Welsh Journals

THE LIFE OF THOMAS MASTERS DALTON LAWYER AND ARTIST SIMON POOLE Thomas Masters Dalton was born in 1831 in Swansea, Glamorganshire. His father Thomas Dalton was a successful lawyer who in 1833 became a Notary Public, and in 1846 a Clerk of the Peace for Glamorganshire. Thomas Dalton was a direct descendant of Walter Dalton who moved to Wales in the 17th century following the Loyalists' defeat at the Battle of Worcester in 1651. Successive generations of the Dalton family frequently entered the professions, with many lawyers and priests among their number. Although Canon John Dalton (Canon of Windsor closely associated with the Royal Family) and his son, Hugh Dalton, destined to become Chancellor of the Exchequer, were distant cousins of Thomas Masters Dalton, the closeness of the family is illustrated by the calling of Canon Dalton to act as referee for Thomas Masters' son's application for a post at the British Museum. Thomas Masters Dalton's career as a lawyer was first recorded when he is listed as a Solicitor in Crockhertown in Cardiff. It appears that he had made the move from Swansea to Cardiff where he in 1860 was listed as a Volunteer Lieutenant in the 10th Glamorganshire Rifles. Between 1859 and 1861 he achieved the position of Deputy Sheriff of Glamorganshire, and there is record of him speaking at the Assizes where he recalls his move from Swansea to Cardiff and talks of his father's regular trips by foot between the two towns! It can be assumed that he was an eminent figure in Cardiff for many years, and following his marriage in 1862 at St. Marks Church in Bath to Emily Mansford of Bath, he soon had a rapidly expanding family. In 1862 and 1863 Emily bore two daughters, followed in 1864 and 1866 by two sons, one of whom was Ormonde Maddocks Dalton, who eventually was to hold an important post as curator of antiquities at the British Museum. A third daughter, Bertha, was born in 1869. Due to incomplete records and high infant mortality rates, it is impossible to know precisely how many children survived infancy, though Ada (born 1862) and Bertha were both still residing at the family home in 1891. It can safely be assumed that the Daltons enjoyed a comfortable life in South Wales, and certainly Ormonde Maddocks benefited from an education at Harrow, New College Oxford and Trinity in Cambridge. By 1890 he was versed in Greek, Latin, French, German and Italian and had travelled widely in India, Ceylon, China, Japan and the USA.