LLOYD, JOHN (1733-1793), cleric and antiquary

Christened 26 March 1733 at Llanarmon-yn-Iâl, Denbighshire, son of John Lloyd (died 1756) of Bodidris and his wife Elizabeth (Jones) of Gerddi Duon, Mold. Lloyd was, however, not of the old Lloyds of Bodidris; his grandfather was Richard Lloyd of Cwmbychan in Ardudwy (on Evan Lloyd of that family, see Pennant, Tours of Wales, 1883 edn., ii, 268). According to Yorke (Royal Tribes of Wales, 1887 edn., 111) John Lloyd senior was domiciled in Llanarmon early in the 18th century; he adds that the son, as a boy, was nicknamed ' the flower of Llanarmon.' Lloyd matriculated from Jesus College, Oxford, in July 1753, and graduated in 1757 (Foster, Alumni Oxonienses); he had already been ordained in 1756, and licensed to 'Llanasaph.' In 1761 he was curate at Caerwys. In 1774 he was appointed rector of Nannerch, but he still resided at Caerwys, placing a curate at Nannerch until 1778, when the living at Nannerch was given to another man (Thomas, A History of the Diocese of St. Asaph, ii, 421) and Lloyd became rector of Caerwys (Thomas, ii, 12). He died 22 May 1793, and was buried at Caerwys. His wife (1769) was Martha (died 1810), daughter of Francis Williams; of their several children, one was Angharad Llwyd, and another, Llewelyn (1770 - 1841) was rector of Nannerch (Thomas, op. cit., ii, 422) from 1810 till 184 1.

John Lloyd was reckoned something of a scholar in his day. He was a member of the somewhat nebulous committee which was concerned with the preparation of The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales ; he was a friend of Philip Yorke's; Warrington acknowledged Lloyd's help in his History of Wales; and Pennant, in the preface to his Tours of Wales, calls him ' my worthy and constant attendant in all my excursions.'

The older works of reference have confused Lloyd with as many as four men of the same name; two of these may be mentioned:

(1) JOHN LLOYD (1733 - 1814)

who, as it happens, succeeded our John Lloyd in 1794 as rector of Caerwys, and whose death is recorded in the May 1814 (523) issue of Gent. Mag. - the confusion was not unnatural.

(2) JOHN LLOYD (1754 - 1807?),

son of William Lloyd, Esq., of an ancient family, domiciled in Llanstephan, Carmarthenshire. He went up to Jesus College, Oxford, in 1758, graduated in 1762 (B.D. 1772), and was probably the ' Mr. Lloyd of Carmarthenshire,' who (like so many members of his college) was corresponding member of the Cymmrodorion in 1762. Foster does not give him a Fellowship, but Hardy (Jesus College, 243) records a ' John Lloyd, Carmarthenshire ' as Fellow from 1765 till 1773. In 1773 he was appointed vicar of Holywell (Pennant, Hist. of Whiteford and Holywell, 236; Thomas, A History of the Diocese of St. Asaph, ii, 196), but in 1782 (Thomas, ii, 371) became vicar of Cilcain. Foster says he died in 1803, but neither Thomas nor Simpson (Cilcain and its Parish Church, 57) notes the appointment of a successor before 1807. The proximity of Cilcain and Caerwys probably explains the confusion between the two men. Besides the references in the text, copies of the St Asaph records, obtained through the kindness of the Keeper of Manuscripts at N.L.W., were used.

Author

• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Published date: 1959

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