GRIFFITH
,
OWEN
(
Ywain Meirion
,
Owen Gospiol
,
1803
-
1868
),
ballad-writer and strolling ballad-singer
;
if we could be quite certain that he was the man who under the pseudonym
Owen Meirion
wrote the article on the history of
Bala
, in
Y Brython
,
1860
, 264-5, we could say that he was b. at
Bala
. He
sang in fairs
all over
Wales
— he is heard of, e.g. at
Machynlleth
,
Holywell
,
Llanfyllin
,
Llanrwst
, and the
Caernarvonshire fairs
, and he was very well known in
South Wales
. He always wore a top-hat. Some have it that he gave up
ballad-singing
and became a
rag-collector
; in any case, it is certain that his last years, despite the kindness of
Nicholas
Bennett
(q.v.)
, were years of adversity. He d. a
pauper
at
Llanbryn-mair
,
24 June 1868
, at the age of sixty-five, and was buried there by the parish — on his tomb is an englyn by
Mynyddog
(q.v.)
. We have fifty-nine of his ballads.
Bibliography:
-
Y Geninen
,
Oct. 1901
;
-
reminiscences of him in
Cymru
, e.g. ii, 48, xiv, 64, xxii, 10, xxvii, 166-7;
-
D. Samuel
,
Cerddi Cymru casgliad o ganeuon Cymreig, hen
a diweddar
, Caernarfon
, i, 20-2;
-
B. B. Thomas
,
Baledi Morgannwg
, 1951
, contains two of his ballads, xviii and xxv;
-
Journal of the Welsh Bibliographical
Society
, vii, 60-4, 85, viii, 104 (a list of his known ballads).
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
