Up until 2007 no one had really tackled the above question. We know that the Purbeck born and bred Pike Brothers ancestors came from Devon where Ball clay extraction was well known, but why would someone in the great city of London come to Purbeck to extract clay? Surely they had better things to do.

With these questions unanswered we set about a search using several resources including the Dorset History Centre and the Internet. We have been kindly contacted by others who have supplied some missing links. We found a great deal of information and we now know far more about the "Who was he?" We still can't answer "Why did he come to Purbeck?" but we can now make educated guesses. We leave you to make your own guess from the information below.

Benjamin Fayle was one of twelve children of Richard Fayle and was born on 10th July 1751 in Ireland. We do know his father (Richard) lived in Co. Kildare, but as yet we do not know exactly where Benjamin Fayle was born.

 Benjamin Fayle's great grandmother was daughter of William Edmundson who founded the Society of Friends (Quakers) in Ireland in 1654

From the Dorset History Centre we found a letter dater 1792 from Wedgwood to William Morton Pitt. Wedgwood was not happy with Pitt and was obviously struggling to obtain the quantities of clay from Purbeck to satisfy the demands for his new Queens Ware and others.

Benjamin Fayle was a London Merchant that had many and powerful friends. His best friend (Dr. William Babington) has a statue of himself in St Paul's Cathedral. Dr William Babington had written a book on minerals including ball clay. 

Benjamin Fayle was a member of Lloyds and therefore must have been wealthy. (His tramway cost the equivalent of today's motorway's cost per mile and so could ably finance his projects.)

Many of his friends (and family) were Quakers and members of various societies including the Royal Society. Wedgwood was a member of the Royal Society and a Quaker. Was this the way Benjamin heard of Wedgwood supply chain problems?

Benjamin Fayle was a manager of the London Institution and had his name on the foundation stone indicating that he had part financed the building.

We found references to Benjamin Fayle involved in shipping of hemp and flax from Russia and fruit from Portugal.

The only property he purchased in Purbeck was a garden in Church Knowle. He ran his business from London with an agent Joseph Willis at Norden. 

His company included his brother -in-law Alex Jaffray (Governor of the Irish Bank ), Benjamin's nephew Richard Jaffray and a Richard Chambers 

Benjamin Fayle's son Rev. Richard Fayle was vicar of St Mary's Wareham from 1828 to 1841. 

Benjamin Fayle had his portrait painted by John Raphael Smith. His mother-in-law (Fanny Adams) gave the portrait to her daughter Charlotte on the occasion of her marriage. The Portrait was donated to an Australian art gallery in 1960 by Richard Cunningham Foot (Benjamin Fayles great great grandson and a second world war Commanding Officer of 35th Anti-Aircraft Battalion)

After Benjamin Fayle died his son-in-law (Dr. Benjamin Guy Babington) now a director of B.Fayle and Co. and a Guy's Hospital Surgeon had contact with Prince Albert through the Royal Asiatic Society and Prince Albert was extremely interested in latest "happenings" in the industrial revolution and one of those "happenings" was Tramways and their benefits.

Dr. Benjamin Guy Babington also was the first person to translate the Tamil language into English, and was present at the opening of the Goathorn Railway in 1854.