WILLIAMS, JOHN (Ioan Madog; 1812 - 1878), blacksmith and poet

Born 3 September 1812 at Bontnewydd, Ruabon, whither his parents, Richard and Elinor Williams, had moved shortly before his birth and whence they returned, when he was about 9, to Tremadoc, Caerns. He went to various schools at Tremadoc, and, later, in Caernarvon and Denbighshire. He learnt the craft of a blacksmith, at which he continued to work. Cynhaiarn, his biographer, says that he became skilled in the designing and making of certain implements for use in the ships that were then being built at Portmadoc. Early in life he interested himself in poetry, being ‘installed’ as a bard in an eisteddfod held at Bala in 1836. He became a successful competitor in eisteddfodau, e.g. Aberffraw, 1849, Rhuddlan, 1850, ‘Eisteddfod Madog,’ 1851, etc. He died 5 May 1878, and was buried in the churchyard of Ynyscynhaiarn.

Author

• Sir William Llewelyn Davies, (1887 - 1952), Aberystwyth

Sources

• Eminent Welshmen: a short biographical dictionary of Welshmen... from the earliest times to the present (1908), and the sources noted therein, particularly Cymru (O.M.E.), x, 229-37, and Gwaith Barddonol Ioan Madog ynghyd â Bywgraffiad o'r awdwr, a llythyrau oddiwrth rai o brif feirdd y genedl (Pwllheli, 1881).

Additional Links

• Wikidata: http://www.wikidata.org/entity/Q20568748

Published date: 1959

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