Dictionary of Welsh Biography

JONES, ANEURIN (Aneurin Fardd; 1822 - 1904), man of letters . He soon became a recognized authority on the Welsh classical metres and was preceptor and friend of Islwyn. He organized eisteddfodau at Gelli-groes, in one of which (1850) Ioan Tegid awarded the prize to Robert Ellis (Cynddelw) for an essay on Tafol y Beirdd; Aneurin, however, made it a condition of its publication in book form (1852) that he should be allowed to write the introduction. He
JONES, OWEN WYNNE (Glasynys; 1828 - 1870), cleric, antiquary, story-writer, and poet the bishop of Bangor. He became curate of Llangristiolus, Anglesey, was transferred to Llanfaethlu in 1863, and to Pontlotyn, Monmouth, in the same capacity in 1866. There his stay was short, and he moved to Newport, Monmouth, as joint editor, with Islwyn, of the newspaper Y Glorian. He then went to Portmadoc and thence to Towyn, Meironnydd. He died 4 April 1870 and was buried in Llandwrog
STEPHEN, DAVID RHYS (Gwyddonwyson; 1807 - 1852), Baptist minister and author Journal at Newport and edited the few numbers which appeared between 1 May and 31 July 1841. Elegies were composed on him by (1) W. Downing Evans (The Gwyddonwyson Wreath, 1853); (2) William Thomas (Islwyn), W. Ambrose (Emrys), and Edward Roberts (Iorwerth Glan Aled). His library was bequeathed to his executors James Rowe and David Lloyd Isaac. A number of letters by him to William Roberts (Nefydd) are
FINCH, HAROLD JOSIAH (1898 - 1979), Labour politician for Wales. He was the president of the Islwyn Memorial Society. He was knighted in 1976. He married in September 1922 Gladys the daughter of Arthur Hinder, and they had one son and one daughter. Their home was in Pontllanfraith, and in London Finch had lodgings at 56 Kenwyn Road, Clapham Common. He published a number of works on industrial injuries and compensation. In 1972 he published a short
JONES, DILLWYN OWEN PATON (1923 - 1984), jazz pianist Dill Jones was born on 19 August 1923 at Sunny Side, Newcastle Emlyn, the son of John Islwyn Paton Jones, a bank manager, and his wife Lavinia (née Bevan). He inherited musical gifts from both sides, his father being a good singer and his mother a gifted pianist. After attending Llandovery College where he heard jazz recordings for the first time, he worked in a bank while playing the piano at
LEVI, THOMAS (1825 - 1916), Calvinistic Methodist minister, editor of Trysorfa y Plant, and author y Plant, which ultimately reached 44,000 a month, was greater than had ever been known in Wales before. Its income was so great that it paid the entire cost of production of Y Drysorfa and Y Traethodydd. It was read by Welshmen all over the world and in it were published some of the earliest poems of Islwyn, Ceiriog, and others. Levi was moderator of the C.M. General Assembly in 1883 and of the
DAVIES, JOHN (Ossian Gwent; 1839 - 1892), poet derived from his brother-in-law, T. W. Davies of Rhymney. There is an obituary notice by T. Twynog Jeffreys in the S. David's Day issue of Y Geninen, 1894, 33-7. Islwyn wrote a short prologue for the Caniadau; it is probable that he and Ossian Gwent knew each other well. There was considerable literary activity at that time in the valleys and industrial areas of Monmouthshire and east Glamorgan, and
JENKINS, HERBERT (1721 - 1772), early Methodist exhorter, afterwards Independent minister Born in Mynydd-islwyn parish, Monmouthshire. According to Bradney (Hist. of Mon., I, ii, 442), his father was Herbert Jenkins and his grandfather that William Jenkins of Aberystruth parish who was curate (and kept school) at Trevethin (Pontypool) from 1726 till 1736. It may be that the parents had 'dissented'; tradition asserts that they were attached to the church of Edmund Jones, and certainly
THOMAS, MORRIS (1874 - 1959), minister (Calvinistic Methodist), writer and historian of Robert Louis Stevenson's novel Treasure Island, and for a critical Essay on the ' Works and art of Islwyn '. In the national eisteddfod in Pwllheli, 1925, he shared a prize for his novel Toriad y Wawr, published in 1928 by Hugh Evans and Sons, Liverpool. The other winner was Lewis Davies, Cymer, for his novel, Wat Emwnt, published by the same company in the same year. In the Bangor national
NICHOLAS, THOMAS EVAN (Niclas y Glais; 1879 - 1971), poet, minister of religion and advocate for the Communist Party the ministry in 1918 and established himself as a dentist in Pontardawe. His wife, and later he himself, had been trained as dentists by a good friend, David Ernest Evans (1870-1956) of Mountain Ash who also trained their son, Islwyn ap Nicholas. The family moved to Aberystwyth in 1921 and he, his wife and son set up a dental practice in the town. He joined the Communist Party when it was formed in
STEPHEN, ROBERT (1878 - 1966), schoolmaster, historian and poet captain from Borth-y-Gest. They had three children, (2) in Caxton Hall, London, on 8 January 1942, to Mary Elizabeth Owen, widow of Captain Ralph D. Owen, army officer, and daughter of Edmund and Elizabeth Thomas, Gelli Haf, Maesycwmmer. The Gelli Haf family was very famous in Monmouthshire, and connected in some way with the family of William Thomas ('Islwyn'). After his second marriage, he began to
STEPHENS, MICHAEL (1938 - 2018), writer and literature administrator learning Welsh, and was taught by Islwyn Ffowc Elis while undertaking teacher training at Bangor University. He taught at Ebbw Vale 1962-66. One night at the Old Arcade pub in Cardiff he met Harri Webb; Stephens's jacket caught fire from a cigarette lighter and Webb doused him with a pint of Guinness. The two had much in common - poetry, European literature, nationalism, a Valleys sensibility - and

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