Dictionary of Welsh Biography

ARTHUR (fl. early 6th century?), one of the leaders of the Britons against their enemies . Britt. he is described as 'a leader of battles ' ('dux bellorum') who defeated the Saxons in twelve battles; and in the section on the ' Marvels of Britain ' mention is made of his son Anir ' and of his dog ' Cafall ' with which he hunted the Twrch Trwyth - a story which is related more fully in ' Kulhwch and Olwen.' He is a legendary figure also in the references made to him in fairly early Welsh
BELL, Sir HAROLD IDRIS (1879 - 1967), scholar and translator (1929), translated by Olwen Roberts, the wife of J.E. Jones. In 1954 he published The Crisis of our Time and other papers, consisting of essays on the state of society, Welsh nationalism, the attitude of the Church in Wales towards Welsh culture, and his own religious experience as a convert from agnosticism to the Christian faith. Bell was a man of great charm and courtesy, who retained his natural
BROMWICH, RACHEL SHELDON (1915 - 2010), scholar by translating and publishing a selection of his papers in The Beginnings of Welsh Poetry (1972). She prepared with D. Simon Evans both English and Welsh editions of the major medieval tale of Culhwch and Olwen (1988 and 1997), based on the study which had been pioneered by her friend Sir Idris Foster. Conscious of her own duty towards scholarship she organised with Professor Foster Cylch yr
DAVIES, JOHN HAYDN (1905 - 1991), teacher and choirmaster main purpose. The family home was initially in Scott Street, then at 'Gwynant', Dumfries St., Treherbert. He married Olwen Williams, the daughter of Uriel Roger Williams, a shopkeeper, in Porth in January 1942; the couple had two children, Susan and Geraint. He worshipped at the Blaencwm Welsh Chapel, Tynewydd, and was its secretary for more than forty years. He was awarded the MBE for services to
DAVIES, TREVOR OWEN (1895 - 1966), minister (Presb.) and principal of Trefeca College W.P. Jones died he served as principal of the college till he retired in 1964. He married in 1933 Olwen Jane, daughter of the Rev. Benjamin Phillips, Merthyr Cynog, and they had one son. T.O. Davies was a prominent man in his denomination and in the public life of Brecknockshire. He was chairman of the United Colleges Board of his Connexion and was elected Moderator of the Association in the East in
EVANS, DANIEL SIMON (1921 - 1998), Welsh scholar edited with a new introduction a collection of G. H. Dobles's pamphlets, Lives of the Welsh Saints (1971). His interest lay not only in saints' lives but in medieval religious literature more generally, and his Medieval Religious Literature appeared in the Writers of Wales series in 1986. Medieval Welsh tales and legends, 'Culhwch and Olwen' especially, was another area in which he made valuable
FOSTER, IDRIS LLEWELYN (1911 - 1984), Welsh and Celtic Scholar , and MA with Distinction in 1935 for a thesis on the important Middle Welsh prose tale Culhwch ac Olwen: Professor Ifor Williams was a dominant influence on him during his time at Bangor. In 1935 he was awarded a University of Wales Fellowship which enabled him to study at the National University of Ireland in Dublin with Osborn Bergin and at the University of Bonn with Rudolf Thurneysen. In 1936 he
GILDAS (fl. 6th cent), monk . ' Nau ' is an error for ' Kau ' (' Caw '), an attempt to make the saint a son of Caw of Scotland (see 'Gilda son of Caw' in ' Kulhwch ac Olwen ' R.B.M., 107), together with eighteen brothers. If Caunus had been the name in the British language then the Welsh form would have been ' Cun,' not ' Caw.' It is a tiring matter to get at the truth by sifting the lives of these saints, but it can be believed
HIMBURY, DAVID MERVYN (1922 - 2008), minister (Bapt) and college principal David Mervyn Himbury was born in Ystrad Mynach, Glamorganshire, on 22 July 1922. His father, Reginald Harry Himbury, had come to Wales from Rampisham in Dorset to seek work in the coal mines. He married Olwen Thomas, whose family lived in Aberystwyth; the Reverend Idris Thomas, a Baptist minister in Cefn-mawr, was her brother. Mervyn had a younger brother, John (1932-1970). Reginald Himbury was
HOWELLS, GERAINT WYN (Baron Geraint), (1925 - 2004), farmer and politician sheep farming. He suffered from heart trouble before the 1992 general election and he underwent, in later years, a major heart operation. He married Mary Olwen Hughes Griffiths in 1957; they had two daughters, Gaenor and Mari. Lord Geraint lived at Glennydd, Ponterwyd; he died on 17 April 2004 and his funeral was held on 24 April at Ponterwyd Calvinistic Methodist Chapel, where he served as deacon; a
HUGHES, HYWEL STANFORD (1886 - 1970), cattle breeder, benefactor and Welsh nationalist Olwen Margaret Williams in Mile End chapel, London, with Thomas Charles Williams officiating. Born in London, she was the daughter of Owen Williams, Gwalchmai, Anglesey, one-time High Sheriff of that county and a prosperous London draper. She was a niece of Sir Vincent Evans. Their four children continued to farm in Colombia. Hywel Hughes never sought Colombian citizenship preferring always to
JONES, ELIAS HENRY (1883 - 1942), administrator and author repatriated only a fortnight before the Armistice. The book was reprinted seventeen times and then ran into three editions. He married in 1913 Mair Olwen, the youngest daughter of Dr Griffith Evans of Brynkynallt, Bangor.

Search results

1 - 12 of 24 for "Olwen"