COSLETT, COSLETT Carnelian (1834-1910), collier and poet;

Born 15 April 1834 at Nantyceisiaid or Nantygleisiaid, near Machen; the family (related to the old Methodist exhorter, Edward Coslet) soon afterwards removed to Bedwas. He took to writing poetry under the tutelage of Caledfryn, who was then minister of Groes-wen, and began competing at eisteddfodau, though he never succeeded at the national eisteddfod. He died 25 April 1910, at Pontypridd, and was buried in Groes-wen burial-ground, where later a monument to him (illustration in Cymru, O.M.E., xliii, 229) was erected.

His elder brother, WILLIAM COSLETT (Gwilym Elian; 1831 - 1904), a colliery official, was also a poet, and indeed, at several eisteddfodau defeated Islwyn, but was never successful at a national eisteddfod. He died 22 September 1904, at Caerphilly. The brothers, members of 'Clic y Bont' - 'the Pont(ypridd) clique' - as were also such men as Brynfab, Dewi Wyn o Essyllt, and Glanffrwd, are interesting examples of the poets, of no great individual distinction, who formed bardic schools or circles in the industrial towns of South Wales during the 19th century.

Author

• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Sources

• Y Geninen, March 1906 (on Gwilym Elian) and March 1911 (on Carnelian)
• numerous references in Cymru (O.M.E.) (typed index in U.C.N.W. Library)

Published date: 1959

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