Victorian millionaire Francis Crawshay shunned life of luxury to live in cottage alongside workers
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But while these 19th century workers from the Welsh valleys look typical, they were in fact far from it, thanks to their unusually humane boss.
Eccentric ironmaster Francis Crawshay, rejected the trappings of his wealthy family to live amongst his workers, learning Welsh so he could talk to them and even having their portraits painted for posterity.
Rare glimpse into the characters of Britain's industrial age: William James, left, was a roller in the works while John Davies, right, was a manager at the tin mills owned by the wealthy eccentric Francis Crawshay
Foreman carpenter Llewellyn Jenkins wore a wool suit, while cinder filler David Davies is pictured with a shovel
Crawshay's egalitarian relationship with his staff, astounding in an age when industrialists were known for their ruthless and often inhumane treatment of staff, is revealed in an exhibition of the portraits at the National Museum of Wales in Cardiff.
It features the oil portraits of 16 of Crawshay's favourite employees at his family's ironworks in Hirwaun, in the Cynon Valley, and tinplate works at Treforest, near Pontypridd.
Reluctrant industrialist Francis Crawshay shunned the trappings of his wealthy family and instead cultivated close relationships with his staff in the Welsh valleys
The museum's Oliver Fairclough said: 'Francis Crawshay maintained unusually close personal relationships with his employees and was an unusually humane industrialist.
'He commissioned 16 small portraits of his employees and no other such images of industrial workers are known. This seems to be a unique group of individual workers of the period.'
Crawshay was the third generation of a family who made a fortune from the booming iron trade in Victorian south Wales, and he grew up in great style in Cyfarthfa Castle, Merthyr Tydfil - then the iron capital of the world.
Unlike most tycoons of the day, however, the eccentric Crawshay chose to live alongside the staff who manned the family's works.
While most local ironmasters exploited their staff, who lived in squalid conditions and worked long hours for little pay, it was different for those who worked for a Crawshay mine.
Son of the great ironmaster William Crawshay, Francis was known as 'Mr Frank' to his workers and even learnt Welsh so that he could speak to them in their own language.
An art lover, he treated them as equals and became so close that he commissioned travelling portrait artist William Jones Chapman to paint them in oils between .
While the wealthy of the ear sometimes commissioned portraits of domestic servants and estate workers, these are the only known paintings of industrial workers, and unlike the massaged portraits of nobility from the time, the portraits show the men in the raw.
Mr Fairclough said: 'Although a number of 18th and 19th century country servant portraits are known this seems to be a unique group of individual images of industrial workers of the period.'
The men pictured worked at either the Hirwaun ironworks, pictured, or a tinplate works at Treforest, Pontypridd
Carpenter David Williams, left, is pictured with one of his tools while smith John Llewellyn wears an apron
Quarryman Thomas Francis left, while mechanic Rees Davies doesn't look like those who do his job today, right
Family grandeur: Francis Crawshay's father Richard built this to be their home near Merthyr Tydfil in the 1820s
Agent Evan Bryant was painted according to the wishes of his industrialist boss, as was David Davies, right
John Bryant, a mine agent, stares unblinkingly at the artist, while storekeeper David Lewis, right, looks away
Skilled and unskilled workers were painted, young and old, and all are depicted standing in a landscape, in working clothes and with the tools of their trade.
Tin roller William James is gripping a large clamp used to handle molten tin, while David Davies holds a long pole used in the iron-making process.
Those pictured include a foreman, a lodge keeper, carpenter and tin roller, among many other characters who kept the Crawshay coffers bursting.
Both John Richards, left, and lodge keeper Thomas Euston, who had a glint in his eye, needed a stick to walk
Favoured employees: Thomas Kirkhouse, left, was chosen to be painted as was this unnamed man, right
Now the 170-year-old pictures have been handed over to the museum in Cardiff by Crawshay's ancesters for an exhibition that runs until September 22.
Crawshay, who was married with eight children, preferred not to live in the big family house and instead built himself a small cottage to live in.
He became interested in druids and built his own druidic circle near the house, while he left following the closure of the Hirwaun and Treforest works in 1859 and 1867, to retire Kent where it was said he enjoyed walking around in nautical dress.
Crawshay died in 1878 aged 67.
'LITTLE HELL': LIFE IN MERTHYR TYDFIL, THE IRON CAPITAL OF THE WORLD
Regarded as one of the cradles of the Industrial Revolution, Merthyr Tydfil was the iron capital of the world for much of the 19th century.
As industry boomed in the valleys, what was a village of just 40 homes in 1760s turned into a sprawling town that was home to almost 8,000 people by 1801.
But while the metal and coal mines that sparked the boom may have brought joy to the overlords who made their fortunes from them, life for those who worked in them was a very different matter.
Lured from farms across Wales by the prospect of steady work, workers lived four or five to a one-room stone house, often built on top of iron slag heaps.
Scenic view: Life in Merthyr Tydfil 170 years ago was a struggle - disease was rife, conditions were squalid and many ironmasters exploited their staff
Conditions in what came to be known as Little Hell were just that: with no toilets, the streets were open sewers and diseases such as cholera and typhoid were rife.
Lice were common amongst the workers who worked and slept side by side in cramped conditions.
Ironmasters provided housing for their employees, but they were squalid slums, and life expectancy was low with a high rate of infant mortality.
The factory and mine managers were often cruel towards their staff - rights were unheard of and hours were long.
Many paid their staff with company tokens that could only be spent in their own, company-controlled shops called 'truck shops', where prices were inflated by as much as 10 per cent.
In the midst of all this, Francis Crawshay and his philanthropy stood out like a beacon, and he refused to exploit his staff as so many of contemporaries were.
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