & Cycle Engineers, Stepney Works Llanelli.

Motor Department was added in 1902

Invented the Stepney Spare Motor Wheel in 1904

Managing Director

Stepney Spare Motor Wheel Ltd of United Kingdom

Stepney Motor Wheel of Canada Limited

Stepney Auto Reserve Rad GMBH, Berlin, Oesterreichische

Stepney Auto Reserve Rad GMBH, Vienna

Stepney Spare Motor Wheel of Canada Limited

Stepney Auto Reserve Rad GMBH Berlin

Oestereichische Stepney Auto Reserve Rad GMBH of Vienna

Motor Department added 1902

Stepney Spare Motor Wheel in 1904

Following the success of the Spare Wheel Thomas Davies looked for a residence in keeping with his new status and purchased Pembrey Mansion (Pembrey House) for £6,600 and Pembrey Farm for £1,800 in August. He took up residence when Lady Ashburnham vacated the property under the terms of the sale.

Census details

Octavius Williams Head 41 Manager of Tinplate Works Hayle

Harriet Williams Wife 34 Hayle

Frank Williams Nephew 24 Unmarried Truro

Manager Lead Smelting Works

Ellen Henry Visitor 26 Unmarried Penzance

Annie Morcow Visitor Not known

Margaret Evans 25 Unmarried House Servant Glanmorlais, Carms

1871 census - Highfield House

Sophia Tregoning Married 24 Metal Merchant’s Wife Liverpool Lancs

John S Tregoning Son 3 Llanelly

William Edward Cecil Son 1 month Llanelly

Elizabeth Williams Unmarried 33 Cook/Domestic Steynton Pembs

Margaret Lloyd Servant Unmarried 27 Nurse Steynton Pembs

Mary Elizabeth Grylls Domestic Servant Unmarried 18 Nurse Durham Sunderland

1881 census - Highfield House

John Henry Rogers Head 32 Steel Iron & Tinplate Manufacturer Surrey Forest Hill(employing about 900 hands)

Elizabeth M Rogers Wife 32 Middlesex London

Grace H M Rogers Daughter 2 Llanelly

John E K Rogers Son 11 months Llanelly

Mary D B Rogers Daughter11 months Llanelly

Eliza Jenkins 30 Domestic Servant/Cook Bynea

Jane Phillips Servant 21 Nurse Llanelly

1891 census

Annie Herbert Servant Single 16 House Maid/Domestic Llanelly

Harriet Harries Servant Single 20 Cook Domestic Llanelly

John Henry Rogers Head 42 Tinplate Manufacturer Middlesex London

Eliza Mary Rogers Wife 42 Middlesex London

Elizabeth G Rogers Servant 18 Home Maid Domestic Fishguard

Edith Mary Pritchard Servant 20 Cook Llanelly

Specification

Grade: II Listed Building

Cadw Ref No: 24/A/81(1) NG Ref:. SN 511 995

Situated in its own grounds at south west end of Ty-isha Road

The Villa was probably built for J S Tregoning juniorr of the Llanelly Tinplate Works, later known as the Morfa Tinplate Works, who took over the management.

Circa 1865 Highfield was a villa in brown-red brick with brown-yellow brick dressings and slate deep-eaved gabled roof. Two-storey, 3-window front and paired rear wings with ridge stacks, hipped north end roofs and north end stacks.

Stacks have paired brick shafts.

Roof has painted eaves soffit with carved brackets and open pedimental end gables.

Main walling has unusual sunk panelling flanking main window bays, the panels edged in yellow brick and divided by a yellow raised stringcourse that continues flush across facade.

South front has cambered headed tripartite windows each side with slate sills, yellow brick heads, sashes below, casements above, with arcaded toplights.

Centre has complex effects of sunk brickwork, the upper window elliptical arched and in rectangular sunk panel, but window surround raised, in yellow brick and with radiating bands of raised yellow brick out to sides and upper angles of rectangle. Top keystone, tripartite glazing with top-lights, slate sill and double band of yellow bricks below with 6 sunk square panels between.

Ground floor entry also framed in sunk panel, triple arcade of yellow brick on two iron columns, now encased in wood, broad centre arch and narrow side arches. Inner recessed porch to half-glazed double doors with narrow side lights.

End gables have similar sunk panels each side and some patterned brickwork in gables. Cambered-headed casement pairs to first floors, east end ground floor has blank cambered-headed window, west end has big canted bay with bracketed cornice and sashes.

Rear wing, west side has main walling sunk but for angle pier, plinth, band

and eaves course. Narrow arched inner window each floor and cambered

headed outer window, Casement pair above, triple casement below.

Rear wing east side has similar cambered-headed casement each floor.

North end walls have some rubble stone, recessed centre partly infilled by later addition (1872).

Extensive plans for alterations in Italian style were carried out in 1872 by James Wilson, Willcox and Wilson of Bath still survive in the British Architectural Library, London.

At the beginning of the 19th century, possibly when the Davies Brothers owned the property around 1910, some neo-Adam plasterwork to south west room and hall was carried out. James Wilson was married to Maria Buckley and their son James Buckley Wilson designed many of the ornate buildings in Llanelli.