LLOYD, JOHN (1885 - 1964), schoolmaster, author and local historian
Date of birth: 1885
Date of death: 1964
Spouse: Nancy Lloyd (née Roden)
Parent: Catrin Lloyd (née Jones)
Parent: Evan Lloyd
Gender: Male
Occupation: schoolmaster, author and local historian
Area of activity: Education; History and Culture; Literature and Writing
Author: Arwyn Lloyd Hughes
Born 11 July 1885 in Ty Gwyn y Gamlas, Ynys, Talsarnau, Merionethshire, the seventh child of Evan Lloyd, farmer, and his wife Catrin (née Jones). He was educated at the board school Talsarnau; the intermediate school Barmouth; the grammar school Wigan (for a year only) and the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (B.A., 1906 with second-class honours in Welsh; M.A., 1911). He was a teacher at his old school in Barmouth under Edmund D. Jones between 1907-19 and at the county school Tregaron, for the year 1919-20. In 1920 he was appointed a teacher at the grammar school Dolgellau, and headmaster in 1925, a post which he held until his retirement in August 1946.
He is remembered as the co- translator with T.P. Ellis of The Mabinogion (1929) in two volumes. This was the second complete translation of the Mabinogion into English since Lady Charlotte Guest's version in 1838-49). Their translation was critically reviewed at the time by scholars such as W.J. Gruffydd and J. Lloyd-Jones but nevertheless it remained a useful work until the appearance in 1948 of a new translation by Gwyn Jones and Thomas Jones . He also published two school textbooks in Welsh entitled: Detholiad o draethodau llenyddol Dr. Lewis Edwards (1910) and Llyfr Darllen ac ysgrifennu (1913; a prizewinner at the national eisteddfod in Wrexham, 1912), as well as a textbook in Welsh for the use of Sunday schools, Yr Eglwys Apostolaidd: Cenhadon cyntaf Crist (1922). He supervized a number of editions of The official guide to the Deudraeth rural district. He took a special interest in local history and contributed between 1949-58 a number of articles on his beloved Ardudwy to the Journal of the Merioneth Historical and Record Society. He also contributed to Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig 1941-50. He lectured widely to local W.E.A. classes and occasionally, after his retirement, at Coleg Harlech. He was a dedicated headmaster and a painstaking researcher in all he undertook. He also served on many different committees and cultural bodies in Merioneth including the education committee, the Eisteddfod Meirion committee and the county's Urdd Gobaith Cymru committee. He was amongst the founders of the county's Hist. and Record Soc. in 1939 and was made a vice-president. He was an elder in the Presb. Ch. of Wales consecutively at Talsarnau, Dolgellau and Llanbedr.
He married 1925 Nancy Roden, Aberystwyth (died 1980), and one daughter was born to them. He died in Dolgellau 17 January 1964 and was buried in St. Mihangel's churchyard, Llanfihangel-y-traethau.
Author
- Arwyn Lloyd Hughes
- Information given by his widow and members of his family
- Y Cymmrodor, 40 (1929), 251-64
- Western Mail, 20, 24 June 1929
- Z/M/655/8-9 in Merioneth Record Office
- The Liverpool Daily Post, 20 January 1964
- The Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard, 24 January 1964
- Y Dydd, 24 January 1964
- Taliesin, December 1975, 75-85
- The National Library of Wales Journal, 23, 434-8
Sources
Published date: 2001
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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