Welsh Journals

numerous Private Member's Bills in Parliament. Arthur had received the standard family training Eton, followed by the Mining Academy in Freiburg, Germany (for technical studies) and Trinity College, Cambridge, to add the finishing touches. He took his public duties very seriously, and even after he had retired from Parliament in 1885 he continued to involve himself in local administration, serving as an alderman on the Cornwall County Council until he was reluctantly forced to retire in 1919. He was also chairman of school boards at Margam and in Cornwall, and represented Margam on the Glamorgan County Council from 1889 to 1895. With further vigour he became heavily involved with the Volunteers, forming two companies consisting of his own employees in Taibach. Indeed, his workers found it a pre-condition for the maintenance of their employment to serve with the Volunteers. He ended his involvement in this field in 1902 as Brigadier General of the South Wales Volunteer Border Brigade. His hobbies required strength and stamina. He enjoyed yachting, big game shooting, and travelling. In 1880, he published a book of his experiences on a hunting trip in the American Rockies, entitled Wandering in the Western Land. He was a haughty, robust character as were many of the Vivian family and, like his brother, Henry Hussey, he was paternalistic in various ways. He gave the people of Port Talbot land for a park and hospital, while the Vivian Hotel and the Vivian Park are named after him. He also built the beautiful St Paul's Church in Aberavon, at considerable cost to himself. 8 However, on other occasions Arthur Pendarvis Vivian could be extremely autocratic and very domineering, particularly with his employees. Indeed, at times, he was completely indifferent to the needs and problems of his work force.9 For example, if children in Taibach failed to salute him, he invariably gave their fathers a severe reprimand: In one instance two youths, in hurrying from the Somerset Inn [a public house which still thrives in Taibach to this day], accidentally bumped into him as they turned the corner. [This incident] led to the suspension of their fathers for a fortnight. 10 Arthur Pendarvis Vivian maintained that the fathers concerned had not taught their boys manners or temperance. The power he had over people's lives was sweeping, to say the least.11 Many bitterly complained of the low wages they received and of his domineering attitude and manner. 12 He is best described as a benevolent despot.