WILLIAMS
,
HUGH
(
1722?
-
1779
),
cleric and author
;
b. in
Llanengan
,
Llŷn peninsula
, in
1721 or 1722
(he was christened
18 Jan. 1721/2
), the son of
William
Williams
(or ‘
Jones
’)
and
Catherine
his wife —
William
Morris
suggests (
Morris Letters
, i, 308) that he was connected with the
Bodvel
family, but
Foster
enters ‘pleb.’ against his father's name. According to a letter which he wrote to
Richard
Morris
in
1764
, he was educated at
Friars
,
Bangor
, and he adds that he was there at the same time as
Goronwy
Owen
. He entered
Jesus College
,
Oxford
, in
June 1740
, ‘aged 18,’ and graduated in
1744
. He became
curate
of
Llanengan
(
1745-51
),
rector
of
Llanfrothen
and
perpetual curate
of
Beddgelert
(
1751-4
), and
rector
of
Aberffraw
from
15 Feb. 1754
(when the
Morrises
had hoped to get the living for
Goronwy
Owen
) until his death.
Hugh
Williams
and
Goronwy
were ‘dear’ friends, according to the latter; in the collection of
Goronwy
's letters there are several references to him, and there is one letter addressed to him; but except for
Goronwy
's last letter to
Richard
Morris
(
1767
), in which he enquired whether
Hugh
Williams
was still alive, they all belong to the years
1752-5
. As
J. H.
Davies
has pointed out, the letter usually believed to have been sent to
Hugh
Williams
in
1751
was in fact a copy of a
1751
letter sent by
Goronwy
to
William
Elias
(q.v.)
and forwarded by him (probably in
1754
) to
Hugh
Williams
. Moreover, there is nothing in the index to the
Morris Letters
to indicate that
Hugh
Williams
was in the inner circle of the
Morris
brothers — if that index is searched (under the name ‘
Aberffraw
’) it will be found that
Hugh
Williams
and
William
Morris
were on occasional visiting terms; but when
Hugh
Williams
wrote to
Richard
Morris
(
Add. Morris Letters
, p. 624) in
1764
it was as one stranger to another. It is not easy to see how
William
Elias
could have been
Hugh
Williams
's
instructor in poetry
, as suggested by
J. H.
Davies
— all we know for certain is that
Elias
had criticised some of
Williams
's verse, and that
Goronwy
had defended his friend; very little of
Williams
's poetry has survived. The popular belief that
Hugh
Williams
was a member of the
Cymmrodorion Society
in
1751
is also incorrect — his name appears for the first time in the
1759
list of members. In
1773
he published a
Welsh
translation of an
English
sermon, and in
1776
Rhannau Detholedig o'r Salmau Cân gyd a'r Ystyr o honynt o flaen pob Salm
. Tradition has it that he was a good
preacher
, and his letter to
Richard
Morris
shows that he was
keenly interested in the Welsh language
. He d. in
1779
, and was buried
3 July
at
Aberffraw
.
Bibliography:
-
Entries from the parish registers of Llanengan and Aberffraw, sent by
Mr. E. D. Jones
;
-
Foster
,
Alumni Oxonienses
;
-
A. Ivor Pryce
,
Diocese of Bangor During Three Centuries,
seventeenth to nineteenth century inclusive being a digest
of the registers of the bishops
, 1929
;
-
The Letters of Goronwy Owen (1723–69)
,
1924
(
J. H. Davies
ed.), index;
-
Cambrian Bibliography
, Llanidloes, 1869
, 547, 575;
- and the references given above.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
