Richard Blakemore and TW Booker

Do you ever dream about receiving a phone call or a letter from some dusty solicitor advising you that a long-lost relative has died and left you with a sizeable ‘inheritance’?

Back around 1810, Thomas William Booker, then aged about 18 (and who lived in Bristol) was invited to meet up with his uncle Richard, and received such an offer

Uncle Richard (Blakemore) who was unmarried, was fabulously wealthy, had large estates in Herefordshire and had just acquired a flourishing mill and iron foundry in Whitchurch, with a large house and land

All TW had to do was to join his uncle in Whitchurch and help him to grow the business. What an offer; one which he couldn’t really turn down!

The mill and iron foundry (called Melingriffith) were really profitable, employed hundreds of people and had bags of potential. The Glamorganshire Canal had only been opened just over 10 years earlier, and offered incredible opportunity for access to new markets, and the canal flowed alongside the works

The house (Velindre) which was just above the works was quite old, but had been fashionably restored and extended. Uncle Richard also owned local farms such as Ty Clyd and Forest Farm and was quite the country gentleman

Needless to say, TW accepted his uncle’s offer. The sketch below shows Melingriffith and Velindre about 1810, when TW joined the enterprise. Velindre was quite different from the old house that Uncle Richard had acquired from the Vaughan’s and had been expanded and gentrified with extensive gardens and views. Melingriffith had grown too with its own wharf off the new canal. We don’t know very much about the area except the few details from the later tithe map

Over the coming years, Uncle Richard stepped back from the business and left the running to TW. The iron foundry was modernised and expanded, and he acquired the Pentyrch Ironworks just up the river. He even built a railway to link the two together

TW married Jane Coghlan in 1824, had a family and Velindre became the centre of the neighbourhood. TW became well regarded locally, and in 1848 became High Sheriff of Glamorgan, and a few years later was elected MP for Hereford, in Uncle Richard’s old seat!

Life couldn’t get much better for him. Uncle Richard died in 1855, and as promised, TW inherited everything. In fact, just a few months before Uncle Richard died, TW applied for a Royal Licence to change his name to TW Booker-Blakemore!

Everything was glorious, the works were booming, more and more people were employed (maybe 400-500) and TW and his growing family became the most important family in Whitchurch. He built houses for his sons at Greenhill and The Pines, and Velindre grew into a sparkling palace with extensive pleasure gardens and a huge retinue of servants. With the estates in Herefordshire and Whitchurch, TW’s estate amounted to over 8,000 acres

But nothing lasts. Less than 3 years after his uncle died, TW himself died whilst in London, at the age of 57. He died of apoplexy (nowadays referred to as a stroke), and everything that Uncle Richard and TW had worked for fell to the Booker children

But they were quite different! More about them another time

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