JONES, DAVID WATKIN (Dafydd Morganwg , 1832-1905), poet, historian, and geologist;
b. at Merthyr Tydfil, 14 Feb. 1832, he was the son of John Jones, a Cardiganshire man and cousin of Daniel Evans (Daniel Ddu o Geredigion, 1792-1846, q.v.). He was at work underground before he was 10, and after declining an offer to be educated for orders in the Church of England, he became, through his own perseverance, an underground fireman by 1859, and in the same year achieved his first eisteddfodic success. For thirty years he served the Compagnie Générale Transatlantique as coal inspector. He was a successful eisteddfodic competitor, his chief successes being at Machynlleth, 1870, Llanberis, 1878, and Cardiff, 1883. He contributed numerous articles to the Geninen and other magazines, and wrote a large number of the articles in Cymru (O.J.). In 1874 he published Hanes Morganwg, a history of Glamorgan. His best known work is Yr Ysgol Farddol, a textbook of Welsh prosody, first published in 1869. He also published a very useful Welsh grammar entitled Yr Ysgol Gymreig. He was the editor of the Welsh poetry column of the Cardiff Times for several years. In 1888 he became the first president of the Cardiff Cymmrodorion Society. He d. 25 April 1905 at Cardiff.
Bibliography:
- The Cardiff Times, 29 April 1905;
- Man. Guard., 26 April 1905;
- Gen., 1905, 198-201;
- Quart. Journ. Geol. Soc., vol. 56, xcv.
Author:
Dr Moelwyn Idwal Williams, M.A., Aberystwyth
