THOMAS
,
ALBAN
(d.
1740?
),
cleric, poet, and translator
;
a native of
Rhos
,
Blaen-porth, Cards.
;
curate
of
Blaen-porth
and
Tre-main
,
1722-40
. He was a
prominent figure in a remarkable literary revival
which characterised
Newcastle Emlyn
and the surrounding countryside at the
end of the 17th and the beginning of the 18th centuries
; for details, see
Ifano
Jones
,
Hist. of Printing and Printers in Wales
, and the references given therein. To bibliographers
Alban
Thomas
is of interest as the
author
of
Cân o Senn i'w hên Feistr Tobacco
,
1718
, one of the
two first works (both of them in ballad form) to issue from the first permanent printing press established in
Wales
, viz. that of
Isaac
Carter
(q.v.)
,
Trefhedyn
(
Adpar
),
Newcastle Emlyn
. ‘
A.T.
,’ i.e.
Alban
Thomas
, together with ‘
J.Ll.
,’ was responsible for the publication of a
1722
book printed by
Carter
, viz.
Dwysfawr Rym Buchedd Crefyddol … Gwedi ei Cyfieithu i'r Gymraeg
;
Alban
Thomas
being also the
translator
of the work. In
1729
another translation by him was printed by
Carter
, this time at
Carmarthen
, whither he had removed his press; this was
Llythyr Bugeilaidd oddi wrth Weinidog at ei Blwyfolion
. Poems by him, in free and strict metres, are preserved in
Llanst. MSS. 133 and 145
,
N.L.W. MSS. 5 and 19
, and in (
Cardiff
)
Tonn MS. 16
in the
Cardiff Public Library
. His son,
ALBAN
THOMAS
(
1686
-
1771
), was a
physician
in
London
,
who appears to have practised under the auspices of
Sir
Hans
Sloane
. He matriculated in the
University of Oxford
as from
Jesus College
. He was
librarian
of the
Ashmolean Museum
,
Oxford
,
c.
1708
; whilst in
1713
he was
assistant-secretary
of the
Royal Society
,
London
. In
1719
he graduated
M.D.
at
Aberdeen
. It was this connection with
Aberdeen
which led some persons in
Government
circles to suspect that he had
Jacobite
leanings; it is known that he left
London
suddenly in
March 1722
and was obliged to stay away from the capital for some time before he could venture to return. After his return, however, he was unable to resume his
medical work
and had to retire to his native district where he practised until the end of his life. Just as the father had been prominently connected with the literary revival in
south Cardiganshire
, so also was the son connected with the efforts made by
Moses
Williams
(q.v.)
to
preserve and publish Welsh manuscript material
. This probably explains why he was prepared to receive subscriptions (‘
Subscriptions taken in by
Mr.
Alban
Thomas
at the
Royal Society's House
in
Crane-Court
,
Fleet Street
,’
London
) in
1719
towards the ‘
Collection of Writings in the Welsh Tongue, to the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, to be printed in several Volumes in Octavo
,’ which
Moses
Williams
hoped to see published. Extracts from two letters written by him from
Newcastle Emlyn
to
Sir
Hans
Sloane
are given in
West Wales Hist. Records
, vii, 218-9; he also published,
1718
,
A List of Fellows of the Royal Society of London
.
S. R.
Meyrick
(
Hist. of County Cardigan
) tells how
Thomas
came to marry the woman whom
Moses
Williams
had hoped to make his wife; his second wife was
Margaret
Jones
,
Tyglyn Aeron, Cards.
, daughter of the
high sheriff of Cardiganshire
.
Bibliography:
-
To the references given above add
National Library of Wales Manuscript
309;
-
J. Davies
,
Bywyd a Gwaith Moses Williams,
(1685-1742)
, 1937
;
-
D. Silvan Evans
Gwaith y Parch. Walter Davies (Gwallter
Mechain)
, 3 volumes, Carmarthen, 1866-1868
;
-
J. H. Davies
,
A Bibliography of Welsh Ballads printed in
the 18th century
, 1908-11
.
Author:
Sir William Llewelyn Davies, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. (1887-1952),
Aberystwyth
