JONES, THOMAS LLOYD (Gwenffrwd; 1810 - 1834), poet
Pseudonym: Gwenffrwd
Date of birth: 1810
Date of death: 1834
Gender: Male
Occupation: poet
Area of activity: Poetry
Author: Robert Thomas Jenkins
He is said to have been born at Brynffordd (then in the parish of Ysgeifiog), but there is no confirmation of this - others have suggested Holywell or Whitford as his native parish. The 'Lloyd' in his name was perhaps a later addition, though it occurs in the name of an uncle of his.
He worked in a cotton-mill at Greenfield, Holywell, up to the age of about 18, and then became clerk to Thomas Jones (1802 - 1851), a solicitor whose office was in Chapel Street, Holywell.
From an early age he wrote poetry (his Welsh translation of ' Hymn of the Seasons ' (Thompson won a prize at the Trelawnyd eisteddfod in 1829), and contributed verse to the periodicals. His only book is Ceinion Awen y Cymry, published at Denbigh in 1831; it is an anthology of Welsh poems including some of his own work and some verse translations from the English, done by him, and is dedicated to William Owen Pughe. An elegy of his on Ifor Ceri (John Jenkins, 1770 - 1829) won the prize at the Beaumaris eisteddfod of 1832.
He moved from Holywell to Denbigh - it was from here that he wrote a letter to R.L. Morris, Holywell, which was published in Adgof uwch Angof, and it was there that he wrote ' Llinellau for Y Gwyliedydd, August 1830. He was clerk to the solicitor William Jones ('Gwrgant '; 1803 - 1886 at St. Asaph before moving to Liverpool where he resided when he wrote the elegy to John Jenkins ('Ifor Ceri ', 1770 - 1829) which won at Beaumaris eisteddfod.
He emigrated to the U.S.A., arriving at Mobile (Alabama) early in 1834, and he was schoolmaster at Spring Hill near Mobile when he died of yellow fever, 16 August 1834. It was from Philadelphia that he sent the poem ' Syniadau ar y Môr ' which was published in Seren Gomer, August 1833. He sent a poem (which did not win a prize) in memory of his patron Archdeacon Beynon to the Gwent and Dyfed royal eisteddfod at Cardiff 1834, but he died four days before the eisteddfod opened.
Author
- Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)
- Geirlyfr Bywgraffiadol o Enwogion Cymru (1870)
- Awenyddion Gwent a Dyfed (Llundain 1834)
- corrections by Mr. Robert Roberts
- Huw WilliamsThomas Lloyd Jones (Gwenffrwd) 1810-1834 (Gwasg Gee Denbigh 1989)
- additional information from H. Williams, Prestatyn
Sources
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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