John Josiah Guest
Encyclopedia
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
engineer
Engineer
An engineer is a professional practitioner of engineering, concerned with applying scientific knowledge, mathematics and ingenuity to develop solutions for technical problems. Engineers design materials, structures, machines and systems while considering the limitations imposed by practicality,...
and entrepreneur
Entrepreneur
An entrepreneur is an owner or manager of a business enterprise who makes money through risk and initiative.The term was originally a loanword from French and was first defined by the Irish-French economist Richard Cantillon. Entrepreneur in English is a term applied to a person who is willing to...
.
Life
Born in DowlaisDowlais
Dowlais is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. As of 2001, it has a population of 6646.Dowlais is notable within Wales and Britain for its historic association with ironworking; once employing, through the Dowlais Iron Company, roughly 5,000 people, the works...
, Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil is a town in Wales, with a population of about 30,000. Although once the largest town in Wales, it is now ranked as the 15th largest urban area in Wales. It also gives its name to a county borough, which has a population of around 55,000. It is located in the historic county of...
, Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
, as the son of Thomas Guest, a partner in the Dowlais Iron Company. Guest was educated at Bridgnorth Grammar School and Monmouth School
Monmouth School
Monmouth School is an HMC boys' boarding and day school in Monmouth, Monmouthshire in south east Wales. It was founded in 1614 by William Jones. It is run as a trust, the William Jones's Schools Foundation, by the Worshipful Company of Haberdashers, one of the Livery Companies...
before learning the trade of ironmaking in his father's foundry at the hands of works manager John Evans
John Evans
- Academics :*Sir John Evans , English archaeologist and geologist*John Davies Evans , English archaeologist specialising in the prehistory of the Mediterranean and Malta, former Director of the Institute of Archaeology, London...
. He was renowned for his ability to roll a bar of steel or cut a tram of coal as well as any of his father's workmen.
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Lady Charlotte Guest
Lady Charlotte Elizabeth Guest, , later Lady Charlotte Schreiber, was an English businesswoman and translator...
, daughter of Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey
Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey
Lieutenant-General Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey was a British nobleman and general.He was the son of Peregrine Bertie, a barrister and great-great-grandson of Montagu Bertie, 2nd Earl of Lindsey....
. Guest was elected Member of Parliament
Member of Parliament
A Member of Parliament is a representative of the voters to a :parliament. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, the term applies specifically to members of the lower house, as upper houses often have a different title, such as senate, and thus also have different titles for its members,...
for Honiton
Honiton (UK Parliament constituency)
Honiton was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Honiton in east Devon, formerly represented in the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It sent members intermittently from 1300, consistently from 1640. It elected two Members of Parliament until it was...
, Devon
Devon
Devon is a large county in southwestern England. The county is sometimes referred to as Devonshire, although the term is rarely used inside the county itself as the county has never been officially "shired", it often indicates a traditional or historical context.The county shares borders with...
in 1825, holding the seat until defeated by Sir George Warrender
Sir George Warrender, 4th Baronet
Sir George Warrender of Lochend, 4th Baronet PC, FRS was a Scottish politician. In 1799, he succeeded to his father's baronetcy. Due to his lifestyle, he was nicknamed Sir Gorge Provender....
in 1831. In 1832 he became the first MP for Merthyr Tydfil
Merthyr Tydfil (UK Parliament constituency)
Merthyr Tydfil was a parliamentary constituency centred on the town of Merthyr Tydfil in Glamorgan. From 1832 to 1868 it returned one Member of Parliament to the House of Commons of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, and in 1868 this was increased to two members...
.
His public works included a school at Dowlais, designed by Sir Charles Barry
Charles Barry
Sir Charles Barry FRS was an English architect, best known for his role in the rebuilding of the Palace of Westminster in London during the mid-19th century, but also responsible for numerous other buildings and gardens.- Background and training :Born on 23 May 1795 in Bridge Street, Westminster...
. He was a Fellow of the Royal Society
Royal Society
The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, known simply as the Royal Society, is a learned society for science, and is possibly the oldest such society in existence. Founded in November 1660, it was granted a Royal Charter by King Charles II as the "Royal Society of London"...
and a Member of the Institution of Civil Engineers
Institution of Civil Engineers
Founded on 2 January 1818, the Institution of Civil Engineers is an independent professional association, based in central London, representing civil engineering. Like its early membership, the majority of its current members are British engineers, but it also has members in more than 150...
. He was the first chairman of the Taff Vale Railway
Taff Vale Railway
The Taff Vale Railway is a railway in Glamorgan, South Wales, and is one of the oldest in Wales. It operated as an independent company from 1836 until 1922, when it became a constituent company of the Great Western Railway...
, and was created a baronet
Baronet
A baronet or the rare female equivalent, a baronetess , is the holder of a hereditary baronetcy awarded by the British Crown...
, of Dowlais
Dowlais
Dowlais is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. As of 2001, it has a population of 6646.Dowlais is notable within Wales and Britain for its historic association with ironworking; once employing, through the Dowlais Iron Company, roughly 5,000 people, the works...
in the County of Glamorgan
Glamorgan
Glamorgan or Glamorganshire is one of the thirteen historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It was originally an early medieval kingdom of varying boundaries known as Glywysing until taken over by the Normans as a lordship. Glamorgan is latterly represented by the three...
, in 1838.
He died in 1852, leaving five sons and five daughters, the Dowlais Iron Company having become the largest producer of iron in the world.
His eldest son was Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne
Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne
Ivor Bertie Guest, 1st Baron Wimborne was a Welsh industrialist.Sir Ivor Bertie Guest was born at Dowlais, near Merthyr Tydfil, the son of Lady Charlotte Guest, translator of the Mabinogion, and Sir John Josiah Guest, owner of the world's largest iron foundry:Dowlais Ironworks...
. His third son Montague Guest
Montague Guest
Montague John Guest , was a British Liberal politician.A member of the prominent Guest family, he was the third son of Sir John Josiah Guest, 1st Baronet, and his second wife Lady Charlotte, daughter of Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey...
was a Liberal politician. His fifth son Arthur Guest
Arthur Guest
Arthur Edward Guest , was a British Conservative politician.-Background:Guest was the fifth son of Sir Josiah Guest, 1st Baronet, and Lady Charlotte Elizabeth, daughter of Albemarle Bertie, 9th Earl of Lindsey...
was a Conservative
Conservative Party (UK)
The Conservative Party, formally the Conservative and Unionist Party, is a centre-right political party in the United Kingdom that adheres to the philosophies of conservatism and British unionism. It is the largest political party in the UK, and is currently the largest single party in the House...
politician.