was b. at
Ffynnon-felfed
,
Llanybyther, Carms.
,
20 March 1852
, but his family removed in about a year to
Llanwenog, Cards.
— later, he coined his second name in honour of that parish. At 16, having been at various schools in the district, he was apprenticed to his uncle
David
Rees
, a
grocer
at
Lampeter
; but at 18, following an accident, he went to school once more (under
Gwilym Marles
at
Llandysul
and
Alcwyn C.
Evans
at
Carmarthen
), and entered the
Presbyterian College
at
Carmarthen
in
1872
, remaining there till
1876
(apart from an interval in
1874-5
as
assistant in a school
in
England
). Ordained to the
Unitarian ministry
in
Aug. 1876
, he was
pastor
at
Carmarthen
(
1876-7
) and at
Preston
(
1877-80
), but early in
1880
loss of voice
compelled him to give up the ministry — attacks of
typhoid fever
in early life had undermined his health, which throughout the greater part of his life continued to be precarious; his long
residence at
Oxford
, where he lived for more than twenty years from
1880
, was interrupted by a voyage to
Australia
and a sojourn at
Davos
. Attendance at
(
Sir
)
John
Rhys
's lectures on the
Mabinogion
, at
Oxford
, inspired him to study and transcribe the ‘
Red Book of Hergest
,’ and from this
study of old manuscripts
(a by-product of which was his collection of
Welsh
proverbs, awarded the prize at the
Liverpool national eisteddfod
of
1884
and printed in its
Transactions
in
1885
) arose the idea of a series of ‘diplomatic’ editions of mediaeval
Welsh
texts, the first volume of which appeared in
1887
(see below for details) — the nominal co-operation of
Rhys
was acknowledged on the title-page.
The University of Oxford
conferred an honorary
M.A.
upon him in
1887
(he was to become
D.Litt.,
honoris causa
, of
Oxford
in
1903
and of
Wales
in
1905
). In
1893
he was granted a
Civil List
pension of £200, and in
1894
he was appointed
inspector of Welsh manuscripts
for the
Historical Manuscripts Commission
— his
Reports
on these manuscripts (two volumes in seven parts,
1898-1910
) are indispensable. His work as
inspector
further enabled him to take a leading part in the negotiations which led to the purchase (
1905
) by
Sir
John
Williams
(q.v.)
of the
Peniarth manuscripts
, and so to determine the location of the
National Library of Wales
, of whose court and council he became member as a nominee of the
Privy Council
; he was also a
J.P. (Cards.)
and a
member of the court and council of the University College of Wales
. He had by that time retired to ‘
Tremvan
,’
Llanbedrog, Caerns.
, where he went on
printing old Welsh texts
on a small hand-press; but in his later years he was interested more in interpreting than in reproducing texts, and his theories (represented by his drastic revision and translation of the ‘
Aneirin
’ and ‘
Taliesin
’ poems) met with little acceptance among scholars (see
Cymm.
,
1918
, and his reply in
Cymm.
,
1924
). He had m. (
1877
)
Edith
(d.
1923
), daughter of
principal
Hunter
of
Carmarthen
. He d.
25 March 1930
, and was buried in a rock-grave which he had prepared for himself and his wife near their house; two sons and a daughter survived him.
The bibliography of his series of
Welsh
texts has not been fully worked out, but the following tentative list may be offered — the dates in [ ] representing discrepancies between imprints and actual publication: (1)
The Text of the Mabinogion … from the Red Book of Hergest
(
Oxford
,
1887
); (2)
Facsimile of the Black Book of Carmarthen
(
Oxford
,
1908
); (3)
The Text of the Bruts
(
Oxford
,
1890
); (4)
The Text of the Book of Llan Dav
(
Oxford
,
1893
); (5)
The Black Book of Carmarthen
(
Pwllheli
,
1906
; students' ed.,
1907
); (6)
Facsimile of the Chirk Codex
(
Llanbedrog
,
1909
[
1920
]); (7)
The White Book Mabinogion
(
Pwllheli
,
1907
[
1909
]); (8)
The Text of the Book of Aneirin
(
Pwllheli
,
1908
);
Facsimile and Text of the Book of Aneirin
(
Pwllheli
,
1908
[
1910
]); (9)
The Text of the Book of Taliesin
(
Llanbedrog
,
1910
);
Facsimile and Text of the Book of Taliesin
(
Llanbedrog
,
1910
[
1916
]);
(9b)
Poems from the Book of Taliesin, amended and translated
(
Llanbedrog
,
1915
[
1916
]); (10)
Kym-deithas Amlyn ac Amic
(
Llanbedrog
,
1909
); (11)
The Poetry in the Red Book of Hergest
(
Llanbedrog
,
1911
);
The Book of Aneirin revised and translated
, vol. ii (
Llanbedrog
,
1922
[
1924
]; students' ed.,
Aberystwyth
,
1934
[sic]);
Poetry by Medieval Welsh Bards
, vol. ii (
Llanbedrog
,
1926
. (In nos. (1), (3), (4), the name of
John
Rhys
also appears on the title-page.) He also planned a series of ‘
Welsh Classics for the People
,’ but he issued only
Llyvyr Iob
(
Oxford
,
1888
) and
Pedeir Kainc y Mabinogi. Breuddwyd Maxen. Lludd a Llevelys
(
Oxford
,
1897, 1905
).
Oll Synnwyr Pen
, designed for this series, was published by the
Guild of Graduates
at
Bangor
,
1902
. After his death the stock of his publications was transferred to the
National Library
, and his manuscripts and a selection of his books were deposited there.
