Madocks, William Alexander, 1773-1828

Person

Madocks, William Alexander, 1773-1828

William Alexander Madocks (1773-1828), industrialist and philanthropist, was born at Fron Iw, Denbighshire, and educated at Jesus College, Oxford, becoming a Fellow of All Souls College, Oxford, in 1794. He inherited his considerable wealth from his father, and was Member of Parliament for Boston, Lincolnshire, 1802-1818, and Chippenham, Wiltshire, 1820-1826, advocating radical ideas which included parliamentary reform. As well as politics, Madocks was deeply interested in civil engineering, and, reading the Tours of Thomas Pennant (1726-1798), was inspired by the plans of Sir John Wynn of Gwydir (1553-1627) to enclose Traeth Mawr, Caernarfonshire, between Aberglaslyn and the sea. Madocks subsequently bought Tanrallt estate, Penmorfa, in 1798, and enclosed 1,000 acres of Traeth Mawr in order to build the town of Tremadoc, which he named after himself. In 1806, he obtained an Act of Parliament to construct a harbour at Porthdinllaen, which he hoped would be adopted as a mail packet station for Dublin; he then obtained a further Act in 1807 to raise an embankment (the `Cob') across Traeth Mawr to enclose another 3,000 acres, and built a road alongside it to connect Porthdinllaen with London. The Porthdinllaen plan failed, so Madocks revised his scheme, projecting a shorter road to London through Dolgellau, Welshpool and Worcester, and obtaining another Act in 1821 to make a port - named Portmadoc or Porthmadog (also after himself) - at the end of the Traeth Mawr embankment. In 1831, Samuel Holland (1803-1892) completed Madocks' plans by building a railway along the Cob between Porthmadog and the slate quarries at Ffestiniog. By this time, however, Madocks had lost control of his affairs. He had gone to Paris, and died there in 1828. Porthmadog remained as a vibrant port, exporting slate around the world.

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