ROBERTS
,
WILLIAM JOHN
(
Gwilym Cowlyd
;
1827
-
1904
),
poet, printer, bookseller, bibliophile, and eccentric
;
b. at
Trefriw,
Caerns.
, the son of
John
Roberts
,
Tyddyn Gwilym
. He was a nephew of
Ieuan Glan Geirionydd
(q.v.)
. He founded the
Gorsedd of Geirionydd
(
1865
), in opposition to the established
Gorsedd of the Bards
, which he denounced as heretical. Under his presidency as ‘
Chief Bard Positive
,’
Arwest Glan Geirionydd
, a counter-eisteddfod, with its own gorsedd, was held annually near
lake Geirionydd
, near the reputed birthplace of
Taliesin
. Among his productions are ‘
Mynyddoedd Eryri
’ and
Murmuron
.’ He published the life and works of
Ieuan Glan Geirionydd
, the works of
Owen Gethin
Jones
(q.v.)
, and
Diliau'r Delyn
(old
penillion
). He d.
early in Dec. 1904
at
Llanrwst
, and was buried on
8 Dec.
in
S. Mary's churchyard
there.
Bibliography:
-
Eminent Welshmen
, 1908
;
-
E. D. Rowlands
,
Dyffryn Conwy a'r Creuddyn
, Liverpool,
1948
, 125-8;
-
Owen Williams
,
Awduron Sir
Ddinbych a'u gweithiauWilliams, Owen . Llyfryddiaeth Sir Ddinbych,
part 3, 1937
,
1937
;
-
Baner ac Amserau Cymru
,
7 and 14 Dec. 1904
;
-
Y Geninen
(Gŵyl Dewi),
1907
;
-
Y Geninen
,
April 1906.
Author:
Henry Parry Jones, M.A., Llanrwst
