DAVIES, WILLIAM (Gwilym Teilo; 1831 - 1892); man of letters, poet, and historian

Born at Pontbrenareth, Llandilo, Carmarthenshire, 1831. His father was a poet known by the name of 'Dafydd Ddu o'r De.' He served his apprenticeship as a pharmacist, spent some years in Glamorgan following his profession, but returned in due course to Llandilo, where he spent the remainder of his life. He was editor of Yr Oes, 1853, and for a time, about 1864, had a share in the editing of Y Cylchgrawn. He was an enthusiastic supporter of the eisteddfod and enjoyed the friendship of Islwyn and Dewi Wyn o Esyllt. He took part in many of the literary and poetic contests and won a number of important prizes. His chief work is his essay on Welsh literature ('Llenyddiaeth y Cymru'), which won him a £60 prize at the national eisteddfod held at Caernarvon in 1862. This was intended to be a sequel to The Literature of the Kymry by Thomas Stephens, but was never published (the manuscript is now in the National Library of Wales). He was a frequent contributor to the periodicals of his time, and a novel written by him appeared in Y Byd Cymreig, 1862. He published his Llandilo-Vawr and its Neighbourhood, 1858, and Traethawd ar Caio a'i Hynafiaethau, 1862. A volume of his poetry, Gweithiau Gwilym Teilo, was published under the editorship of Peter Hughes Griffiths. He died at Llandilo, 3 October 1892, and was buried there.

Author

• Reverend Gomer Morgan Roberts, (1904 - 1993)

Sources

• Introduction by P. H. Griffiths to the Gweithiau Gwilym Teilo (1831 - 1892) (Caernarfon 1927)
• Y Geninen, 1 March 1893 (13-16), 1894, (12-16, 124-6), 1895 (177, 81)
• A History of Carmarthenshire, ii, 438

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q18535573

Published date: 1959

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