Emily Charlotte Talbot (1840 - 1918)

As the second child of CRM Talbot and due to Theodore's death it was she who inherited the family estates and fortune. She lived with a profound faith and Christian charity evidenced, for example, sustaining tens of thousands of pounds losses she kept one local colliery in production for years after it had become unprofitable rather than have the 500 miners made redundant and their families face a very uncertain future. No business fool however, it was Emily Talbot who developed and invested in the docks in the town that would identify itself as, Port Talbot.

Emily Talbot's Christian social concern was to advance public education in the town by financially supporting several schools. Her concern over the advancement of public health was demonstrated by her building the Public Baths and a local hospital. Her abiding testimony was the advancement of the Christian faith and Anglo-Catholic spirituality. While proving her largest project, and built in memory of her brother Theodore and sister Olivia, St. Theodore's Church Port Talbot is but one of several she built or helped restore. Another was St. Peter's Church, Goytre within the Parish of St. Theodore.