OWEN
,
WILLIAM
(
1785
-
1864
),
antiquary
;
b.
1785
at
Beaumaris
, where he was a pupil at the grammar school. During the
Napoleonic wars
he served as a
marine
. From
1824
on, his name is connected with
Caernarvon
where he was known as ‘
Y Pab
’ (
the Pope
). On his own evidence, he acquired this nick-name in consequence of a pamphlet he published in
1829
defending the stand made by the
marquis of Anglesey
in the
House of Lords
on behalf of
Catholic
emancipation. For the same reason, he says, he was so loathed by his fellow-countrymen that no one would give him employment. It appears that for a substantial portion of his life he was engaged as a
sawyer in a saw-pit
. He was extremely interested in
antiquities
; he is heard of from time to time
searching old registers
in
London
or
deciphering old manuscripts
here and there in
Wales
. But, as a
historian
, he was nordinately credulous, a fact borne out by his surviving works:
Drych Crefyddol yn dangos Dechreuad y Grefydd Brotestanaidd, etc.
,
1824
;
Hanes Cyflafan neu Ddinystr y Beirdd Cymreig, etc.
(prize-winning essay at the
Cymreigyddion eisteddfod
held at
Caernarvon
,
1824
);
Y Drych Bradwriaethol, sef Hanes Brad y Cyllyll Hirion
,
1825
;
Hanes Dechreuad Cenedl y Cymry
,
1826
;
Hanes Owain Glandwr
[
sic
],
1833
; and
History of Dolbadarn Castle, Llanberis
(undated). His life was spent in dire poverty, and he d.
15 Feb. 1864
.
Bibliography:
-
J. E. Lloyd
,
Owen Glendower / Owen Glyn Dwr
,
1931
, 157-8, and in
Transactions of the Anglesey Antiquarian
Society and Field Club
,
1921
, 43-4;
-
Cyfaill yr aelwyd cylchgrawn misol at
wasanaeth oriau hamddenol y Cymry, yn cynnwys chwedleuaeth,
cerddoriaeth, barddoniaeth, gwyddoniaeth, a llenyddiaeth
bur, adeiladol, a dyddanus
,
1892
, 93-5;
-
Gwaith y Parch. Walter Davies (Gwallter
Mechain)
, 3 volumes, Carmarthen, 1866-1868
, ii, 512-41;
- U.C.N.W. Plas Newydd correspondence;
-
Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald
, 1832
ff
,
20 Feb. 1864
.
Author:
Emyr Gwynne Jones, M.A., (1911-72), Bangor
