Fonds GB 0210 MAYBERY - Maybery Collection,

The Brecknockshire family of Maybery originally came from Worcestershire, where they were engaged in the iron industry. In 1753, Thomas Maybery acquired the Brecon furnace and Pipton forge for his son, John Maybery, who leased mineral properties in Hirwaun, Brecknockshire, in 1757 and the Tredegar forge, Glamorgan, in 1764, and was one of the earliest pioneers of the South Wales iron industry. John Maybery married a daughter of John Wilkins, the deputy prothonotary of the Brecon circuit of the Court of Great Sessions, who became associated with his son-in-law in the Hirwaun enterprise. John Maybery died in 1784; his descendants pursued legal careers. Thomas Maybery, John's eldest son (d. 1829), succeeded his uncle, William Wilkins, as prothonotary of the Brecon circuit, and his eldest son, Walter Maybery (1800-1862), was the last to hold that office. His second son, Henry Maybery, who was treasurer of the county of Brecon and deputy-registrar of the Brecon Consistory Court, became the head of the firm of Maybery, Williams, and Cobb, who were themselves the successors of the firm of solicitors Walter and John Powell, later Powell, Jones, and Powell. They were the chief legal advisers to the great ironmasters and were responsible for drawing up most of the early mineral leases. The family invested in many industrial enterprises in the 19th century, including ironworks, collieries, the Brecon and Abergavenny Canal, the Brecon Boat Co. and the Brecon Turnpike Trust.