Bowleys and Pagets and Waltons, oh my

Three families circle around the slate quarries of Mid Wales.

The Waltons, James and Frederick, will be familiar to readers of my book. Frederick, the inventor of Linoleum and the owner of Plas Cwmllecoediog, is the central figure in this particular web of connections. He was, of course, the partner with Edward Hurst Davies in the Maesygamfa Quarry. He gained immense wealth from his invention, and continued to work on ideas for industrial products late into his life. In 1890, he founded the United Flexible Metallic Tubing Co. to develop his patent for high-pressure, flexible tubes. His fellow directors included William Kanzow Bowley and Lord Berkeley Paget.

William Kanzow Bowley was the managing director of United Flexible Metallic Tubing in 1913. He was born in 1858 in Charnwood, Leicestershire, the son of Robert Kanzow Bowley who was the Manager of the Crystal Palace in London. The Kanzow Bowley family were from Leicestershire, and W.K.'s sister Harriet was born in Kirby Bellars, a village on the edge of Melton Mowbray, a stone's throw from her cousin William Bowley.

Lord Alfred Paget was a Director of the North Staffordshire Railway Company, and one of the principal investors in the Cambria Wynne Slate Co. in Esgairgeiliog. He was the uncle of Berkeley Paget.

Also serving as a North Staffordshire director was Charles Bill MP, the father of Charles Fitzherbert Bill. C.F. Bill led the Hendredu Slate Quarries company from 1922 along with William Bowley.