Chauncey Townsend & Descendents

When Chauncey Townsend died his business interests were left in the control of his son-in-law John Smith. His mineral leases in Llansamlet and Llanelli were said to be divided into five parts and left to his three children and his two sons-in-law. According to one source, James inherited 2/5ths, Elizabeth, Charlotte and Sarah each inherited 1/5th of the Llanelli Estate.

Another source of 1773 says John Smith, who owned his wife Elizabeth’s 1/5th share of Chauncey Townsend’s Swansea interests, bought the shares belonging to Joseph Townsend and Sarah, making 3/5ths of the original Estate. Later John Smith bought James Townsend’s 1/5th share to own 4/5ths.

Chauncey Townsend of Austin Friars

1708-1770

Chauncey Townsend, the only surviving son of Johnathan Townsend, a London Brewer, was born in 1708 and baptized on 23 February of that year. His father, Johnathan Townsend, who had married Elizabeth, the daughter of Richard Chauncey, died when Chauncey was only two years old.

Townsend joined his mother’s family business and was apprenticed to Richard Chauncey & Company Drapers.

Around 1730 he married Bridget, daughter of James Phipps of Westbury Wiltshire, who was Governor of Cape Coast Castle. Bridget was a member of one of the main landowning families in the greater Parish of Westbury, who owned property in the area from the late 17th century onwards. Leighton House was the main residence of the Phipps family, but Chauncey and his wife do not appear to have been close relatives. No record of them has been found in the Record Office Indexes or in the Victorian History of Wiltshire.

Chauncey was admitted to the Mercers’ Company in 1730 and up to 1740 he was listed in commercial directories as a Linen Draper and then Merchant.

From 1744 until he died, he held Government contracts for provisioning troops and settlers in Nova Scotia, from which he made a considerable fortune.

During the General Election at Westbury in 1747, he replaced his kinsman, Joseph Townsend, who stood for Wallingford.

Townsend’s wife’s family owned a considerable amount of property in Westbury and from 1748 to 1768 he represented the Borough in Parliament.

He is known to have had coal mining interests in Neath from 1748 and was working coal in Llansamlet and Bonymaen in 1750, just before he entered into negotiations with landowners at Llanelli for coal leases. He was also engaged in mining, smelting and refining copper and lead.

Besides negotiating coal leases for land on the Stradey Estate, Townsend was interested in other parts of Llanelli. He employed William Jones of Loughor to survey the Llwynhendy and Bynea area and by 1751 he had produced a detailed map which covered the lands from Halfway to Loughor Bridge.

His interest in the South Wales coalfield may have been kindled by his father-in-law, Richard Chauncey, a London Merchant and Welsh Mining adventurer. Also an Alderman from St Peter le Poor in London, he had probably heard about the potential of the Llanelli coalfield from other London merchants and speculators.

By the 18th century many of the local landowning families had homes in London and did not reside on their estates - they preferred to employ agents and managers to handle the day-to-day running of their interests. Although the landed gentry were involved in the political and social life of 18th century London, many were in financial difficulties. Industrialists and entrepreneurs were keen to exploit coal resources and the landowners could see a way of increasing their income by leasing coal under their land.

During the period that Chauncey Townsend was taking an interest in the Llanelli coalfield, public roads were non-existent or in very poor condition and rough road surfaces made transportation slow and expensive. All coal had to be transported by packhorse or by horse and cart, so to overcome the transport problem Townsend constructed wooden waggon roads to move coal to his works and shipping places.

He is known to have built two short canals to transport coal from his pits at Dafen and Yspitty to his shipping places in the Llwchwr estuary.

Although Townsend had shown an interest in Llanelli he had other interests outside the town and was returned to Parliament unopposed as MP for Westbury from 1754 until 1761 and again from 1761 until 1768.

In 1762 he sold his Westbury property, including some burgages.

He had extensive connections in America and in 1767 obtained a grant of £20,000 on St John’s Island.

Townsend did not stand as a candidate for the Westbury Borough at the General Election for 1768 but on 23 December of that year he was returned for Wigtown Burghs, the first Englishman to represent a Scottish constituency. He served as MP for Wigtown Burghs from 1768 until his death on 28 March 1770.

Although he was an MP for 22 years there is no record of him speaking in the House during that period.

Local landowners must have hoped that Townsend would exploit their coal resources to the full, but he seemed to be more interested in his industrial ventures in the Swansea area and his political interests in Westbury and Scotland.

His son-in-law, John Smith, who been a clerk to a company of Drapers in London and a solicitor to the East India Company, managed most of the local business ventures.

When Chauncey Townsend died on 28 March 1770 John Smith is said to have taken control of all his industrial interests. Townsend’s children inherited his possessions and John Smith became the most active of the inheritors, finally acquiring 4/5ths of his father-in-law’s estate. Smith died in 1797 and his two sons, Charles and Henry Smith, lost interest in Llanelli, preferring to concentrate on the riches to be found in the lower Swansea valley.

Charles and Henry finally sold their Llanelli interests to General Warde.

Acknowledgements

Coal Mining in the Llanelli Area, Vol. I: 16th Century to 1829 – Dr M V Symons.

Michael Marshman, County Local Studies & Trowbridge Reference Libriarian who provided information and a photocopy of The Heritage of Parliament: The Commons 1754-1790, Vol III.

Swansea Museum, Lower Swansea Valley Factsheet 1 – Chauncey Townsend, Industrial Entrepreneur; Factsheet 2 – The Smith Family of Llansamlet; Factsheet 3 – Llansamlet coal owners & miners.

Swansea History Project – Coal Mining in the Swansea Area: 2 East of the Tawe; – Tramroads and Industrial Railways.