ROBERTS
,
JOHN JOHN
(
Iolo Caernarfon
;
1840
-
1914
),
Calvinistic Methodist minister, poet, and prose-writer
;
b. at
Tir-bach
,
Llanllyfni, Caerns.
, son of a
John
Roberts
who had moved to that district in
1824
from
Amlwch
, on the decline of the
Parys Mountain copper works
. He had very little early schooling, and when quite young worked with his father in the
Nantlle slate quarries
. He began to
preach
in
1867
, went to
Clynnog school
and thence (
1868-1872
) to
Bala Calvinistic Methodist College
. In
1873
he became
pastor
at
Trefriw
, was ordained in
1874
, and in the same year m.
Ann
Williams
(
1846
-
1910
) of
Castellgoed
in
Eifionydd
. In
1879
he was called to
Tabernacle Calvinistic Methodist church
at
Portmadoc
, and remained there till his retirement in
1909
. He d.
5 Nov. 1914
, aged 74. He had been
moderator
of the
Calvinistic Methodist General Assembly
in
1900
,
moderator
of the
North Wales Association
in
1906
, and ‘
Davies Lecturer
’ in
1907
, and indeed
figured conspicuously in the administration of his connexion
; but he was at his best as a
preacher
and a
public speaker
. He
wrote much poetry
,
won the crown
at the national eisteddfod three times (
1890
,
1891
,
1892
), and quite a number of prizes for poems of various kinds; and he
adjudicated in the ‘crown’ competitions
on several occasions. He was of the school to which the designation ‘the New Poets’ was applied [on this matter see
T.
Parry
,
History of Welsh Literature
, tr.
H. I.
Bell
, 359-61], and his work is typical of that school. He published seven books:
Oriau yng Ngwlad Hud a Lledrith
,
1891
;
Ymsonau
,
1895
;
Myfyrion
,
1901
;
Breuddwydion y Dydd
,
1904
;
Cofiannau Cyfiawnion
,
1906
;
Crefydd a Chymeriad
(the ‘Davies Lecture’),
1910
; and a biography (
1912
) of
Owen
Thomas
(q.v.)
.
Bibliography:
-
Notes written by his son, the
Rev. Dr. John Roberts
, Cardiff;
-
Y Parchedig J.J. Roberts (Iolo
Caernarfon)
, Caernarfon, 1915?
(n.d.) by
T. R. Jones
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
