JONES, WILLIAM (Ehedydd Iâl; 1815 - 1899), farmer and poet

Born 15 August 1815 at Cefn Deulin, Derwen, Denbighshire. He never went to school. When he was about 9 years of age he went as a farmer's boy to Llwyn Isaf and thence to work with John Davies of Plas-yn-Nerwen where ' the old man and I used to go on capping each other's poetry like mad.' From Plas-yn-Nerwen he went to Hendre, Gwyddelwern, where he obtained a copy of Bardd Nantglyn's grammar, and after spending seven or eight years there went to Llanelidan as bailiff to Mrs. Davies of Rhydmarchogion. There he wrote the well-known hymn beginning ' Er nad yw'm cnawd ond gwellt '; in his memoirs, ' Adgofion fy Mywyd,' he tells us how he came to write it. From Rhydmarchogion he went to Green Park, Llandegla. Then, he kept Mwynglawdd Mill for three years, moving on to Tafarn-y-Gath which was a farm and public house about a mile from Llandegla village; here he was a farmer and an unwilling inn-keeper until eight years later when the inn was converted into a farmhouse. He stayed there until he died 15 February 1899. His works were published in 1898 under the title, Blodau Iâl, sef Cynyrchion Barddonol William Jones (Ehedydd Iâl). Wedi Eu Casglu a'u Trefnu gan y Parch. John Felix.

Author

• David Gwenallt Jones, (1899 - 1968)

Sources

• 'Adgofion fy Mywyd' in Blodau Iâl sef cynyrchion barddonol William Jones (Ehedydd Iâl) (Holywell 1898)
• Evan Isaac, Prif Emynwyr Cymru (1925), 1925
• 'Ehedydd Iâl trwy Lygaid Plentyn' by E. Tegla Davies in Cymru (O.M.E.), 1918
• [ Y Geninen (Gŵyl Dewi), 1905, 69
• Bye-Gones, relating to Wales and the Border Counties, 1899, 45]

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q18535731

Published date: 1959

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