Henry Haydn Jones

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Sir Henry Haydn Jones (December 27, 1863 – July 2, 1950) was a Welsh Liberal Party politician.

1 Upbringing
2 Politics
3 Business
4 Talyllyn Railway
5 Papers and Legacy
6 References

[edit] Upbringing

Henry (sometimes known as "Harry") Haydn Jones was born in Ruthin, Wales. He was the son of Joseph David Jones (1827-70), schoolmaster at Clwyd Bank, and respected Welsh musician and composer. After the early death of his father, Haydn Jones was brought up by uncles at Towyn (now called Tywyn). In 1903 he married Barbara Annie Gwendolen Davies Jones, daughter of Lewis D. Jones, a Welsh-born Chicago ironmonger and quarry owner.

[edit] Politics

In 1889 Haydn Jones was elected as a member of Merioneth Council, and a year later he was the chair of the council. He continued to rise in the political world being elected as the Member of Parliament for Merioneth at the January 1910 general election. He continued to serve in this role until 1945 general election, and received a knighthood in 1935.

[edit] Business

The Abergynolwyn quarry, estate, village and Talyllyn railway came up for sale in 1909. Aware of the distress which would be caused by permanent closure of the quarry Sir Haydn bought the lot himself in 1911 for £5250, and became the sole owner of what became the Abergynolwyn Slate and Slab Company. In 1935 he extended his quarry ownership buying the Aberllefenni Quarry in the neighbouring Corris valley.

The quarrying and slate business did well until the early 1920s when demand fell and the quarry was only kept open by pillaring the easy to obtain slate rather than by digging out new underground chambers. At times there was a three day week, but the Bryn Eglwys quarry soldiered on until 1941 when Sir Haydn's lease expired. He continued on a yearly lease until 1946 when a roof fall caused by the continued pillaring closed the quarry for good.

[edit] Talyllyn Railway

By buying the quarry Haydn Jones had become effectively owner of the Talyllyn Railway built to serve the Bryn Eglwys Quarry at Abergynolwyn. After the quarry collapse and closure, it stripped the railway of what little reason it had to exist. Haydn Jones declared that the railway would remain open while he remained alive and it continued to run until 1950. After his death his widow reached an arrangement with L. T. C. Rolt and his associates allowing them to lease the railway which continues operating to this day.

It is in his role as owner of the Talyllyn Railway that Sir Haydn Jones became a figure known, albeit not by name, to many small children. One of the early railway preservation people who joined L. T. C. Rolt was the Rev. W.V. Awdry, and in the form of the owner of the Skarloey railway, Sir Haydn was immortalised in his books. One of the Talyllyn locomotives was named after him.

[edit] Papers and Legacy

The papers of Sir Henry Haydn Jones are archived at the National Library of Wales, donated by his widow in 1995. Sir Henry Hadyn Jones succeeded (barely) in keeping his promise that the railway would outlive him. After the railway was revived by L. T. C. Rolt and the others it prospered and became a major Welsh tourist attraction and flagship to the infant Heritage railway movement. The Aberllefenni slate quarries are now all closed.

[edit] References

Boyd, J. I. C. (1988). The Tal-y-Llyn Railway. Wild Swan. ISBN 0-906867-46-0
Holmes, Alan (1986). Slates from Abergynolwyn. Gwynedd Archives Service. ISBN 0-901-337-42-0
Potter, David (1990). The Talyllyn Railway. David St John Thomas. ISBN 0-946537-50-X