Arthur Vivian

Sir Arthur Pendarves Vivian KCB FRGS FGS (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.

Sir Arthur Pendarves Vivian
Born4 June 1834
Died18 August 1926(1926-08-18) (aged 92)
EducationEton College
Freiberg Mining Academy
Trinity College, Cambridge
Occupation(s)Industrialist
politician
travel-writer
TitleKnight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) 1894
Spouses
Lady Augusta Emily Wyndham-Quin
​
​
(m. 1867; died 1877)​
    Lady Jane Georgina Dalrymple
    ​
    ​
    (m. 1880; died 1914)​
    ChildrenChildren from both marriages
    Parent(s)John Henry Vivian (1785–1855)
    Sarah Jones ( –1886)

    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 residences in Cornwall were at Glendorgal in the parish of St Columb Minor and Bosahan on The Lizard.[3][4]

    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.[5]

    Vivian was a Justice of the Peace (JP) and Deputy Lieutenant for Glamorgan and a JP and Deputy Warden of the Stannaries for Cornwall. In local politics, Vivian was a county councillor for Glamorgan from 1889 to 1898, and a county alderman for Cornwall from 1898 to 1926. He served as High Sheriff of Cornwall in 1889. He was lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Glamorgan Rifle Volunteers,[6] and was appointed a Companion of the Order of the Bath (CB) in 1894.

    He was Colonel commanding the South Wales Border Volunteer Infantry Brigade from 1895 to 1902, was appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Bath (KCB) in the 1902 Coronation Honours list published on 26 June 1902,[7][8] and invested as such by King Edward VII at Buckingham Palace on 24 October 1902.[9]

    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),[10] 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.[11]

    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.

    Vivian sold his residence Glendorgal, near Newquay on 11 December 1882 and bought the Bosahan estate, near Helston in the same year, living there from 1885 until he died in 1926, aged 92.[12][13][14]

    Cornwall Record Office holds 203 items in a deposited collection of his papers (Reference PV).[15] Further papers, mostly relating to his Welsh business affairs are held at the West Glamorgan Archive Service.[16] A photographic likeness of him in the 1860s is held by the National Portrait Gallery and another, with two dogs, at Community Archives Wales.[17]

    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. No. 88. 18 March 1880. p. 1.
    4. "Mr A Pendarves Vivian MP". The Cornishman. No. 321. 11 September 1884. p. 4.
    5. Leigh Rayment's Historical List of MPs – Constituencies beginning with "C" (part 4)
    6. Debretts House of Commons and the Judicial Bench 1881
    7. "The Coronation Honours". The Times. No. 36804. London. 26 June 1902. p. 5.
    8. "No. 27448". The London Gazette (Supplement). 26 June 1902. p. 4191.
    9. "Court Circular". The Times. No. 36908. London. 25 October 1902. p. 8.
    10. 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.
    11. 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.
    12. "The purchase by Mr R Tangye". The Cornishman. No. 231. 14 December 1882. p. 7.
    13. "Mr Pendarves Vivian, MP". The Cornishman. No. 223. 19 October 1882. p. 7.
    14. Bosahan Garden website and Image of Bosahan House built by Vivian but demolished 1955 Archived 2012-04-05 at the Wayback Machine.
    15. A P Vivian papers at CRO, Truro
    16. West Glamorgan Archive Service catalogue Archived 11 October 2012 at the Wayback Machine.
    17. Photographic portrait at NPG and a Portrait with dogs at Community Archives Wales

    Sources
    • 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
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