PHILLIPS
,
EDGAR
(‘
Trefîn
’;
1889
-
1962
),
tailor, school-teacher, poet, and Archdruid of Wales, 1960-62
;
b.
8 Oct. 1889
in
Rose Cottage
,
Tre-fin, Pembs.
, only child of
William Bateman
and
Martha
(née
Davies
)
Phillips
. His father was a
sailor
but after leaving the sea he was a
baker
in
Porthcawl
.
Trefîn
's mother died in
1898
after she had been a patient for 5 yrs. in
Saint David's Hospital
in
Carmarthen
, and he was adopted by his father's sister,
Mary
, wife of
John
Martin
, a
sailmaker
and formerly a
sailor
.
English
was the main language of the home and
English
was the language of the day-school, but thanks to the
Sunday school
he retained his
Welsh
. He tried to run away to sea when he realised that the family intended apprenticing him to a
tailor
. When his father re-married the family moved to
Cardiff
and the 11-yr. old boy entered
Sloper Road school
. The
Welsh master
,
(
Sir
)
John
Rowland
(see below)
, took an interest in him and arranged for him to borrow
Cymru
and other Welsh periodicals. His father and stepmother tried to wean him from his interest in the
Welsh
language, but his Welshness was reinforced when he had the company of
Owen Morgan
Edwards
(
DWB
, 192-3)
on a train journey to
Pembrokeshire
. When he was 14 yrs. old he returned to
Tre-fin
as an
apprentice tailor
to his uncle
J.W.
Evans
, and as the workshop was a nursery for poets and a school in the
cynganeddion
,
Trefin
mastered
Yr Ysgol Farddol
(
Dafydd Morganwg
), the poets’ primer. For a year after completing his apprenticeship he worked as a
tailor
in
Letterston
and
Whitland
. He returned to
Cardiff
to specialize in cutting and he became a
tailor of ladies’ wear
. In
1912
he moved to
London
, working in several clothes shops before returning to
Cardiff
as
master tailor
in one of the largest shops in the city. In
Aug. 1914
he
opened a tailor's business
in partnership with
Trefor
Roberts
. He joined the
Royal Garrison Artillery
in
1915
, becoming a
bombardier
. He was badly injured when one of the beams of a cellar fell on his head during an attack and he was moved from one hospital to another until his release from the army. He found temporary employment with
Seccombes Company
in
Cardiff
. With his health deteriorating he moved to the neighbourhood of
Blackwood, Mon.
, and
worked in a shop
in
Bargoed
. In
1921
he went to
Caerleon College
and gained a
teacher's certificate
with distinction. He was
Welsh teacher
in
Pengam primary school
1923-24
before being appointed
Welsh master
in
Pontllanfraith secondary school
where he taught until he retired in
1954
. He was
one of the pioneers of broadcasting in Welsh
and his
detective
‘
Bili bach
’ was a hero to children of that period. He was a
regular competitor at
eisteddfodau
. Having already won 33 bardic chairs and a
crown
, he won the
chair
at the national
eisteddfod
in
1933
and he was
Keeper of the sword
of the
Gorsedd
of Bards
from
1947 to 1960
, when he was elected
archdruid
. He published
Trysor o gân
, poems for children in four volumes (
1930-36
),
Caniadau Trefîn
(
1950
) and
Edmund Jones, ‘The Old Prophet
’ (
1959
).
He m. three times: (1),
Hannah
Clement
, a
nurse
of
Tredegar
, in
1915
. She d.
24 Apr. 1943
. They had one daughter. He m. (2),
Violet Annie
Burnell
,
schoolteacher
,
13 Apr. 1946
. The marriage was dissolved unopposed at
Trefîn
's petition
Nov. 1950
. He m. (3),
Maxwell
Fraser
,
24 Oct. 1951
. He d.
30 Aug. 1962
.
Bibliography:
-
Brinley Richards
,
Cofiant Trefîn
, Swansea, 1963
(1963)
- [papers in N.L.W.].
Author:
Evan David Jones, F.S.A., (1903-87), Aberystwyth.
