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STEPHENS, THOMAS (1821 - 1875), antiquary and literary critic

Name: Thomas Stephens
Date of birth: 1821
Date of death: 1875
Spouse: Margaret Elizabeth Stephens (née Davies)
Parent: Rachel Stephens (née Williams)
Parent: Evan Stephens
Gender: Male
Area of activity: Eisteddfod; History and Culture; Literature and Writing
Author: David Jacob Davies

Born 21 April 1821 at Tan-y-gyrchen (known as Ty-to-cam =the house with the crooked roof), Pont Neath Vaughan, Glamorganshire, son of Evan Stephens, boot-maker, and Margaret, daughter of William Williams, Unitarian minister of Blaen-gwrach. He spent about three years at the school kept by John Davies (1795 - 1858) at Newcastle Emlyn, and this was all the systematic education he ever had. In 1835 he was apprenticed to a chemist at Merthyr Tydfil; in the fullness of time he became the owner of the shop. He was high constable of Merthyr in 1858, managing director of the Merthyr Express, and the driving force in the foundation of the town library.

After 1840 he came to the fore as an eisteddfod enthusiast, and in 1848, at the Abergavenny eisteddfod, won the prize with a lengthy dissertation on Welsh literature in the days of the early medieval poets. This dissertation was published in 1849 under the title, The Literature of the Kymry, and was his most celebrated work. It was the first critical appreciation of the literature of that period to become known to European scholars. Other works by him were: 'The history of the Trial by Jury in Wales' (N.L.W.); Madoc: an essay on the Discovery of America by Madoc ap Owen Gwynedd in the Twelfth Century (he lost the prize for this essay at Llangollen in 1858 owing to a bit of knavery by the committee, but it was published under the editorship of Llywarch Reynolds in 1893); Orgraff yr Iaith Gymraeg, 1859, jointly with Gweirydd ap Rhys. He also contributed articles to the Beirniad, 1861-3, and Archæologia Cambrensis, 1851-3. He was a fine example of the scientific approach to literary history.

He died 4 January 1875 and was buried in Cefn Coed Cymer cemetery.

Author

Reverend David Jacob Davies, (1916 - 1974)

Sources

Yr Ymofynnydd, memorial number, August 1949
Yr Ymofynnydd, June 1895, with portrait
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
The literature of the Kymry being a critical essay on the history of the language and literature of Wales (London 1876)
Charles Wilkins, The history of Merthyr Tydfil (Merthyr Tydfil 1867), 258-60
NLW MSS 904-66, 990, 993-6, 1808, 5175, and others

Published date: 1959

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