ROSS, JOHN (1729? - 1807), printer and publisher at Carmarthen.
Date of birth: 1729?
Date of death: 1807
Child: Ann Scott (née Ross)
Gender: Male
Occupation: printer and publisher
Area of activity: Printing and Publishing
Author: William Llewelyn Davies
Very few biographical details concerning John Ross are available. He had learnt his trade in London, began to print books, etc., in Carmarthen in 1763 (for a year or two with Rhys Thomas), and continued to do so until 1807, the year of his death. A few books printed at the end of the 18th century were produced jointly by Ross and John Daniel. During the half-century of his working life Ross produced more books in Welsh or relating to Wales than were printed by all his contemporaries in Wales and the border put together. Some of the productions involved much time, labour, and considerable expense, e.g. three editions of the Welsh Bible known as ' Peter Williams's Bible.' Ross was one of the two sheriffs for the town of Carmarthen in 1785. He died in the latter half of October 1807, aged 78. His daughter (or probably his sister), ANN SCOTT, continued the business for a while after her father's death. She died 24 September 1842, aged 107.
Author
- Sir William Llewelyn Davies, (1887 - 1952)
- John Davies, Rhestr o lyfrau argraffedig yng Nghaerfyrddin gan John Ross rhwng y blynyddoedd 1763 a 1807 (Carmarthen 1916)
- J. Ifano Jones, A history of printing and printers in Wales to 1810, and of successive and related printers to 1923 (Cardiff 1925)
- Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and Field Club, passim
- Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, iii, 430
- J. Dyfnallt Owen, Hanes Eglwys Heol Awst, Caerfyrddin (1926), 25-6
Sources
- Eiluned Rees, Ross, John (1728/9–1807), Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 23 September 2004
- W. Waters, 'John Ross, printer', Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and Field Club, 1 (1905–6), 62
- W. Waters, 'Lammas Street Chapel', Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and Field Club, 2 (1906–7), 138–9
- W. Waters, 'A short typographical sketch', Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and Field Club, 7 (1911–12), 77–81
- G. E. Evans, 'John Ross', Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and Field Club, 3 (1907–8), 82
- Family Notices: Deaths, The Cambrian, 31 October 1807, p.3
Further reading
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC-RUU/1.0/
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