Lewis Weston Dillwyn
Lewis Weston Dillwyn | |
---|---|
![]() | |
Born | Walthamstow, Essex, England | 21 August 1778
Died | 31 August 1855 Sketty Hall, near Swansea, Wales | (aged 77)
Known for | The British Confervae |
Spouse(s) | Mary Adams |
Children | Six, including John Dillwyn Llewelyn, Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn, Mary Dillwyn, Suzanna |
Parents |
|
Scientific career | |
Fields | Porcelain manufacturer, naturalist, Member of Parliament |
Author abbrev. (botany) | Dillwyn |
This article needs additional citations for verification. (March 2009) |
Lewis Weston Dillwyn, FRS[1] (21 August 1778 – 31 August 1855) was a British porcelain manufacturer, naturalist and Whig Member of Parliament (MP).
Biography
He was born in Walthamstow, Essex, the eldest son of William Dillwyn (1743–1824) and Sarah Dillwyn (née Weston). His father, a Pennsylvanian Quaker had returned to Britain in 1777 during Philadelphia's worst period in the American War of Independence and settled at Higham Lodge, Walthamstow, Essex, UK. William Dillwyn was a vociferous anti-slavery campaigner and toured England and South Wales in his work for the Anti-Slavery Committee. William Dillwyn was related to George Haynes through the Emlen and Physick families in Philadelphia and it is likely that the opportunity to buy the Cambrian Pottery in Swansea, Wales, from Haynes came about through these family connections in America.
William's letters to his daughter Suzanna are held by the Library Company of Philadelphia and stored at the Historical Society of Pennsylvania. These letters show that the factory was bought by William to keep Lewis active while the latter was suffering from gout. The highlight of this period of production of Swansea Pottery was the opening by Lewis Weston Dillwyn and George Haynes of the Cambrian Company, the Swansea Potteries London Warehouse on Fleet Street which operated between 1806 and 1807.[2] In 1814 the pottery took over the workforce of the Nantgarw Pottery and began to make porcelain.
Lewis Weston Dillwyn however was also renowned for his published works on botany and conchology, including his 1809 work The British Confervae, an illustrated study of British freshwater algae. Dillwyn is credited with discovering several species of the Conferva genus. Among the botanical illustrators of The British Confervae are the artists William Jackson Hooker, Ellen Hutchins and William Weston Young. He was elected in 1804 as a Fellow of the Royal Society.
In 1817 he temporarily retired from the pottery. In 1818 he became High Sheriff of Glamorgan and was elected to the First Reformed Parliament in 1834 as MP for Glamorganshire. He bought Sketty Hall near Swansea and was elected Mayor of Swansea in 1839.[3] Dillwyn was also one of the founders of the Royal Institution of South Wales and its first President, and in 1840 he published a short history of Swansea.

He married Mary Adams, the daughter of Colonel John Llewelyn of Penllergaer, Llangyfelach in 1807. They had six children, including the noted photographer John Dillwyn Llewelyn (1810–1882), MP for Swansea Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn (1814-1892) and pioneering female photographer Mary Dillwyn (1816-1906). His granddaughters by his son Lewis were the novelist and industrialist Amy Dillwyn, and lepidopterist Mary De la Beche Nicholl. His granddaughter by John was the Welsh astronomer and pioneer in scientific photography Thereza Dillwyn Llewelyn.[4]
He died in Sketty Hall, Swansea, in 1855.
.
Discover more about Biography related topics
Honours
He is honoured in the names of several species including, Dillwynella which is a genus of sea snails, marine gastropod mollusks in the family Skeneidae named by Dall in 1889.[6] Dillwynia, which is a genus of about 20 species of flowering plants in the family Fabaceae, and is endemic to Australia, named by Sm. in 1805.[7]
Discover more about Honours related topics
Taxa
Taxa named by Dillwyn include:
- Lithopoma gibberosa, a species of sea snail
Source: "Lewis Weston Dillwyn", Wikipedia, Wikimedia Foundation, (2022, June 27th), https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Lewis_Weston_Dillwyn.
See also
- Dillwyn v Llewelyn, a legal case between his sons concerning his estate
References
- ^ "DServe Archive Catalog Show". collections.royalsociety.org. Retrieved 23 April 2019.
- ^ See The Cambrian Company, Swansea Pottery In London 1806-1808, Jonathan Gray 2012
- ^ "Person Page".
- ^ Bohata, Kirsti. "Dictionary of Welsh Biography".
- ^ IPNI. Dillwyn.
- ^ Dillwynella. Retrieved through: World Register of Marine Species on 6 October 2011.
- ^ "Dillwynia". Australian Plant Census. Retrieved 15 May 2021.
Further reading
![]() |
Wikisource has the text of the 1885–1900 Dictionary of National Biography's article about Lewis Weston Dillwyn. |
- A.R. Walker, 'The Dillwyns as naturalists: Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1778–1855)', in Minerva (Journal of Swansea History); 11, p. 20-42.
Categories
- 1778 births
- 1855 deaths
- All articles needing additional references
- All articles with incomplete citations
- Articles needing additional references from March 2009
- Articles with Botanist identifiers
- Articles with FAST identifiers
- Articles with GND identifiers
- Articles with ISNI identifiers
- Articles with J9U identifiers
- Articles with LCCN identifiers
- Articles with NLA identifiers
- Articles with NTA identifiers
- Articles with SNAC-ID identifiers
- Articles with Trove identifiers
- Articles with VIAF identifiers
- Articles with WORLDCATID identifiers
- Articles with hCards
- Articles with incomplete citations from November 2014
- Articles with short description
- Botanists with author abbreviations
- British Quakers
- British industrialists
- Ceramics manufacturers of Wales
- Conchologists
- Dillwyn family
- Fellows of the Linnean Society of London
- Fellows of the Royal Society
- High Sheriffs of Glamorgan
- Mayors of Swansea
- Short description matches Wikidata
- Teuthologists
- UK MPs 1832–1835
- UK MPs 1835–1837
- Use British English from February 2017
- Use dmy dates from February 2017
- Whig (British political party) MPs for Welsh constituencies
The content of this page is based on the Wikipedia article written by contributors..
The text is available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike Licence & the media files are available under their respective licenses; additional terms may apply.
By using this site, you agree to the Terms of Use & Privacy Policy.
Wikipedia® is a registered trademark of the Wikimedia Foundation, Inc., a non-profit organization & is not affiliated to WikiZ.com.