John Cornish

Our first blog in this series was in early May last year, when we discovered the oldest tree in the village. Since then, we’ve been dipping into the history of Whitchurch, sometimes finding strange and fascinating facts

This time, it’s no different; we’re looking at a man named John Cornish. We first find him in the 1841 census when, at the age of 30 he was living in Heol Don with the occupation of ‘flour merchant’

It’s hard to picture, but back in 1841 Heol Don was no more than a green lane with hedgerows, running from Llandaff (and Llandaff North) to the Tithe Barn. John Cornish lived in the only house on Heol Don. Was this the thatched-roof Heol Don Cottage? There’s another old house on the opposite corner, but that doesn’t show on the tithe map and may be a little younger

The house that John Cornish lived in must have been more than a cottage, as he was living there with his wife and 2 children, all looked after by 2 servants (and also using it for his business). The old photograph below shows Heol Don Cottage with its thatched roof, but probably much later

So, why was a flour merchant living in Heol Don? We know that there was a corn mill at Melingriffith, another one at Little Mill, a further mill at Llandaff Yard (North) and at least 2 more in Tongwynlais. Lots of opportunity for a flour merchant to buy the milled flour locally and to sell to the rapidly growing population of the village and the local area

Ten years later, he’s still in Heol Don with his wife and 2 children, but now he refers to himself as a general shop-keeper with a live-in governess for the children, and 3 servants. Things were obviously looking up; I can’t believe that he was just a ‘general’ shopkeeper though. The house must have been substantial, and probably had barns and outhouses for the flour and general provisions. It would have had stabling too

By the 1861 census he’s moved, and was listed as living in the ‘Company Shop’ at Melingriffith, working for the Bookers. John was living with his wife, now with 5 children and 4 servants. With the shop he had an assistant, a general assistant and a letter carrier (all living in). It’s interesting to see that the Bookers living in the big house at Velindre didn’t have many more servants than John Cornish

I wonder where the shop was, and what it was like? It must have been quite substantial to employ all those staff (and for all the hundreds of workers at the mill using it). The tinworks and all of the buildings have long been demolished so we’ll never know, but the Company Store must have been a substantial building near to the entrance

TW Booker (junior) who owned Melingriffith Tinworks was unlike his father, and was considered to be a very difficult (but sadly typical) Victorian mill owner. He paid his workers, not in money but, in tokens which could only be used in his company shop!

What happened after?

Melingriffith Tinworks continued under the Booker family for another 20 years or so before a series of worldwide problems and a war in Europe in the 1880s caused the business to collapse into an enormous financial pit

So, what became of John Cornish, his family and his shopworkers? Does he or his family appear in later census returns. Does anyone know?

Do any of the family still live in the area? We’d love to learn more

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