TOY, HUMFREY (died 1575), Carmarthen merchant

The first New Testament in Welsh (1567 - William Salesbury), and the first Welsh translation of the Book of Common Prayer (also 1567 - bishop Richard Davies) were printed in London by Henry Denham ' at the costes and charges of Humfrey Toy.' It has been suggested that the latter was Humfrey Toy of Carmarthen and not his nephew, also Humfrey Toy, who was a bookseller in London and became under-warden of the Stationers' Company; on the other hand it is known that the London Humfrey Toy had Salesbury as his guest in his London house in 1567. Particulars taken from the will of Humfrey Toy, Carmarthen, are given in Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and Field Club, xi, 76-7; from these it is learnt that he was a wealthy merchant and tanner who lived at Carmarthen and who owned much property in the town itself and outside it. He is mentioned in official documents as early as 1542/3, and his will, dated 1 March 1575, was proved by his son Robert on 2 May the same year. His wife, by whom he had a large family, was Jane, daughter of David ap David, who was mayor of Carmarthen in 1523. Toy was mayor in 1557. He would naturally come to know Richard Davies, bishop of S. Davids, when the latter lived at Abergwili, and become acquainted with William Salesbury when the latter visited the bishop at Abergwili. Toy's interest in the Welsh language is further proved by the fact that he made provision in his will for the giving of a sermon or lecture three times a week for a year, some of the sermons to be in English and some in Welsh.

It has to be borne in mind, however, that William Salesbury took up residence in Humfrey Toy the printer's house in London in 1567, in order to see through the press his Welsh translation of the New Testament and that Humfrey Toy printed, in the same year, the second edition of Salesbury's A playne and a familiar Introduction, teaching how to pronounce the Letters in the Brytishe Tongue, now commonly called Welshe; at the end of the preface to this work are the words ' Soiourning at your house in Paules Churchyarde.' All this appears to prove that it was the London Toy who was responsible for 'the costes and charges.'

Author

• Sir William Llewelyn Davies, (1887 - 1952)

Sources

• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• G. Tucker Thomas, 'Humfrey Toy, Mayor of Carmarthen, A.D. 1557,'in Transactions of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society and Field Club, xi, 76-7
• J. Ballinger and J. Ifano Jones, The Bible in Wales (London 1906)
• Journal of the Welsh Bibliographical Society, ii, 238-43
• D. R. Thomas, The Life and Work of Bishop Davies and William Salesbury (1902)
• R. B. McKerrowA dictionary of printers and booksellers in England, Scotland and Ireland, and of foreign printers of English books 1557-1640 (London 1910)
• Heraldic Visitations of Wales and Part of the Marches between the years 1586 and 1613, under the authority of Clarencieux and Norroy, two kings at arms (Llandovery 1846), i

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20748837

Published date: 1959

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