Sir David Richard Llewellyn, 1st Baronet JP (9 March 1879 – 15 December 1940) was a Welsh industrialist and financier.[1]
Early life
Llewellyn was born in Aberdare, South Wales on 9 March 1879.[2] He was the son of Elizabeth Llewellyn and Rees Llewellyn (1851–1919), JP and High Sheriff of Breconshire. His paternal grandparents were David Llewellyn and Elizabeth (née Jones) Llewellyn.[3]
He was educated at Llandovery College and Cardiff University.[4]
Career
Starting with one small colliery in 1905 his expertise with electrically driven cutters that could mine thin seams enabled him to systematically acquire a range of businesses across the south Wales coalfields.[5]
He was a director of GKN and served as chairman of North's Navigation Colleries Ltd., Graigola Merthyr Company, and chairman of Welsh Associated Collieries Ltd in 1930.[6] Sir David was a close friend of Lloyd George, the Liberal party Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1917 to 1922.[7][8] In 1923, Llewellyn contracted to supply the United States with 1,000,000 tons of Welsh anthracite annually for five years.[9]
On 31 January 1922, he was created 1st Baronet Llewellyn, of Bwllfa, Aberdare, County of Glamorgan in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom. He held the office of Justice of the Peace for Glamorgan.[3]
Personal life
On 19 April 1905, Llewellyn married Magdalene Anne Harries, a daughter of Rev. Henry Harries of Porthcawl. Together, they lived at Bwllfa, Aberdare, Glamorgan, Wales, and were the parents of:[3]
- Sir Rhys Llewellyn, 2nd Baronet (1910–1978), the High Sheriff of Glamorgan; he died unmarried.[3]
- Sir Henry Morton Llewellyn, 3rd Baronet (1911–1999), who married Hon. Christine Saumarez, daughter of James Saumarez, 5th Baron de Saumarez and Gunhild Balck (daughter of Sir Viktor Balck), in 1944.[3]
- Margaret Elaine Llewellyn (1913–2002), who married Sir Donald Forsyth Anderson, son of Sir Alan Garratt Anderson, in 1935.[3]
- Elizabeth Aileen Maud Llewellyn (1914–2011), who married Lt.-Col. David Matthew Caradoc Prichard, son of Col. Hubert Prichard and Nora Diana Piers, in 1946.[3]
- Sir David Treharne Llewellyn (1916–1992), an MP for Cardiff North and Under-Secretary of State for the Home Department; he married Joan Anne Williams, daughter of Robert Henry Williams of Bonvilston House, Glamorgan, in 1950.[3]
- Marjorie Joyce Llewellyn (1917–1971), a Warrant Officer in the Women's Auxiliary Air Force during World War II; she married Frank May Reid Byers, son of Sir John William Byers and Fanny Reid, in 1947.[3]
- William Herbert Rhydian Llewellyn (1919–2008), a Major who served as High Sheriff of Cardiganshire; he married Lady Honor Morvyth Vaughan, daughter of Ernest Vaughan, 7th Earl of Lisburne and Regina de Bittencourt (a daughter of Don Julio Fermin Albert de Bittencourt), in 1943.
- Magdalene Clare Llewellyn (1922–1999), who married Alexander Wyndham Hume Stewart-Moore, son of James Stewart-Moore, in 1948.[4]
Sir David died at his brother's house, Tynewydd, Hirwaun, Glamorganshire, on 15 December 1940,[10] and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his eldest son, Rhys. His widow, Lady Llewellyn, died on 1 February 1966.[3]
References
- ^ "Obituaries". The Times. No. 48800. London, England. 16 December 1940. p. 7.
- ^ "LLEWELLYN, Sir DAVID RICHARD (1879 - 1940), BARONET, coalowner". biography.wales. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
- ^ a b c d e f g h i j Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knightage, 107th edition, 3 volumes. Wilmington, Delaware: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 2003, vol. 1, p. 1032.
- ^ a b Montgomery-Massingberd, Hugh. Burke's Irish Family Records. London, U.K.: Burkes Peerage Ltd, 1976, pp. 201, 869.
- ^ John Williams, ‘Llewellyn, Sir David Richard, first baronet (1879–1940)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004; online edn, May 2011 accessed 29 Dec 2012
- ^ LLEWELLYN, Sir David Richard’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2008; online edn, Oxford University Press, Dec 2007 accessed 29 Dec 2012
- ^ "SAYS LLOYD GEORGE WILL TRIUMPH YET; Sir David R. Llewellyn Sees Ultimate Victory for Defeated Premier. AMERICAN RELIEF WORK Walter Lyman Brown, European Director, Helped Feed 10,000,000 Children". The New York Times. 18 November 1922. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
- ^ Times, by the New York Times Company Special Cable To the New York (3 December 1922). "SAYS CANADA CAN GET BRITISH COAL CHEAPER; Sir David Llewellyn Declares Freight Is Less Than From Pennsylvania Mines". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
- ^ "SELLS 5,000,000 TONS OF WELSH COAL HERE; Sir David Llewllyn Contracts to Deliver 1,000,000 Yearly for Five Years". The New York Times. 20 June 1923. Retrieved 10 February 2025.
- ^ TIMES, Special Cable to THE NEW YORK (16 December 1940). "DAVID LLEWELLYN, 61, COAL MINE OPERATOR; Head of the Welsh Associated Collieries Was a Baronet". The New York Times. Retrieved 10 February 2025.