Dictionary of Welsh Biography

ABADAM, ALICE (1856 - 1940), campaigner for women's rights interests for several generations. Alice's father held radical views and adopted the family name Abadam based on the Welsh patronymic formula when he came to Wales in 1842. The authoress Violet Paget ('Vernon Lee', 1856-1935) was Alice's cousin, the daughter of one of her father's sisters. The library in Middleton Hall was home to a large collection of books in several languages and Alice benefitted from
ABDUL-HAMID, SHEIKH (1900 - 1944), architect and Muslim leader Sheikh Abdul-Hamid was born on 21 January 1900 in Rajputna (roughly coterminous with contemporary Rajasthan) in northern India. He is described as the son of a Rajput clan chief, though details of his family are absent. His first name was Sheikh, which may also have been a reference to his lineage, but it was not a religious title. From the age of fourteen he worked for three years as a draftsman
ABRAHAM, WILLIAM (Mabon; 1842 - 1922), M.P. and first president of the South Wales Miners' Federation Born 14 June 1842, at Cwmafan, fourth son of Thomas and Mary Abraham, he was educated at Cwmafan National School, became a tinplater and then a miner, commencing as a 'door boy.' In 1870 he was elected a miners' agent and played a prominent part in the struggle which led to the agreement for drawing up a sliding scale of wages in the coalfields in relation to prices and profits in December 1875
ADAM OF USK (Adam Usk; 1352? - 1430), lawyer He drew his origin from the town of Usk, on the river of that name. He owed his start in life to Edmund Mortimer, 3rd earl of March, who held the lordship of Usk as part of the inheritance of his wife, Philippa, and who in 1369 gave Adam the means to study civil and canon law at Oxford. In due course, he took the degree of doctor of laws and settled as a teacher of law in the university, where
ADDA FRAS (1240? - 1320?), poet and writer of prophecies According to John Davies and Thomas Stephens, he flourished about 1240. He is referred to in Peniarth MS 94 (26) and Llanstephan MS. 119 (82), as living about 1038, and contemporary with Goronwy Ddu o Fôn. But in G. P. Jones, Anglesey Court Rolls, 1346, 37, 39, mention is made of 'the son of Adda Fras ' and 'the suit of Goronwy Ddu, attorney for the community of the township of Porthgir.' In
AELHAEARN (fl. 7th century), patron saint He was, according to the lists, the son of Hygarfael, son of Cyndrwyn of Llystin Wennan, now Moel Feliarth, in the parish of Llangadfan, Montgomeryshire. He is the reputed founder of Guilsfield, Llanaelhaearn, and an extinct chapel of the same name, now covered by Gwyddelwern. His name, which often appears in the form Elhaearn, is also commemorated in Ffynnon Aelhaearn, a holy well, formerly
AFAN (fl. early 6th century), patron saint He is described as the son of Cedig ap Ceredig ap Cunedda Wledig, and is associated, as ' Afan Buellt,' with the cantref of the name in Mid Wales. Here are two of his churches, viz. Llanafan-fawr and Llanafan-fach; the third is Llanafan in the valley of the Ystwyth. An inscription of c. 1300 at Llanafan-fawr runs: 'Hic iacet sanctus Avanus Episcopus'; from this it has been inferred that he ruled
AIDAN (fl. 6th century), saint Known also as Aidus, Maidoc, and Madoc. His 'Life,' as preserved in Cotton. Vesp. MS. A. xiv at the British Museum and as printed in Colgan's Acta Sanctorum, reveals Aidan as a saint connected chiefly with Ireland. His youth was, however, spent in south-west Wales, where he was a pupil of S. David, and where his name has been preserved in church appellations and place-names. Traditionally close
ALBAN, Sir FREDERICK JOHN (1882 - 1965), chartered accountant and administrator the gold medal of the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Auditors. He was also a Fellow of the Institute of Chartered Accountants. For two years he was accountant to the United Water Board of Pontypridd and Rhondda, when he came to the notice of Thomas Jones (1870 - 1955) who saw in him the making of a deputy accountant for the Welsh National Insurance Commission, a post which he held from 1912
ALICE verch Griffith ap Ieuan ap Llywelyn Fychan (fl. 1540-1570), a poetess ), registrar of St Asaph, Thomas Lloyd of Vaynol (died 1602), William Lloyd, M.A., rector of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant and Llanfechain, 1590-1600, and Llanwrin, and canon of St Asaph cathedral, 1587-1600, and Edward Lloyd (died 1639), proctor of St Asaph. Little has been preserved of her bardic compositions - englynion on the type of husband she desired and on her views on her father's second marriage in old
ALLCHURCH, IVOR JOHN (1929 - 1997), footballer finals, before bowing out to eventual winners Brazil. He married Esme Thomas from Swansea on 13 June 1953. They had two sons, John Stephen Allchurch (born 1954) and David Ivor Allchurch (born 1961). Allchurch made a total of 782 Football League club appearances (including all cup competitions), scoring a remarkable 284 times. He played for his native Swansea Town from 1947 until 1958, making a total of
ALLEN, JOHN ROMILLY (1847 - 1907), archaeologist Born in London 9 June 1847, he came of an old Pembrokeshire family, the Allens of Cresselly, and no doubt owed his middle name to the fact that his grandfather had married a niece of Sir Samuel Romilly. His father was George Baugh Allen, J.P., of Cilrhiw, near Lampeter Velfrey; his mother was a daughter of Roger Eaton of Parc Glas, near Crinow. Deserting his father's profession of barrister (of

Search results

1 - 12 of 2461 for "Thomas Jonesfield=name"