Arthur Vivian

Sir Arthur Pendarves Vivian
Born	4 June 1834
Died	18 August 1926 (aged 92)
Education	Eton College Freiberg Mining Academy Trinity College, Cambridge
Occupation	Industrialist politician travel-writer
Title	Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) 1894
Spouse(s)	Lady Augusta Emily Wyndham-Quin (m 1867–1877) Lady Jane Georgina Dalrymple (m 1880–1914)
Children	Children from both marriages
Parent(s)	John Henry Vivian (1785–1855) Sarah Jones ( –1886)

Sir Arthur Pendarves Vivian KCB (4 June 1834 – 18 August 1926) was a British industrialist, mine-owner and Liberal politician from the Vivian family, who worked in South Wales and Cornwall, and sat in the House of Commons from 1868 to 1885.

Early life and education

Vivian was the third son of the industrialist John Henry Vivian and his wife Sarah Jones, daughter of Arthur Jones, of Reigate. His elder brother was Henry Vivian, 1st Baron Swansea and his uncle was Hussey Vivian, 1st Baron Vivian.^[1] He was educated at Eton College, the Freiberg Mining Academy of Freiberg, Saxony and at Trinity College, Cambridge. He left college in 1855, on his father's death, to manage the family's copper smelting and rolling works and colliery at Port Talbot.^[2] His residence in Cornwall was at Glendorgal in the parish of St Columb Minor.^[3]

Public and parliamentary service

Vivian was elected as one of two Members of Parliament for Cornwall West in 1868, a seat he held, as a Liberal, until 1885, when the constituency was divided under the Redistribution of Seats Act 1885.^[4]

He was a Justice of the Peace (JP) and Deputy Lieutenant for Glamorgan and a JP and Deputy Warden of the Stannaries for Cornwall. He was lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Glamorgan Rifle Volunteers.^[5] Vivian was a county councillor for Glamorgan from 1889 to 1898, was High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1889 and was awarded the CB in 1894. He was Colonel commanding the South Wales Volunteer Infantry Brigade from 1895 to 1901. From 1898 to 1926 he was a county alderman for Cornwall and he was knighted in 1902.

Travels and travel-writing

He was a frequent traveller and a fellow of the Royal Geographical Society. He published Wanderings in the Western Land (1879),^[6] describing his travels in North America, starting 14 August 1877 in St Johns, Newfoundland. In 1879 he was made a Fellow of the Geological Society of London. He was President of the Royal Geological Society of Cornwall for 1880-81.^[7]

Family and personal life

Vivian married firstly, 3 March 1867, Lady Augusta Emily Wyndham-Quin, daughter of 3rd Earl of Dunraven. She died on 11 February 1877. He married secondly, 10 March 1880, Lady Jane Georgina Dalrymple, daughter of 10th Earl of Stair. There were children from both marriages. His second wife died on 8 June 1914. From 1885, Vivian lived at Bosahan,^[8] St Anthony in Meneage, Cornwall and died aged 92.

Cornwall Record Office holds 203 items in a deposited collection of his papers (Reference PV).^[9] Further papers, mostly relating to his Welsh business affairs at held at the West Glamorgan Archive Service.^[10] A photographic likeness of him in the 1860s is held by the National Portrait Gallery and another, with two dogs, at Community Archives Wales.^[11]

References

1. Debrett's House of Commons 1881
2. "Vivian, Arthur Pendarves (VVN852AP)". A Cambridge Alumni Database. University of Cambridge. and Times Obituary, 20 August 1926; p.13, column e.and A short history of the Hafod copperworks 1810 - 1924 (2007), p18
3. "To The Electors Of The Western Division Of Cornwall (Advertisement)". The Cornishman (88). 18 March 1880. p. 1.
4. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)
5. Debretts House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1881
6. Wanderings In the Western Land by Arthur Pendarves Vivian was published in London by Sampson, Low, Marston, Searle, and Rivington in 1879. It is available online at the Open Library.
7. K F G Hosking & G J Shrimpton, ed. (1964). "Patrons and Presidents". Present Views of Some Aspects of the Geology of Cornwall and Devon. Penzance: Royal Geological Society of Cornwall. p. iii.
8. Bosahan Garden website and Image of Bosahan House built by Vivian but demolished 1955 Archived April 5, 2012, at the Wayback Machine..
9. A P Vivian papers at CRO, Truro
10. West Glamorgan Archive Service catalogue Archived October 11, 2012, at the Wayback Machine..
11. Photographic portrait at NPG and a Portrait with dogs at Community Archives Wales

• Burke, Sir Bernard; Burke, Ashworth P. (1928). Burke’s Peerage. London: Burke’s Peerage Ltd.
• Liberalism in West Cornwall: The 1868 Election Papers of A Pendarves Vivian MP edited and introduced by Edwin Jaggard; Devon & Cornwall Record Society, New Series Volume 42, 2000 ISBN 0-901853-42-9

External links

• Hansard 1803–2005: contributions in Parliament by Arthur Vivian