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By this time Padley's trade
extended not only to the West of England but also to the Continent and
North America. Cargoes arrived from Memel, Norway, Sweden and Denmark,
from St. Petersburg in Russia, Bilbao in Spain, and Carolina in the New
World. Most of this foreign trade took the form of the importation of
timber, of which large and expensive cargoes are mentioned for instance
in 1769 Padley accepted a cargo of ' Deals and Balks ' to the value of
£474/0/0 from Captain Ole Ingetretsen of the Laurentius while in
1771 in a cargo from Port Brunswick, Carolina, there arrived, twenty-two
thousand three hundred and fifty three feet of timber, fifty one tons of
Pine timber, three tons of Cedar, one log of Walnut and twelve thousand
staves.'
But his business was not
confined to foreign trade, or merely to the import of timber and export
of small quantities of coal. For instance, when in 1773-4 the
Corporation decided to build a new and larger shambles in the Castle
Yard, they obtained rough stones from Greenhill and from the Burrows,
but bought the Tiled Stones they required from 'William Padley. He now
sold to the people of Swansea a bewildering variety of goods. His price
for linen was 2/4d. per yard ' common bellows ' sold at 1/6d each half a
cask of Fuller's Earth cost 2/6d. and a quire of sand paper 9d. Flower
and grass seeds were imported as were bricks and hemp, Kentish hops and
iron ore. Candle tallow, flax, thimbles, inkpots and spurs are sold, as
are medicines and corn, boiling peas and ' bronze and iron nutcracks
There is even an account for ' making a White Waistcoat for Thos. Sweet
2 shillings while a letter from ' Guppy and Armstrong ' of
Bristol, dated January, 1791, asking for ' any quantity of old platter
and pewter that may come to hand ' may have been connected with the fact
that Mr. George Haynes was renovating the Cambrian Pottery Works at
Swansea during 1790.
There is also a rather amusing
letter from Nicholas James addressed to William Padley, ' Honoured
Cousin,' it reads, 'After a long series of bad behaviour I behold myself
to thee for a little work if convenient unto thee in discharging the
Norway Ship that is for thee . . . I shall be glad of any employment
money is very scant so that I have none ; if thee dost please to let me
have the value of two or three shillings I will willingly work it up
again ... thy unfortunate cousin, Nicholas James. N.B. Would come myself
but was afraid of giving offence. An answer will be very agreeable.'
Note that in this letter
Nicholas James addresses Padley by using the archaic thee ' and ' thou '
as was customary between a Quaker and members of his family, for as
William Padley rose in importance commercially so did he become an
important member of the Swansea branch of time Society of Friends It
seems that he held some important official position with them for he was
time recipient of many enquiries from 'West Wales concerning the dates
of various society meet ings. Some members of the Swansea Society
suffered in an outbreak of plague at Swansea in 1786, for Andrew
Paterson wrote to ' Friend Padley ' from Margam protesting that it was '
unfortunate for those poor friends of yours I c'd not be with them in
time hour of need. I fear the fever is not attended to .. at Swansea. '
On 2nd October of the same year, John Appleton a Bristol Quaker died at
Swansea, perhaps also as a result of the plague, and Thomas Rutter,
writing to Padley from Bristol, asked for his help in burying him as '
he is a member of our society and has conducted himself sober and
reputable.' Appleton had left no directions respecting his interment so
Rutter thought it best ' to inter him in your burial ground at Swansea .
. and I request the favour of thee to get it done and invite a few
friends from Neath and those of your town . . For a time also Padley had
superintendance of the Friends Burial Ground in Lammas Street, Carmarthen,
and there is a rather pathetic letter dated' 1 O'clock 2nd January,
1790,' from Alexander Forbes at Carmarthen, ' My mother departed this
life about an hour ago ; she has lived all her days a strict friend and
died with perfect resignation in the same way of thinking, her last request
was to be deposited among her friends . . in Lammas Street, let me pray
you to furnish me with proper orders to deposit her body there agreeable
to your rites and ceremonies .." Padley must also have employed other
Quakers in his business as there are for instance, letters from Samuel
Ace at Oxwich to ' Friend Griffith ' at ' Mr. Padley's Deal Yard.'
As Padley rose in the spheres
of business and religion, so too did he rise socially. We have already
heard of his election as burgess in 1765 ; by 1777 he was also one of
the Common Attorneys of the town, and by 1780 he was endeavouring to
interest the Corporation in extensive projects of his own. One such
proposal was for building a canal at Swansea. Padley's business
interests would be greatly furthered by such a project for he was
probably experiencing difficulty in obtaining adequate supplies of coal,
which provided a saleable freight for the return voyage of ships
bringing him supplies of timber and other raw materials from abroad ;
and it was obviously far less profitable to send a vessel away from the
port in ballast. It will be appreciated how difficult it was for
supplies of minerals worked in the neighbourhood to reach the river-side
at Swansea at this time, when it is remembered that the only mode of
conveyance was in panniers on the backs of ponies. It was an effort to
improve on this that led William Padley to have the land from Swansea to
Yniscedwyn surveyed after this he broached his scheme at the Common Hall
and met with great support, and on 23rd May, 1794, the bill became an
Act of Parliament ' for making a canal from Swansea to Ystradgynhais,'
Two of the proprietors of the canal company were William Padley, and
William Padley junior. In 1791 he also appeared as one of 12 trustees
appointed for executing an 'Act for repairing, enlarging, and preserving
the harbour of Swansea . . '
The zeal of Padley and others
for improving trading facilities at Swansea led them into conflict with
those interests in the Corpora tion who were against such improvements.
On one occasion at least the conflict flared into open physical
violence. The scene is preserved for us in the well known cartoon 'A
Welsh Corporation Meeting,' the original of which is on show in the art
gallery of the Royal Institution. The cartoon purports to depict a
meeting of Swansea Corporation on 2nd November, 1787 and portrays the
Reverend Thomas Powell attempting to kick Charles Collins, an eminent
surgeon of the town ; while Powell's father, Gabriel
Powell, the
Recorder of Swansea and steward to the Duke of Beaufort is only
restrained from similar action by Robert Morris, Esq., the coal- owner.
Between the adversaries William Padley is depicted in typical Quaker
pose ; the only person in the room with a hat on—a tall conical affair
sitting squarely on his head,—.-and with his hands held together in an
attitude of pious horror at the physical violence perpetrated before his
eyes. The incident arose because Padley attempted to read, before voting
on it, a paper containing a proposal by Gabriel Powell to mortgage the
Corporation estates for £500., with which to oppose an Act
for ' new paving the town and improving the harbour.' The paper had
been snatched out of Padley's hands but Collins, too, insisted on
reading it before being called upon to vote. He was thereupon knocked
down by the Reverend Thomas Powell, who, while he was on the ground,'
most malignently and cowerdly kicked him in ye breast.' Although the
proposal was carried by 10 votes to 5, neither Collins, Padley, nor
Morris are included among the signatories to the Corporation's minutes,
and it is probable that they left the meeting in disgust.
However, in spite of some
awkward moments such as this, William Padley had by 1790, risen to an
eminent position in Swansea. His story has been one of continuous and
growing success. It is with some shock that we hear suddenly in 1791 of
his bankruptcy and of his imprisonment in the Debtor's Gaol which was
housed in part of the medieval castle of Swansea. Perhaps this is a
commentary on the hazardous nature of finance and trade during the early
days of the ' Industrial Revolution.' The precise cause of this sudden
reversal of fortune is difficult to determine although it is probably in
part due to a decline in the profitability of foreign trade, for as
early as 1786 there are letters regarding the increasingly high prices
of tallow, hemp and iron ore, while John and William Hounsell of
Bridport regret that they cannot allow Padley any extension of credit as
' the late smallness of profit doth not allow it.' The outbreak of war
with France in 1789 certainly accentuated trading difficulties, and
Wolff and Dorville write to Padley that ' deals are increased in price
12 shillings per hundred due to war with France.' It is also possible
that Padley's bankruptcy was partly due to the financial failure of
people who were in debt to him. There is a note of February, 1791, from
William Gwyn at Neath regarding the bankruptcy of Mr. Dyer of Swansea
and asking if Padley and other creditors would accept ' of an equal
distribution of as much in the pound as his effects will produce.'
Padley was also a creditor of William Dawkins of Kilvrough and was thus
agent in the cause of his creditors throughout the greater part of 1791.
Already in 1790 Padley's
position was becoming precarious. He writes to Mr. Edward King at Marino
(a house which stood on the site of Singleton Abbey), asking for help in
obtaining a loan of £250/0/0 from ' Mr. Eaton.' King answered, It is my
opinion he cannot nun the least risque in advancing you ... if you had consulted
me in time I think I could have devised some scheme that would have answered
your purpose . . ' By October, 1790, Padley had assigned over all his
estates and effects into the hands of Richard Phillips and Thomas Eaton
of Swansea ' being gentlemen of character and property. In November,
1790 'Aynesworth and Hawkes ' of London wrote to say that they were prepared
' to take 17/— in the pound . . . an advantageous proposal.' The main
claim on his estate seems to have come from cousins of his in London,
named Bevan. It was for £1500/0/0, mainly rent received by Padley, for premises
of theirs in Swansea. It was at this time, and to meet these claims,
that Padley sold his estate in Yorkshire to George Holbourne, Esq. ;
this seems to have given him temporary respite and through out the
greater part of 1791 he retained his freedom. But during November he was
arrested and thrust into prison.
Padley wrote that ' one of my creditors
(and I believe the only one of them that would have done it) ~who had
not signed the trust deed . . arrested me and I have been . . confined
within the precincts of Swansea Castle (which hath some priviledges
belonging to it).' His friends and family thereupon took out a commission
of bankruptcy, being of time opinion that this was the best way to make
him a freeman. This was done at the second meeting of his creditors in
December, 1791. All his household goods and effects were to be sold and
a dividend of his estate made. He hoped to gain as many signatures
as possible on his certificate which might then be presented at the third
meeting of his creditors, due to take place on 24th January, 1792.
In the meantime William Padley
spent a rather doleful Christ mas day in time Debtor's Prison drafting a
letter to his daughter Mary in London, in which he mentions the attitude
of his relations towards his bankruptcy. He writes, ' It thou canst he
comfortable amongst our friends and relations till we can see clearer
our way of settlement it may be best for thee to accept tho' they have
invited in somewhat an ungracious manner . . I wish to give them no
offence whatever until I get my certificate signed and confirmedly,
which it is in their power to effect or prevent.' He ends, however, on a
more confident note, and one which gives us some insight into the mind
of a bankrupt, ' thy mother (is) tolerable (well) and myself better than
I have for some time been ; those qualms that used to creep through me, though'
unknown to any but myself, seem vanishing . . . ,
The regaining of Padley's
freedom now depended on his obtaining the signatures of four—fifths
(in number and in weight) of those of his creditors who had proved their
debts before the committee, and to whom he was indebted for upwards of
£20/0/0. It seems that this was forthcoming for at the third meeting of
his creditors on 24th .January, 1792, he was released from imprisonment by
John Bullock, and as his old house had been ' taken by a gent,' he moved
into Doctor Collins house in Castle Street.'
During the 1790s Padley's business
began to recover, but the care of it seems to have been given
increasingly to William's second son, Silvanus.
William Padley died either late
in 1800 or early in 1801 ; his executors being his wife Elizabeth, Mr. Edward
Hughes and Mr. William Grove of Swansea. He left four sons 'William,
Silvanus, Paul and Timothy ; and two daughters Eliza and Mary.
Details of this last decade of
his life are meagre but after his death, his son Silvanus, the new
master of ' Padley's Yard ' was to attain a position at least of equal,
and probably of greater importance in the affairs of the Corporation and
of the Harbour Trust, than had his father.
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