Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1817-1852 (Creation)
Level of description
Fonds
Extent and medium
36 volumes ; all 185 x 120 mm.
/1-/19, /21-/36: Half leather commercial bindings. Marbled paper covers with gold lettering 'PRIVATE DIARY' on the spine of each volume, and printed labels, with date added in ink, on the front covers.
/20: Notebook with limp covers ('Journal 1836' written in ink on front cover).
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1778-1855) was a naturalist and a Whig MP. He was born in Ipswich, Suffolk, the son of William Dillwyn (?1743-1824) of Walthamstow, and Sarah Weston of Essex. He attended the Friends' School in Tottenham, and in 1797 went to Dover to study botany. He ran the 'Cambrian Pottery' in Swansea, 1802-1817, living at Burrough Lodge and then Sketty Hall. He was a noted naturalist, publishing works on botany and conchology, and was elected FRS in 1804. He was a Justice of the Peace, sheriff of Glamorgan, 1818, mayor of Swansea, 1839, and MP for Glamorgan, 1832-1841. Among his publications were Natural History of British Confervae (1802-9), Botanist's Guide through England and Wales, written with Dawson Turner (1805), A Descriptive Catalogue of British Shells (2 vols, 1817), An Index to the Historia Conchyliorum of Lister (Oxford, 1923) and a short history of Swansea published in 1840. In 1807 he married Mary, daughter and heir of John Llewelyn of Penlle'rgaer, Llangyfelach, Glamorgan. They had two daughters and two sons, John Dillwyn-Llewelyn (1810-1882) of Penlle'rgaer and Lewis Llewelyn Dillwyn (1814-1892). Lewis Weston Dillwyn died on 31 August 1855.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Deposited by the family of Lewis Weston Dillwyn.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
Diaries, 1817-1852, of Lewis Weston Dillwyn (1778-1855) of Penlle'rgaer, Glamorgan, containing entries relating to family and estate matters, his business interests, his work as a naturalist, together with his public duties as a magistrate and as a Member of Parliament. Also included is the journal of his tour on the Continent in 1836. Most of the volumes are partially indexed by him, and many contain appendices, some relating to events before 1817 (see file level descriptions for further details).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
Accruals are not expected.
System of arrangement
Arranged chronologically.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Readers consulting modern papers in the National Library of Wales are required to abide by the conditions set out in information provided when applying for their Readers' Tickets, whereby the reader shall become responsible for compliance with the Data Protection Act 1998 in relation to any processing by them of personal data obtained from modern records held at the Library.
Conditions governing reproduction
Copyright in the diaries belongs to Richard Morris and the family of Lewis Weston Dillwyn. All requests for use or reproduction should be made to archives@swansea.ac.uk.
Language of material
- English
Script of material
Language and script notes
English.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title compiled from content of fonds.
Note
Partial transcripts of the diaries are available at the National Library of Wales (NLW, Calendar of Lewis Weston Dillwyn Diaries). Extracts have also been published in South Wales and Monmouth Record Society, Publications no. 5 (1963), eds. Henry John Randall and William Rees. The diaries have been fully transcribed by Richard Morris over a number of years, and are now available online for academic and research use from https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/dspace/handle/10512/111
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
Project identifier
Access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Penlle'rgaer Estate (Wales) (Subject)
- Dillwyn, L. W. (Lewis Weston), 1778-1855 -- Diaries. (Subject)
- Dillwyn, William, 1743?-1824. (Subject)
Genre access points
Description control area
Description identifier
Institution identifier
Rules and/or conventions used
Description follows NLW guidelines based on ISAD(G) 2nd ed.; AACR2; and LCSH
Status
Level of detail
Dates of creation revision deletion
December 2011.
Language(s)
- English
Script(s)
Sources
The following sources were used to compile this description: NLW, Calendar of Lewis Weston Dillwyn Diaries; Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940 (London, 1959); Dictionary of National Biography (London, 1885-1901); online transcripts of the diaries (https://cronfa.swan.ac.uk/dspace/handle/10512/111), viewed December 2011.
Archivist's note
Compiled by Alwyn J. Roberts.