John Ernest Greaves

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(30 November 1847 – 27 February 1945) was a wealthy Welsh slate mine owner and Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire.

Early life

He was born on 30 November 1847 at Tan-yr-allt,

Tremadog Tremadog (formerly Tremadoc) is a village in the Community (Wales), community of Porthmadog, in Gwynedd, north west Wales; about north of Porthmadog town centre. It was a urban planning, planned settlement, founded by William Madocks, who boug ...

, the son of

John Whitehead Greaves John Whitehead Greaves (21 June 1807 – 12 February 1880) was an English businessman who was instrumental in developing the slate industry in Wales. Early life and family Born near St Albans, he was the third son of John Greaves (1774–1849), ...

, who had been instrumental in the development of the

slate industry The slate industry is the industry related to the extraction and processing of slate. Slate is either quarried from a ''slate quarry'' or reached by tunneling in a ''slate mine''. Common uses for slate include as a roofing material, a flooring ma ...

around

Blaenau Ffestiniog Blaenau Ffestiniog () is a town in Gwynedd, Wales. Once a slate mining centre in historic Merionethshire, it now relies much on tourists, drawn for instance to the Ffestiniog Railway and Llechwedd Slate Caverns. It reached a population of 12,0 ...

. He spent much of his childhood at his father's Llechwedd quarry and was educated at schools in Warwickshire, Edinburgh and Dorset before going to

Worcester College, Oxford Worcester College ( ) is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. The college was founded in 1714 by the benefaction of Sir Thomas Cookes, 2nd Baronet (1648–1701) of Norgrove, Worcestershire, whose coat of arms was ad ...

, where he matriculated in 1867.

Slate industry

On his father's death he inherited a half share in the business and made his brother Richard Methuen Greaves the General Manager. They later turned the business into a limited company with John as Chairman and Richard as Managing Director.

Public life

He was appointed

High Sheriff of Merionethshire This is a list of Sheriffs of Merionethshire (or Sheriffs of Meirionnydd). The historic county of Merioneth was originally created in 1284. The administrative county of Merioneth was created from the historic county under the Local Government Act ...

for 1884 and for

Caernarvonshire Caernarfonshire (; , ), previously spelled Caernarvonshire or Carnarvonshire, was one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was located in the north-west of Wales. Geography The county ...

for 1885. He was also a Deputy Lieutenant for Caernarvonshire. In 1886, he was appointed

Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire This is a list of individual who served as Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire. Since 1778, all Lord Lieutenants have also held the position of Custos Rotulorum of Caernarvonshire. The office was abolished on 31 March 1974 and succeeded by the posi ...

, the first commoner to hold the position, serving until 1933. He was very involved in public affairs as President of the North Wales branch of the

NSPCC The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC) is a British child protection charity founded as the Liverpool Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (LSPCC) by Thomas Agnew on 19 April 1883. The NSPCC lobbies t ...

, and Chairman of the Quarter Sessions and Alderman of Caernarvon County Council. He had a particular interest in nursing standards and from 1898 was on the Council of Queen Victoria's Jubilee Institute for Nurses and was Chairman of the North Wales Nursing Association.

Personal life

He inherited the family home at Bron Eifion, near Criccieth, but in 1893 also bought the Glan Gwna estate near Caernarfon, rebuilding the hall there. He married Marianne Rigby (1851-1934), with whom he had a daughter Dorothy (1876-1963). He died on 27 February 1945, leaving Glan Gwna to Dorothy's elder daughter, also Dorothy (1906-1966), who in 1930 in

Fiji Fiji, officially the Republic of Fiji, is an island country in Melanesia, part of Oceania in the South Pacific Ocean. It lies about north-northeast of New Zealand. Fiji consists of an archipelago of more than 330 islands—of which about ...

had married William Stanley Flower (1902-1940), elder son of Stanley Smyth Flower.

Honours

Greaves was appointed a

Commander of the Most Excellent Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

and in 1931 a Commander of the

Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem The Most Venerable Order of the Hospital of Saint John of Jerusalem (), commonly known as the Order of St John, and also known as St John International, is an order of chivalry constituted in 1888 by royal charter from Queen Victoria and dedica ...

.The London Gazette, 2 January 1931 https://www.thegazette.co.uk/London/issue/33676/page/53/data.pdf retrieved 7 October 2015

References

1847 births 1945 deaths People from Tremadog Alumni of Worcester College, Oxford Welsh industrialists High sheriffs of Merionethshire High sheriffs of Caernarvonshire Deputy lieutenants of Merionethshire Lord-lieutenants of Caernarvonshire Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Commanders of the Order of St John National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children people People from Criccieth {{Wales-bio-stub