Newport Branch Talks: 2023 August 29
‘The Goulds: Saviours of a Dynasty’ by Paul Busby
Our speaker this month was the well known local historian, Paul Busby- who is the co-author of the excellent video series on local historical houses called ‘Little Knowledge Podcasts’ and to be found on YouTube.
He explored how the legal-minded Gould family from Ealing took over the ancient Tredegar Estate and led it to new prosperity. Sir Charles Gould had married Jane Morgan, daughter of General Thomas Morgan of Ruperra Castle and Tredegar Park, in 1758. Jane had three brothers, but between 1769-1792 all three died childless, bring an end to the direct male line of the Morgans of Tredegar. According to the will of the last Morgan resident of Tredegar House, John, his sister Jane and her husband Charles Gould could only inherit the vast estate if Gould took the name Morgan. This he did by Royal Licence in 1792. Sir Charles Gould Morgan was a very accomplished man. He still is the longest serving Judge Advocate General in British history; he also served as an MP, as president of the Equitable Life Assurance Society, and as a Privy Counsellor to King George III. He set about reforming the Tredegar Estate, and lay the foundations that led to the estate’s enormous industrial wealth throughout the 19th century. His grandson, Charles Morgan Robinson Morgan, was created 1st Baron Tredegar in 1859. How many realise, however, that the Lords Tredegar were actually Goulds from Ealing – the saviours of a dynasty.