MADOCKS, WILLIAM ALEXANDER (1773 - 1828), industrialist and philanthropist
Date of birth: 1773
Date of death: 1828
Spouse: Eliza Anne Gwynne (née Hughes)
Parent: John Madocks
Gender: Male
Occupation: industrialist and philanthropist
Area of activity: Art and Architecture; Business and Industry; History and Culture; Literature and Writing; Philanthropy
Author: David Thomas
Born 17 June 1773 (according to NLW MS 10590C ), third son of John Madocks, Fron Iw, Denbighshire (J. E. Griffith, Pedigrees 315). He went to Jesus College, Oxford (1790), and became Fellow of All Souls, Oxford, 1794, Radical M.P. for Boston, 1802-18, and Chippenham, 1820-6. His scrapbooks display an interest in the careers of such men as Alexander and Columbus, Plutarch's heroes, engineers, inventors, etc. While living at Dolmelynllyn, near Dolgelley, he read in the Tours of Thomas Pennant, of the plans of Sir John Wynn of Gwydir, to enclose Traeth Mawr, between Aberglaslyn and the sea.
Having inherited much wealth from his father, he bought Tanrallt Estate, Penmorfa, in 1798. He enclosed 1,000 acres of Traeth Mawr, and built Tremadoc; then obtained an Act of Parliament in 1807 to raise an embankment across the Traeth to enclose 3,000 acres more. He made a road alongside it connecting London and Portinllaen; he had obtained an Act in 1806 to construct a harbour at Portinllaen, but failed to have it adopted as mail packet station for Dublin. He projected a shorter road to London through Dolgelley, Welshpool, and Worcester. In 1821 he obtained an Act to make a port at the end of the embankment, and this was named Portmadoc. He planned a railway along the embankment to carry slates from Ffestiniog to Portmadoc, and this plan was accomplished in 1831 by Samuel Holland. He was a pronounced Radical, and advocated Parliamentary Reform.
His affairs went wrong, and he went to Paris, where he died in 29 September 1828, and where he was also buried. His wife, Eliza Anne, whom he married in 1818, was the grand-daughter of Joseph Harris (1704 - 1764) of Trevecka.
Author
- David Thomas, (1880 - 1967)
- Walter Davies, General view of the agriculture and domestic economy of North Wales containing the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, Denbigh, Flint, Meirionydd, Montgomery. Drawn up and published by order of the Board of Agriculture and Internal Improvement, 1813
- Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
- Edward Davies, Hanes Porthmadog (1913)
- NLW Archives: NLW MS 10590C: The history of Traeth Mawr
- D. R. Hughes, Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Hanes y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd, xxiii, 118-23
- Elizabeth Beazley, Madocks and the Wonder of Wales
- R. T. Jenkins, 'Etifeddion Harrisiaid Trefeca' in Yng nghysgod Trefeca: Ysgrifau ar hanes crefydd a chymdeithas yng Nghymru yn y ddeunawfed ganrif (Caernarfon 1968)
Sources
- Rebecca Williams, Cerdd o fawl i W. A. Maddocks, Esqr. M. P., am y daioni a'r llesâd y mae yn ei wneud yn y Traeth Mawr a Thremadog (Caernarfon 18--)
- Coflein: The Cob; Traeth Mawr Embankment, Porthmadog
- ODNB: Madocks, William Alexander (1773–1828)
- Wikipedia Article: William Madocks
Further reading
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
The Dictionary of Welsh Biography is provided by The National Library of Wales and the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. It is free to use and does not receive grant support. A donation would help us maintain and improve the site so that we can continue to acknowledge Welsh men and women who have made notable contributions to life in Wales and beyond.
Find out more on our sponsorship page.