99
MERCHANTS WERE RUINED OR IMPOVERISHED. Recovery was slow, and political and religious upheavals continued – the republican experiment ended, monarchy was restored, and those who did not conform to the Church of England were excluded from public office. John Flavel, Vicar of Townstal during the Protectorate and a celebrated preacher and writer, led a large dissenting congregation in Dartmouth, despite considerable harrassment. Te Flavel Chapel and the Flavel Centre commemorate him.
T 1710 ➜ A
MONGST THE DISSENTING
COMMUNITY WAS THE NEWCOMEN FAMILY. From about 1710, Tomas Newcomen, a Baptist lay-preacher by calling and an ironmonger by trade, developed the first successful working steam engine, with his assistant John Calley. Te first engine was installed in 1712 in Dudley, in the West Midlands and over two thousand followed, in most of the important mining districts of Britain and elsewhere. A working Newcomen Engine can be seen at the Tourist Information Centre.
BEGAN TO MAKE DARTMOUTH AN ATTRACTIVE HOLIDAY RESORT FOR THE WEALTHY. Te first official Regatta was held in 1834, becoming the Royal Regatta aſter Queen Victoria’s visit in 1856. Many villas were built to take advantage of the best sea and river views in Dartmouth and Kingswear.
T
HE CIVIL WARS HAD STIFLED TRADE, AND MANY
D URING THE 18TH CENTURY THE NEWFOUNDLAND TRADE developed from seasonal fishing into a much more complex, broader “triangular”
trade, extending well beyond Newfoundland. Dartmouth’s social and economic ties with Newfoundland became extremely close – in 1785, 15 of the 44 most powerful traders in Newfoundland were Dartmouth-based firms. Te Holdsworth family, who together with the Newman family were prominent in the trade, dominated political life in the town. Te town prospered and many houses still existing today date from this time.
M
ORE THAN TWENTY YEARS OF WAR WITH FRANCE, from 1793-1815, hit the Newfoundland trade hard and Dartmouth
with it. Te war helped to keep shipbuilding going (fourteen new ships were built for the Navy in Dartmouth) and the coastal trade remained important, but there was little manufacturing industry. Te tidal creek (called the “Mill Pond”) was drained and a new Market House (which still remains) was built on the reclaimed land in 1828-9. Te rest of the land was released for building, though there was no industrial development – shops and houses were built. Te “New Road” in 1825, and the new “Floating Bridge” in 1831, connected the town to the turnpike network; but the railway, which reached Totnes in 1847, took another seventeen years to reach Kingswear, requiring a ferry connection to reach Dartmouth.
1785 ➜ 1793 ➜ 1833➜ P
OLITICAL AND MUNICIPAL
REFORM ENDED THE HOLDSWORTH FAMILY’S CONTROL OF DARTMOUTH. John Henry Seale, whose grandfather had bought Mount Boone in 1724, had opposed the Holdsworth ruling interest and was an enthusiastic campaigner for parliamentary reform. He was elected the town’s MP in 1833 aſter the Great Reform Act. A new Council replaced the Corporation in 1836 and the extended franchise opened up municipal government. John Henry Seale and his son Henry Paul Seale were both involved in providing schools for the poor in Dartmouth.
HE NATURAL BEAUTY OF THE TOWN’S SETTING AND THE DEVELOPMENT OF THE INTERNATIONAL SPORT OF YACHTING,
1834➜
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