ELIAS, WILLIAM (1708 - 1787), poet

According to David Thomas (Dafydd Ddu Eryri), he hailed from Clynnog - Elias ap Richard of Talhenbont smithy was his father, says J. E. Griffith (Pedigrees). He is said to have started life as a shoemaker, and the list of subscribers to the Diddanwch teuluaidd , 1763, and an occasional note in the manuscripts (e.g. Wynnstay MSS. 7, 105, 131, etc.), confirm this. Later, he became a farmer and land agent to the Wynn family of Glynllifon. He married Ann Williams, 19 January 1730, as is shown by a letter in Wynnstay MS 7, and ten of his children are mentioned in the pedigrees, among them the ' William Elias junior ' whose name is found in Wynnstay MS. 7 and also in the Diddanwch teuluaidd . He moved to Plas-y-glyn, Llanfwrog, Anglesey, in 1774, died there in 1787, and was buried at Llanfwrog 2 July, at the age of 79. Elegies upon him were written by Dafydd Ellis of Holyhead and by Twm o'r Nant. He had been taught prosody by Owen Gruffydd - some of the latter's manuscripts, e.g. Llyfr Madryn (NLW MS 799D ), had passed into his possession - and the elegy (a cywydd) upon his old master, 6 December 1730, is his principal poem. Several of his lyrics and englynion are to be found in manuscripts which formerly belonged to him - e.g. NLW MS 799D , NLW MS 7892B ; Wynnstay MSS. 6, 7. He was on friendly terms with Michael Prichard, and there was correspondence between him and Goronwy Owen. See further the article Hugh Williams (1722? - 1779).

Author

• Garfield Hopkin Hughes, (1912 - 1969)

Sources

• NLW Archives: Cwrtmawr MS 554B - Myrddin Fardd's collection concerned with William Elias, including Twm o'r Nant's elegy
• NLW Archives: Mysevin Manuscript in the National Library of Wales, Aberystwyth 1 (452) - Dafydd Ddu's note
• J. E. Griffith, Pedigrees of Anglesey and Carnarvonshire Families (1914), 253
• The Letters of Goronwy Owen (1723–69) (Cardiff 1924), 203-4

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20734603

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/