The latest Gwynedd Roots has a picture that I took a few years ago in
Kilkerran Burial Ground in Campbeltown, Argyll.
This reads
CATHERINE JONES
IN MEMORY OF HER HUSBAND
ROBERT JONES
CAPTN. OF THE SMACK
MAJOR NANNEY
OF PWLLHELI
WHO DIED 25TH JAN
I recently received some Emails about this grave from David Brown and have
pasted these below. If anyone has any further information I will pass it on
to him. I will post the three pictures mentioned on my website later
http://www.users.zetnet.co.uk/mbriscoe/PAGES/KILKERRAN.htm
Martin Briscoe
Fort William
M&LFHS | Gwynedd FHS
Hello Martin,
I came accross your images of the Kilkerran Burial Ground and wondered if
you might be interested in some information about the ship and the person
after whom it was named.
Year - 1841
Name - Major Nanney
Rig - Sp
Tons - 61
Builder - Rich Prichard, Pwllheli
History - Sold Aberystwyth 1856. Lost 7-4-1876.
Major (Owen Jones Ellis) Nanney is (supposed to be) a distant relative of
mine and was born a Jones.
Robert Jones may be a relative of his and there is a Robert Jones mentioned
in the text below, which is taken from a book about the area.
Gwynfryn
When Owen Jones of Brynhir came into his uncle's estates, that land which he
received in Rhwng-dwyfor-a-dwyfach was not very extensive, but the
properties belonging to Bodychen and Cefndeuddwr made his inheritance an
impressive one, and he was able to buy back his family land in Criccieth in
1838. On settling at Gwynfryn he added the names Ellis-Nanney to his own (a
condition of the inheritance). He soon began to buy up all the land he could
in the neighbour- hood of his new home. To the north he already had the old
Dynannau lands, which had come through Zaccheus Ellis, namely Bryn beddau,
Ynys Heli, Tir bach, and Bwlch Dwyfor. He was able to purchase Sintir from
William Ormsby Gore, Hendre from Robert Jones, and Penyllygaid from Sir
Thomas Mostyn; from the latter he also obtained Glyn and Tyddyn Sianel in
the south part of the township. Thus by 1839, the date of the tithe
apportionment schedule, he owned the whole of the western half of the
district with the exception of Y Fron Oleu, which was firmly held on to by
its owner-occupier, Robert Jones.
Owen Jones Ellis-Nanney was a bucolic character, and a thorough-going
Welshman, indistinguishable at sight from the neighbouring farmers; indeed
he would at times take a delight in being mistaken for an out-of-work
farmhand, and would ask a stranger, met when out for a walk, if there was
any chance of getting a job at the Plas. He took a fatherly interest in all
his tenants, and enjoyed pulling their legs on rent-day, his jokes often
ending in a substantial benefit to the person being teased. He was
affectionately known by all as `the old Major', and in that role he passed
his half century as an appar- ntly confirmed bachelor.
In 1843, at the age of fifty-three, he decided that it was time to secure an
heir for his states, and he took a step far wiser than any that had been
taken by his many predeces- ors at Gwynfryn. He married a young girl of
twenty-three, Mary, the daughter and heiress of Hugh Jones of Hengwrt Uchaf,
a wealthy banker at Dolgelley. The year after this marriage the huge Plas
Hen estate, adjoining Gwynfryn, came on the market, as must have been for
some time expected, and Ellis Nanney was able to buy the whole of the
eastern part of its lands, his father-in-law putting up the purchase price
of £50,000.
The next year, 1845, a son and heir was born; this was Hugh John
Ellis-Nanney, and the Plas Hen estate was settled on him, being held by
trustees until he should come of age. His mother died a few years later at
the age of twenty-nine, without further issue.
Hugh's upbringing and education gave him an entirely different character
from that of his father. He was almost completely anglicized, and cut off
from any close relationship with the local people of his homeland.
Hugh Ellis-Nanney came of age in 1866, and his father died four years later
at the age of eighty. During his minority the profits of the Plas Hen estate
had been accumulating, and when he inherited Gwynfryn at the age of
twenty-five he found himself a very rich man.
He decided to pull down the ancient Plas in which his predecessors had lived
as local squires and kindly landlords, and in its place he planned a vast
stone castle, which was to typify in the eyes of the local people the change
which had come about under the reign of the new and youthful owner. The
house was many years in building and is said to have cost £70,000.
In 1875 Hugh married the Hon. Elizabeth Dillon, daughter of Lord Clonbrock
of County Galway. By her he had a daughter, Mary Elizabeth, born in 1877,
and an only son, Owen Gerald, who was born in 1879 and died at the age of
eight at Bournemouth in a situation which recalls to mind the death of
little Paul Dombey.
Sir Hugh Ellis Nanney was created a baronet in 1897, and he has entered the
pages of history through his defeat by the young champion of the common
people, David Lloyd George, so becoming the archetype of the oppressive
landlord. When the Land Commissioners were gathering their evidence in 1893,
the agent of the Gwynfryn estate was asked whether he thought that the good
of the community should be an element in the formation of a good land
system; he answered with his master's voice, 'Absolutely not.
I do not see that the outside public has anything to do with it.'
Sir Hugh died on the 7th of June 1920, and the Gwynfryn, Plas Hen, and
Brynhir estates were inherited by his daughter, who had married the local
rector, the Reverend John Price Lewis. After the death of Lady Nanney, Mr.
and Mrs. Lewis left Gwynfryn and settled at Plas Hen to which house they
gave the name Talhenbont, and the whole estate then became known as the
Talhenbont estate. Mrs. Lewis, as a widow without issue, died on the 12th of
February 1947. Gwynfryn, which had been a rest-home for the clergy, became a
hospital for old people, and subsequently an hotel.
Some ten years later the whole estate was sold, almost entirely to the
tenants, and on the 30th of Septem- ber 1959 the remaining portions were
sold off at public auction in the Church Hall, Criccieth, to close the
estate.
Regards,
David Brown
I found it on the website whilst searching the name 'Nanney'. I am not who
Robert Jones was, although he could be a relative of the Major. I searched
the censuses but can't find anyone who fits.
One of the Major's houses is actually up for sale:
http://www.housesaleswales.co.uk/talhenbont.html
Many thanks for adding the information to your site.
Regards,
David
Just a thought. I have two old photographs of the houses mentioned in the
text, Talhenbont and Gwynfryn, and a picture of Octavia Dillon (Lady
Ellis-Nanney) who is also mentioned - not particularly good but no copyright
problems.
The person from whom the text and the photo of Lady Nanney came, had a
relative who worked at the two houses. Her name was Marion Bell and if a
comment could be added, asking if anyone has any recollections of her, it
would be helpful.
Regards,
David