William Weston Young
He was educated at Gildersome Quaker boarding school in Yorkshire, which among other things gave him a rudimentary knowledge of science which he was later to apply in his invention of the silica firebrick.
After a flustered attempt to emigrate to America in 1794, involving his ship being captured by a fleet of French men-of-war, his ultimate escape from captivity and arduous journey home, Young settled back in Bristol, found employment and married fellow Quaker, Elizabeth Davis, in April 1795.
After a lucrative start to his new venture as a miller, corn-factor and farmer, a large purchase of corn, beans and grist coinciding with the Treaty of Amiens, which crashed the value of his goods, as well as some unfortunate dealings with men of false credit brought Young into trouble with his own creditors, and was made bankrupt in May 1802.
His first commission to raise the freight ship Anne and Teresa, salvaged a cargo of copper, made him enough money to establish himself comfortably in the village of Newton Nottage, Glamorganshire as a wreck-raiser, merchant and farmer.
They were not successful, but one member of the committee, porcelain enthusiast Sir Joseph Banks, suggested to his friend and ceramicist Lewis Weston Dillwyn of the Cambrian Pottery of Swansea, Glamorganshire, should make an inspection and report on the matter.
Dillwyn made the inspection, and saw the extent of the firm's losses, but was so impressed with the quality of the surviving pieces that he offered Billingsley and Walker use of the Cambrian Pottery to improve their recipe and process.
Young put the Nantgarw Pottery and its contents up for sale via public auction in October 1820, enabling him to buy-out his minor partners and become sole proprietor.
Young's experience of firing ceramics, together with his familiarity with the region as a local surveyor and his amateur interests in geology, enabled him to conceive of a heat-proof, blast-furnace brick, using silica found in large deposits at the head of the Neath Valley.
The idea being that the interior of the blast furnace would vitrify and be vastly more durable and ultimately economical, than a mere veneer of silica within a comparatively fragile ceramic shell.
In 1822, Young applied to the Marquis of Bute to lease the lands near Craig-y-Dinas, Pontneddfechan, in the upper Neath Valley for a period of twenty-one years.
The naive but charming book comprises a prose guide to the Neath Valley and is illustrated with landscapes, scenery and decorative topographical and geological maps.
William Weston Young's profit share from the Dinas Firebrick Works was ultimately a modest pension, and he died in relative poverty in Lower Mitton, Kidderminster on 5 March 1847.
Guide to the Scenery and Beauties of Glyn Neath Bristol: John Wright & Co. (sold by Longman, Rees, Orme, Browne & Co. London) 1835.
At West Glamorgan Archives Swansea: Sally Young (1740–1811) of Bristol: Journals 1798–1811 (D/D Z 24) William Weston Young (1776–1847) of Bristol, Aberdulais and Neath: Journals, 1801–1843 (D/D Xch); Fact Books & Plans, 1787–1840; Fact Book, 1807 (D/D Xls) At the Library of the Society of Friends, Friends House, London: Quaker Digest Registers, Births, Marriages and Deaths by regional microfiche.
