THOMAS
,
JOHN
(
Ifor Cwmgwys
;
1813
-
1866
),
poet
;
b. at
Ael-yr-ychen
,
Pentre-gwenlais
,
Llandybie
(
Llandebïe
),
Carms.
, son of
Evan
and
Mary
Davies
, and ‘totally uneducated’ — he was 30 before he learned to write. At 10, he began to
work in the woollen factory
, afterwards owned by
Job
Davies
(
Rhydderch Farfgoch
,
1821
-
1887
,
eisteddfodwr
and
poet
); when about 16 he became a
collier
at
Tredegar
, afterwards working at
Dowlais
, at the
Werfa colliery
at
Aberdare
, and at
Cwm-twrch
,
Ystalyfera
. His lack of formal education did not prevent the continuous practice of verse composition throughout these wanderings: he
competed diligently at eisteddfodau
, and won prizes — but had to carry his compositions in his memory and hie to and fro to
Pentregwenlais
for
Job
Davies
to reduce them to writing. At
Cwm-twrch
, he m.
Rachel
,
Job
Davies
's daughter, and it was she who taught him to write; they lived at
Gilfach
on the banks of the
Gwys brook
(hence his pseudonym). They moved to
Troed-y-rhiw
(
Merthyr Tydfil
), and thence (
1863
) to the
Rhondda Valley
.
Shortness of breath
had for some time prevented him from working in the mine, but eisteddfodic prizes provided him with a livelihood of sorts. He d.
26 Dec. 1866
, and was buried in the graveyard of
Capel Rhondda
,
Pontypridd
. In his youth, he had been a copious
producer of
tribannau
; later on, he excelled at the
englyn
—
englynion
of his, e.g. won the prize at the national eisteddfod at
Aberdare
in
1861
. But he also produced work of larger compass, printed in the periodicals, e.g.
Yr Ymofynnydd
in
1849
and
1853
(like his father-in-law, he was a
Unitarian
),
Y Gwladgarwr
(when
Caledfryn
was its
editor
), and
Y Diwygiwr
,
1863
; see also
Gardd Aberdâr
, 223, 237. One of his ballads is item vii in
B. B.
Thomas
,
Baledi Morgannwg
. Two books of his verse were published:
Ceinion Glan Gwenlais
,
1862
, and
Diferion Meddyliol
,
1865
.
Bibliography:
-
Ifor Davies
(his brother-in-law) in
Yr Ymofynnydd
,
1893
, 84;
-
E. B. Morris
in
Cymru
, xxxvi, 221;
-
information and other refs. supplied by
Mr. W. W. Price
, Aberdare.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
