Crawshay Bailey

Crawshay Bailey
Born	1789 Great Wenham
Died	1872
Occupation	Ironmaster

Crawshay Bailey (1789 – 9 January 1872) was an English industrialist who became one of the great iron-masters of Wales.

Bailey was born in 1789 in Great Wenham, Suffolk, the son of John Bailey, of Wakefield and his wife Susannah. His parents had moved from Normanton, near Wakefield in around 1780 by which time they had already had at least three children (Ann, Elizabeth and William). Crawshay was the youngest of a further five children to be born in Great Wenham (the others being Susan, Joseph, John, and Thomas). His mother, Susannah was the sister of Richard Crawshay, the Ironmaster based at Cyfarthfa Castle near Merthyr Tydfil where Crawshay Bailey came at the age of twelve to work for his rich uncle in 1801, joining his elder brother Joseph. In 1809 he was a witness to his rich uncle's will, in which he was bequeathed the sum of £1,000 (equivalent to £55,000 in today's terms 2007 [1]).

Crawshay Bailey's early career was overshadowed by that of his elder brother, Joseph, later Sir Joseph Bailey, 1st Baronet, who, on his uncle's death in 1810 inherited 25% of the Cyfarthfa Works where he had been the manager. Joseph Bailey sold his share in Cyfarthfa, and together with Matthew Wayne later of Gadlys, Aberdare, he bought Nantyglo Ironworks from the Blaenavon Iron Company. At some point, Crawshay joined his brother at Nant-y-glo and, upon Wayne's departure to Aberdare, he became a partner with his brother in 1820. They afterwards bought the Beaufort ironworks and several collieries in the vicinity.

For a time he also ran the ironworks at Rhymney, and while there he constructed a tramway between Rhymney and Bassaleg near Newport.

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