File:BrassTablet WilliamKeates Died1888 BishopsNympton Church Devon.jpg

Memorial brass tablet, Bishops Nympton Church, Devon, inscribed: To the glory of God and in loving memory of William Keates, JP, Lord of the Manor of Bishops Nympton, who was born 18 (?) February 1801 and died 18 May 1888 and was buried at Cheadle in Staffordshire. This window was erected by his widow Mary Keates and his sole surviving son Joseph Andrew Keates.

Text per Fox-Davies, Armorial families; a directory of some gentlemen of coat-armour, showing which arms in use at the moment are borne by legal authority , pp.126-7[1]

JOSEPH ANDREW KEATES, Esquire, of Bishop's Nympton, in the county of Devon. Born December 14, 1833, being the youngest but only surviving son of the late William Keates, Esquire, of Greenfield, in the county of Flint, Justice of the Peace, High Sheriff 1874, by his wife Susan Penrose Andrew, eldest daughter of Joseph Andrew of Redruth, in the county of Cornwall. Seats: — Bishop's Nympton, in the county of Devon ; and Dunstone, Torquay, Devon. Married, April 26, 1860, Elizabeth, second daughter of Edmund Brock Lyon of Neston, in the county of Chester ; and has issue:

• (1) Edmund Lyon Keates, Gentleman, eldest son and heir, Lord of the Manor of Bishops Nympton, BA New College, Oxford, Barrister (Inner Temple), born 1861 , died 1905 (aged 45) at Cadenabbia, Lake Como, Italy, where he was buried, as is stated on his mural tablet in Bishops Nympton Church;
• (2) William Keates, Esquire, Captain Suffolk Regiment, born June 7, 1862 ;
• (3) The Reverend Herbert Andrew Keates of New College, Oxford;
• (4) John Keates, Gentleman;
• Florence Mary (married, November 20, 1890, Sir Henry Beyer Robertson of .... in the county of Merioneth) ;
• Elizabeth.

Arms: Argent, on a pale sable three cats-a-mountain of the field on a canton of the second a cake of copper proper; crest: A tiger proper charged with three bezants fesseways resting the dexter paw upon an escutcheon sable, thereon a cake of copper proper. Motto — "Esto memor".

Per Grace's Guide to British Industrial History (text available under the Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike License)[2]:

William Keates was a key figure in establishing copper smelting in Lancashire. 1801 Born at Cheadle, Staffs. Employed by Cheadle Copper and Brass Co at their works; 1821 Given the task of closing the company's Neath smelter; 1822 Appointed manager of the Whiston Copper Works near Cheadle; c.1824 On behalf of James Shears and Sons of London, he restarted the disused copper works at Spitty in Carmathenshire; 1829 Left South Wales, moved to Lancashire; 1830 Keates started the Ravenhead Copper Works, smelting copper ore from Arosa in Venezuela. Married Miss Andrew of Redruth. 1832 Newton, Lyon and Co engaged William Keates, who built the Sutton Smelting Works near St Helens Junction in 1832, trading as Newton, Keates and Co. 1848 John Bibby and Sons bought the Ravenhead Copper Works from Keates; 1860 Ran the lead smelter and roller at Bagillt, Flintshire. Lived at Greenfield Hall, Holywell, where he directed the 3 rolling and wire mills in that valley; Retired to Devon; c.1889 Died at Leamington. His only son, Joseph Andrew Keates, continued the business.