Dictionary of Welsh Biography

WILLIAMS, JAC LEWIS (1918 - 1977), educationalist, author , brought up in a cultured family, was a local poet and Sunday school teacher who spent most of his life farming Tynbedw, Ciliau Aeron and Caebislan, Aber-arth. John Williams was a staunch churchman (as was his son) and three of his brothers were clergymen. The fourth brother, Gwilym Aeron, was a London businessman and also a well-known poet. John Williams's reminiscences were published in Fferm a Ffair a
WILLIAMS, JOHN (Ioan Mai; 1823 - 1887), poet him a friend of men of the calibre of Joseph Loth of the University of Rennes, and E. B. Cowell of Cambridge. He is reputed to have given the latter considerable help with his translations into English of the poems of Dafydd ap Gwilym. Ioan Mai wrote many poems in the free metres, some of them for competition at various eisteddfodau, but although his unfinished essay on 'The characteristics of Welsh
WILLIAMS, JOHN JOHN (1884 - 1950), school-teacher, education administrator, producer and drama adjudicator studied every aspect of theatre technique and associated himself with the drama company of the University College, Bangor, acting as producer for seven years. He inspired a generation of actors, playwrights and producers (Dr. John Gwilym Jones amongst them) who became in the course of time the leaders of Welsh drama. In the national eisteddfod at Holyhead in 1927 he was the liaison officer of the patron
WILLIAMS, Sir JOHN KYFFIN (1918 - 2006), painter and author gallery. Although his mother would allow no Welsh to be spoken in the home, his parents were both fluent Welsh speakers, and Kyffin himself spoke a good deal of Welsh, being able to recite passages of poetry by Dafydd ap Gwilym, and he used to write to his close friends in Welsh. When Kyffin declared in the 1980s 'I paint in Welsh', this meant that he had overcome his mother's taboo. When signing books
WILLIAMS, JONATHAN (1752? - 1829), cleric, schoolmaster, and antiquary Born at Rhayader, the son of David Williams, draper, of ' Y Siop Goch,' according to Gwilym Lleyn (Brython, 1861, 163). Three of David Williams's sons became clergymen. According to the pedigree published on p. 400 of the Hist. of Radnorshire (1905 ed.), the eldest was JOHN WILLIAMS, if Foster is correct (and there is some reason to suppose that he has mixed up two John Williamses), he did not go
WILLIAMS, MORRIS (Nicander; 1809 - 1874), cleric and man of letters Born at Caernarvon, 20 August 1809, son of William Morris and Sarah his wife (she was a sister of Peter Jones (Pedr Fardd), and had been maidservant to Dewi Wyn - her husband had been a servant to Robert ap Gwilym Ddu. When he was a child, his parents moved to Coed Cae Bach, Llangybi, Caernarfonshire. He had some schooling at Llanystumdwy and was apprenticed to a carpenter; he began to write
WILLIAMS, RICHARD (1835 - 1906), antiquary and lawyer Born at Bontdolgadfan, Llanbryn-mair, son of William Williams (Gwilym Cyfeiliog). He was educated at schools at Llanbryn-mair and Newtown, and at Bala C.M. College. He then worked in the offices of David Howell of Machynlleth, 1851-6, and Abraham Howell of Welshpool, 1856-69 - both of them being solicitors; he himself was admitted a solicitor in 1866. In 1869 he moved to Newtown, where he spent
WILLIAMS, RICHARD (1802 - 1842), Calvinistic Methodist minister, and author Born at Winllan, Llanbryn-mair, 31 January 1802, son of Richard and Mary Williams, and brother of William Williams (Gwilym Cyfeiliog). He was educated first at a school kept by his uncle, the Rev. John Roberts (1767 - 1834), then at the school of William Owen (1788 - 1838), and later in schools at Birmingham, Wrexham, and Liverpool. After some time had elapsed he opened a school of his own at
WILLIAMS, ROBERT (Robert ap Gwilym Ddu; 1766 - 1850), poet Aber-erch churchyard, near Pwllheli. As a craftsman in the classical forms of poetry, Robert ap Gwilym Ddu carried on the tradition of the finest poets of the old dispensation, and some of his englynion are pure gems. He learned much from Goronwy Owen, but he was also indebted to the traditions of his own neighbourhood. In his hymns he united the conciseness of the classical form with the lyrical
WILLIAMS, ROBERT (Trebor Mai; 1830 - 1877), poet celebrated as a writer of englynion, of which his collected works published in 1883 contain over a thousand examples, in addition to fifty poems in the free metres, one awdl, and a number of pieces in the cywydd and hir a thoddaid metres. Among his literary associates were Gwilym Cowlyd, Dewi Arfon, and Scorpion. For a period he was a member of the Independent denomination but later joined the Established
WILLIAMS, THOMAS (Gwilym Morgannwg; 1778 - 1835), poet introduction to the first volume of Y Parthsyllydd, 1870, says that he has 'drawn extensively on the old Parthsyllydd, the joint production of those eminent men, Dr. John Jenkins of Hengoed, and Mr. Thomas Williams' (Gwilym Morgannwg); moreover, in his introduction to the second volume (1875) Spinther says that the title Parthsyllydd was coined by them. Taliesin ab Iolo does not say definitely when it was
WILLIAMS, WILLIAM (Gwilym Cyfeiliog; 1801 - 1876), poet and hymn-writer of Dolgwyddyl, Trefeglwys, who was descended from Elystan Glodrydd; and (3) 1845, to Mary Evans of Tyn-llwyn, Llanbryn-mair. He had ten children - among them Richard Williams of Celynog, Newtown (1835 - 1906). From 1823 on, pieces of poetry by Gwilym Cyfeiliog were frequently published in Y Dysgedydd, Goleuad Cymru, Y Drysorfa, Seren Gomer, and the Gwyliedydd. His awdl on 'The founding of St

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