JOHN, HENRY, or HARRI SION (1664 - 1754), hymnist

Born at Blaenau Gwent, Monmouthshire, he was one of the early members of the Baptist church there. He removed later to Pontypool. His Rhai Hymnau … Duwiol was published by Farley in 1747. A collection of his hymns, Amryw Hymnau Dymuniadol a Phrofiadol …, to which were added some by other writers, was published in [ 1773 ] by S. Farley of Bristol who had from 1740 to 1742 printed at Pontypool a number of Welsh works, at the instigation of Miles Harry. A second edition appeared at Carmarthen in 1773 and a fifth in 1817, but the hymns are more remarkable for their piety than for their poetry. His 'Can am Briodas' was printed in William Secker's Y Fodrwy Briodas (Trevecca, 1791). Benjamin Francis wrote an elegy to his memory, and Joshua Thomas in his Hanes y Bedyddwyr (1778), 249, gives high praise to Harri Siôn for the depth and sincerity of his religious convictions. He died 20 September 1754, aged 91, according to his tombstone.

Author

• Arthur Gray-Jones

Sources

• J. Ifano Jones, A history of printing and printers in Wales to 1810, and of successive and related printers to 1923 (Cardiff 1925)
• information from the Rev. Gomer M. Roberts

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20733163

Published date: 1959

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