Sir
William Morgan KB
In
1719, after a long illness, John Morgan of Tredegar died. He was succeeded
by his 19 year old son William.William Morgan reaped the benefits of
the expanding estate built up by his father and grandfather, and by
the inheritance of his wealthy great-uncle John, a merchant from London.
Young William was a flamboyant character and proceeded to cut quite
a dash in society. His spending was extravagant. As early as 1721 he
was paying for 2 French horns, for dice and drinking horns and for the
services of a French peruke (wig) maker, for a new chaise and for a
great silver punch bowl costing over £60. The following year he
built a racecourse in Cardiff and a cockpit in Newport.
This spending made him a noticeable figure in society, and in 1724 he
married Lady Rachel Cavendish, the daughter
of the 2nd Duke
of Devonshire. This glittering match enhanced William’s prospects.
Lady Rachel came with a dowry of £20,000 and her father, the Duke,
was one of the most influential Whig peers of the day. It is surely
no coincidence that a year after this marriage, William was created
a Knight of the Bath.
It appears that married life did not temper Sir William’s extravagance,
for his expenditure for the year 1725 was no less than £37,418!
A ‘gold snuff box’ and ‘a pair of pistols’ being
just a couple of the items that the Tredegar Papers record having being
purchased. At Tredegar House guests would have been entertained by Sir
William's own harpist (paid £5 a year) and by two clarinettists.
The Morgans had never been so fashionable! More payments were made to
further Sir William's sporting aspirations: he modelled his stables
on those of his father-in-law; owned 75 horses (including a very successful
racehorse 'Lamprey') and indulged in the rather bloodthirsty sports
of cockfighting and bear-bating.
Sir William was a Whig MP, on good terms with the most powerful politician
of the day, Walpole, and had the Duke of Devonshire as a father-in-law.
It has been speculated that a peerage was soon to follow; but with the
world at his feet, and the future looking bright, Sir William died in
1731, aged 30.
He left behind a young widow, 4 children, and an ambiguously worded
will, which was to cause the Morgan family much conflict in the years
to come.
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