G. T. Clark - Renewed Relationship With The Guests and Dowlais

Renewed Relationship With The Guests and Dowlais

In 1850, Clark married Ann Price Lewis (died 1885), a descendant of Thomas Lewis, one of the original 1759 partners in the Dowlais Ironworks. Ann's brother had sold her family's last remaining interests in the firm that year, to Guest. Guest died in 1852, naming Clark, his widow Lady Charlotte Guest and Edward Divett as executors and trustees. Lady Guest would be sole trustee while a widow but she remarried in 1855 and de facto control fell on Clark.

The works had been, for a while, in some decline and Clark took rapid steps to improve management controls, bringing in William Menelaus as general manager. The pair worked closely together and Dowlais became a centre of innovation. Though the Bessemer process was licensed in 1856, nine years of detailed planning and project management were needed before the first steel was produced. The company thrived with its new cost-effective production methods, forming alliances with the Consett Iron Company and Krupp.

By the mid 1860s, Clark's reforms had borne fruit in renewed profitability and he was rewarded with an annual salary of £3,500 and five percent of the profits. As his wealth grew, he delegated the day-to-day management to Menelaus, his trusteeship terminating in 1864 when ownership passed to Sir Ivor Guest. However, Clark continued to direct policy, in particular, building a new plant at the docks at Cardiff and vetoing a joint-stock company. He formally retired in 1897.