Daniel Lleufer Thomas

“ The work, in which he discusses his ideals as a poet, and answers some of his severest critics, is largely autobiographical. Most of the addresses deal with problems of Welsh education, which was the second great interest of his life. Until 1876, Morris, who then lived chiefly in London, took no active interest in Welsh affairs. He had not mastered the Welsh language (cf. his poem, The Eisteddfod: 'Hardly the fair tongue I know') , nor did he know much of the history and literature of Wales, while Welsh archæology did not appeal to him. ”

“ His son James assisted him in the business. On a Sunday evening in January 1856 the father wrote a Welsh song of three verses, to which the son, a good singer and harpist, shortly afterwards composed original music, giving it the name of 'Glan Rhondda' (original score reproduced in 'Graphic' for 5 Aug. 1893) . The words and the simple and tuneful melody, which owed nothing to any folk-song of England or Scotland, caught the public taste when sung locally by the son at an eisteddfod at Pontypridd in 1857 and on other occasions. ”

“ She learnt French and Italian and excelled in music, though she was past forty when she learned the violin. At Cheltenham and Southfields she saw many literary people, including Dickens and George Eliot. The next sixteen years she spent mainly at home in Wales, where her colloquial knowledge of Welsh was sufficient to gain her the intimacy of the inhabitants, and she acquired a minute knowledge of botany. On 10 April 1872 she was married at Penbryn church, Cardiganshire, to Beynon Puddicombe, foreign correspondent at Smith Payne's Bank, London. ”

“ The father (son of a yeoman at Capel Farm, Llangristiolus) was a general store-keeper at Llangefni and a Calvinistic methodist. Robert was educated at the national school, Llangefni, and at a private school at Chester. As he and his brothers grew up, their father extended his business, opening a branch for importing timber and iron at Menai Bridge, which he placed under the management of his eldest son, John, who died unmarried in 1848 and to whose business ability the successful development of the family firm was largely due. ”

“ After going back to America to keep a music school at Danville (1871–3) he became professor of music at the newly founded University College of Wales at Aberystwyth. The appointment gave a great impetus to musical studies in Wales. He proceeded Mus.Doc. at Cambridge in 1878, his exercise, a cantata, 'Jerusalem,' being performed by a Welsh choir from Aberdare. When the Aberystwyth professorship was discontinued in 1879 (Davies and Jones, University of Wales, pp. 121, 133) , Parry kept a private school of music, first at Aberystwyth and then (1881-8) at Swansea. ”

“ The firm's shipping and coal-exporting business steadily increased, and the universal demand for South Wales steam coal for navigation led John Cory to conceive the idea of establishing foreign depots in all parts, one of the earliest being established at Port Said on the opening of the Suez Canal in 1869. ”

“ From purchasing ships to carry their own timber the firm came to confine itself to shipowning, with headquarters at Menai Bridge (where the three brothers settled) , and the other businesses were disposed of. While at Carnarvon, Robert took an active part in the work of a ragged school there, and in subsequent years he had charge of a class of children in a Sunday school of which he was for a short time superintendent. With these exceptions, and that of serving as high sheriff for Anglesey for 1862, he took no part in public work. ”

“ A college literary club, including among its members John Richard Green (who entered as a scholar in 1855) , jointly produced a poem entitled 'The Gentiad', satirising the more exclusive and wealthier set to which Morris belonged (Letters of J. R. Green, p. 15) . One of its most caustic lines, attributed by Morris to Green, though it is authoritatively stated it was not written by him, gave great offence to Morris owing to a subtle imputation on his father's professional conduct. ”

“ A broad churchman, he pursued a policy of toleration in matters of ritual, and secured the obedience of clergy who inclined to ritualist excesses.
After the death of William Basil Jones [q. v. Suppl. I] in 1897, he, as senior Welsh bishop, was frequently consulted by the primate on questions relating to Wales, especially as to education. He refused to countenance any compromise on the question of church schools (South Western Daily News, 28 Feb. and 29 April 1903) ”

“ In 1853 his father emigrated to the United States, and the family followed in 1854, settling at Danville, Pennsylvania. Parry first studied music at about seventeen years of age, attending a class conducted by two of his Welsh fellow-workers at the iron-works. At an eisteddfod held at Danville at Christmas 1860 he won his first prize for composition, namely for a temperance march. Next year a subscription raised by the Welsh colony at Danville enabled Parry to study at a normal college at Genesee, New York. He returned after a short course to become organist at Danville. ”

“ He was ordained deacon in 1844 and priest in 1846 by the bishop of Oxford. After serving a curacy at Denchworth near Wantage he was on 17 Sept. 1847 presented by his grandfather to the vicarage of Amroth, Pembrokeshire, a Poyer living of which he afterwards became patron. This he relinquished for a curacy at Flaxley, Gloucestershire, and in 1851 he was preferred by the lord chancellor to the rectory of Lampeter Velfry, a purely agricultural parish, with a Welsh-speaking population of about 1000, adjoining his native place and comprising a part of the family estate. ”

“ This living, though a very poor one without a parsonage, he held for fifty-six years, his private means enabling him to contribute largely to the restoration of the church, the erection of British schools and of a town clock and tower, besides building a parish hall at his own expense. ”

“ During the following decade it became recognised by Welshmen in all parts of the world (Cymru Fu, 30 Nov. 1889) as the national anthem of Wales, being generally sung at the close of meetings, all persons present meanwhile standing uncovered or at the salute, and joining in the chorus. ”

“ The Church Extension Society founded by Lewis's predecessor, Alfred Ollivant [q. v.] , in 1850 had practically exhausted all its funded capital before the end of 1883. After visiting every parish in the diocese and after realising the deficient revision i n the industrial districts, Lewis inaugurated the Bishop of Llandafi's Fund for the erection of inexpensive churches in populous districts, and for the support of additional curates. ”

“ From youth Miss Evans showed a faculty for story-telling, and the influence of the Sollys and their circle helped to develop her literary instincts. At home a few sympathetic friends of like tastes joined her in bringing out a short-lived local periodical, 'Home Sunshine' (printed at Newcastle-Emlyn) . ”

“ Davies died unmarried and intestate at Bodlondeb on 29 Dec. 1905, and was buried in the parish churchyard of Llangefni. His estate was valued at under 500,000l.
His younger brother, Richard Davies (1818–1896) , possessed business and public qualities of a high order. A liberal in politics, he unsuccessfully contested Carnarvon Boroughs in 1852, but in 1868 he was returned unopposed for his native county of Anglesey, for which he sat till 1886. ”

“ Lewis replied to the first lecture in a series of Welsh letters in 'Y Cymro,' signed 'Aelod o'n Eglwys' (a member of the church) , reprinted in 1852 in book form. His best work was an elaborate Welsh treatise on the apostolic succession, described as by a Welsh clergyman (Yr Olyniaeth Aposiolaidd gan Offeiriad Cymreig: Bangor, 1851, London, 1869) . He also wrote, besides occasional papers on Welsh church questions, and on the Wesleyan succession (Yr Olyniaeth Wesleyaidd) , under the pseudonym of 'Amddiffynydd' (i.e. Defender) in 1858. ”

“ About 1856 he settled at Bodlondeb, a house overlooking the Menai Straits, near Bangor, and here he led a somewhat eccentric and parsimonious life, letting his share of the profits of the business accumulate. ”

“ He died at Dyffryn on 27 Jan. 1910, and was buried at St. Nicholas, a memorial service, presided over by the bishop of Llandaff, being simultaneously held at Park Hall, Cardiff. By his will he left (including his reversionary bequests) about a quarter of a million sterling for charitable purposes, of which 20,000l. was given to the Salvation Army, one half of it to be applied to its foreign work, the other half to its home and rescue work. ”

“ It was not however till 1894 that she took seriously to writing fiction. At the National Eisteddfod held that year at Carnarvon she divided with another the prize for a serial story descriptive of Welsh life. Her story, 'Ynysoer,' dealing with the life of the fishing population of an imaginary island off the Cardiganshire coast, was published seriaUy in the 'North Wales Observer' but was not issued in book form. ”

“ OWEN, ROBERT (1820–1902) , theologian, born at Dolgelly, Merionethshire, on 13 May 1820, was third son of David Owen, a surgeon of that town, by Ann, youngest daughter of Hugh Evans of Fronfelen and Esgairgeiliog, near Machynlleth. His brothers died unmarried in early manhood. ”

“ For eight years they lived at Elgin Villas, Addiscombe, near Croydon, where Mrs. Puddicombe suffered almost continuous ill-health. They next resided at Winchmore Hill, Middlesex. Her husband became mentally afflicted in February 1900, and she removed with him to Bronmor, Traethsaith, in the parish of Penbryn, which had previously been their summer residence. Here he died on 29 May 1906, and here also she succumbed to cancer on 21 June 1908, being buried by the side of her husband in Penbryn churchyard. ”

“ A glee, 'Ar don o flaen gwyntoedd,' published shortly afterwards at Wrexham, was widely popular in Wales, and appeared in New York in 'Y Gronf a Gerddorol' of Hugh J. Hughes (Y Drych, 19 March 1903) . ”

“ In 1860 he settled for life at Arundel. Devoting himself to a study of the canon law and the lives of the saints, he translated from the Latin 'The Rise and Growth of the Anglican Schism,' by Nicholas Sanders, with an elaborate introduction and notes (1877) ”

“ Owing to ill-health, he graduated B.A. in 1843 in the 'pass' examination with an honorary fourth class. He then travelled for two years with his brother through central and south-eastern Europe, Egypt, as far as the second cataract, and, crossing the desert, through Palestine, Asia Minor, and Greece. ”

“ Underground Railway' (ibid. p. 117) , was described as 'by the author of "Songs of Two Worlds." ' The success of the volume was surprising : it ran through three editions of 1000 copies each in its first year, and some forty-five editions (exceeding fifty thousand copies) during the author's lifetime. ”

“ Men and Women of the Time, 1899; Allibone's Dict. Eng. Lit., Suppl.; A. H. Miles, Poets and Poetry of the Century (1892) , v. 591-620. As to Morris's work in connection with Welsh movements, especially education, see Sir Hugh Owen, his Life and Life Work (1885) , by W. E. Davies (for which Morris wrote a preface) ; Report of the Hon. Society of Cymmrodorion for 1906-7 in Transactions for that year, p. v; Annual Reports of the National Eisteddfod Association from 1881 on; The University of Wales (in College Histories series) , by W. C. Davies and W. L. Jones (1905) , 111-118 129, 221 ”

“ Besides contributing numerous articles to Smith's 'Dictionary of the Bible,' Bevan was also author of three works on ancient geography 'A Manual' (1852) ; 'A Student's Manual,' based on [Dr. Smith's] 'Dictionary of Greek and Roman Geography' (1861, 12mo) ”

“ South Wales Daily News, 28 Jan. 1910; The Times, 28 and 31 Jan., 2 and 4 Feb., 24 and 25 March, and 4 April 1910; for his work for sailors see the Chart and Compass (the official organ of the Brit. and For. Sailors' Society) , especially the issues for Aug. ”