WARING
,
ELIJAH
(
c.
1788
-
1857
)
;
son of
Jeremiah
Waring
, of
Alton
,
Hampshire
. He came to
Wales
c. 1810
. He began to take an
interest in the history of Wales
, and in order to enlighten
Englishmen
in regard to that subject he
started an English periodical
at
Swansea
in
1813
,
The Cambrian Visitor: a Monthly Miscellany
, which had a life of about eight months. He was the principal
editor
, and it is said that he lost a lot of money on the venture. In
1814
he settled at
Neath
and, in
1817
, he m.
Deborah
, daughter of
Peter
Price
, and sister of
Joseph Tregelles
Price
(q.v.)
.
Waring
was a
Quaker
and used to
preach
in
Nonconformist chapels
in the neighbourhood. Later, he joined the
Wesleyan
body. He became well known as an
advocate of liberty in the state and in the church
, and he
took a prominent part in the movement for Parliamentary reform
; it was he who wrote several of the leading articles on this subject published in the new
Swansea
newspaper,
The Cambrian
. It is not surprising, therefore, that he became fond of the company of
Edward
Williams
(
Iolo Morganwg
)
. After the death of
Iolo
in
1826
Waring
wrote his reminiscences of him in a series of articles in
The Cambrian
. In
1850
, he published his famous biography,
Recollections and Anecdotes of Edward Williams, the Bard of Glamorgan
— pleasant and amusing, but quite certainly one of the most misleading books. In
1835
he moved to
Cardiff
and from there went to
Hotwells
,
Clifton
. He returned to
Neath
c. 1855
and d. at the home of his son on
Sunday, 29 March 1857
. He
wrote much English verse
; his daughter,
ANNA
WARING
(
1823
-
1910
), came to some prominence as a
hymnist
(see
D.N.B.
).
Bibliography:
-
The Monmouthshire Merlin
, 23 May 1829 -
27 November 1891
,
5 Oct. 1850
;
-
D. Rhys Phillips
,
The Hist. of the Vale of Neath
,
Swansea, 1925
,
1925
, 442-3.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Griffith John Williams, M.A., (1892-1963),
Gwaelod-y-garth, Cardiff
