THE PURCHASE FAMILY
Sue Ware
An article and advertisement appeared in The Glamorgan Monmouth and Brecon Gazette and Merthyr Guardian on 20th June 1835 announcing the commencement of a four horse mail coach to run between Merthyr Tydfil through Neath to Swansea. Starting from the Mackworth Arms, Swansea every morning to the Castle Hotel, Neath and from there on to the Castle Inn, Merthyr arriving at half past eleven. This new mail coach service would allow passengers to connect to other coaching routes which would take them on to Brecon, Llandrindod Wells, Carmarthen and Milford Haven. This new mail coach service, says the newspaper article, was due to ‘the spirited exertions of Mr Edward Purchase, Castle Inn, Merthyr.’ Edward Purchase is in his own right a very interesting character, but it is of more interest to us that the proprietor of the Castle Hotel, Neath was his sister Mrs Margaretta Targett. The advertisement mentions the names of Purchase and Targett.
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Margaretta Purchase was born on 20th December 1797 in Wells, Somerset where her brother Edward was also born in 1800. Edward Purchase came to Merthyr Tydfil in the 1820s and was already the proprietor of the Castle Inn when the Merthyr Rising happened in 1831. He found himself having to provide food and drink for the 93rd Regiment of Foot from 3rd to the 11th of June 1831 with the bill coming to over £397. He was also compensated ‘in consideration of inadequate charges made by him, loss of interest of money and good conduct’ to the tune of £101.6s.11d. His ‘good conduct’ stood him in good stead and helped him establish himself as a prominent citizen of Merthyr. He was married three times and died in 1880 at his home Ynisygored House, Merthyr. His probate record tells us that he left under £16,000 which equates to over £1.5 million today. Probate was awarded to Frederick Charles Purchase of Neath (nephew), Frederick William Purchase of Bath and the innkeeper William Roach of Merthyr (brother-in-law). William Roach had married Frances Anne (sister of Edward and Margaretta Purchase) and later took over the Castle Inn, Merthyr running it until 1883.
By 1828 Margaretta had arrived in Merthyr and married Thomas Targett of Dowlais on 28th October of that year. By October 1830 Thomas Targett had taken over the Castle Hotel in Neath and as we have already seen in 1835 the two establishments in Merthyr and Neath were linked by a mail coach and by a strong family connection namely brother Edward and sister Margaretta. In 1835 Thomas Targett died and Margaretta carried on running the establishment herself. In 1837 Margaretta also became the tenant of Tyn-yr-heol Farm, Blaenhonddan. She remarried in March 1840 and with her new husband John Meredith carried on running The Castle Hotel until her death just nine months later in December 1840.
The 1841 census lists John Meredith, 30, Hotel Keeper, Castle Hotel, Neath and a new Purchase family member appears Frederick Purchase aged 15. This Frederick is in fact Frederick Charles Purchase born in Clerkenwell in 1824 to William and Maria Purchase, William being a brother to Edward and Margaretta. It seems likely that with other members of the Purchase family doing well in south Wales young Frederick is sent down to Neath. Many years later his obituary says that he came to Neath ‘when a mere boy on the stage coach.’
Frederick is listed on the 1851 census as nephew and a bank clerk. At some time between his arrival in Neath in 1841 and 1851 he had started working for the Glamorganshire Bank, then based in Wind Street, Neath. In the 1861 and 1871 census he is a lodger at 1, Picton Place the home of Henry Lake, timber merchant and his wife Martha. Henry Lake is of interest as he becomes Mayor of Neath in 1870. In 1875 Frederick is Deputy Manager of The Glamorganshire Bank and The Cardiff Times mentions him as giving evidence in The Aberpergwm Embezzlement case. He rose to be the chief cashier of the bank and retired after 40 years of service. He died on 23rd April 1910 and many newspapers of the day carried the report of his death and of the many bequests he made to family, friends and institutions. He never married and it appears that he never owned property remaining a boarder or lodger all his life which partly explains how he left the sum of £39,790.2s.0d. in his will. Newspaper reports titled ‘Ex cashier’s fortune’ excitedly list all those who benefitted from this extraordinary amount of money, the equivalent of over £5,000,000 today.
Sending this young man down to Neath in 1841 to seek his fortune was a good decision.
This story of the Purchase family gravitating to Neath continues as on 5th May 1831 Charles Thomas Purchase marries Elizabeth Meredith in St Thomas’ Church, Neath. Born in Wells like his brother Edward and sister Margaretta he was a widower who previously carried out his business as a tailor in the Covent Garden/St Paul's area of London, settled in Neath with his wife. The 1851 census records them living at Melincrythan Village with his occupation stated as retired tailor. Charles died on 17th June 1852 and is buried in Cadoxton Churchyard.
The memorial is an altar tomb (designed as a rectangular slab raised on panels to resemble an altar or table) and is the last resting place of four members of the Targett and Purchase family, with the family names are engraved on two sides. Thomas Targett, Margaretta Meredith, Charles Thomas Purchase and his wife Elizabeth. Elizabeth died on 4th June 1890 at her home in Hereford but was interred at Cadoxton alongside her husband Charles. Elizabeth left £1,532.2s. 7d. in her will. The executors of her will were her nephews William Henry Roach of Merthyr and Frederick Charles Purchase formerly of The Glamorganshire Bank and now residing in furnished rooms at Belgrave Terrace, Swansea.
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It seems that members of this family, who came from a lowly background, were able to find success through the business opportunities then available in south Wales due to the expansion of industry, banking and travel. Neath was a place of opportunity and many families made money, even a fortune, through settling in our town.
