LEWIS, DAVID (1848-1897), lawyer;
b. 22 Nov. 1848 in the S. Thomas suburb of Swansea, eldest son of John Lewis, J.P. He was educated at Swansea and Llandovery, whence he proceeded to Caius College, Cambridge, where he graduated B.A. in 1872. He was called to the Bar from the Inner Temple in Nov. 1873, and joined the South Wales circuit. In 1888 he was appointed assistant commissioner to conduct inquiries into charities in Denbighshire. He became the first recorder of Swansea in 1891, a post which he relinquished in 1893 on being appointed a county court judge for the Mid Wales circuit. He was an active member of the Cymmrodorion society, and was elected to its council in 1877. He was keenly interested in the publication of old Welsh texts and records, and was the author of several historical articles including ‘The Welshman of English Literature,’ in Cymm., 1882, and Red Dragon, 1886; ‘The English Statutes relating to Wales,’ in Wales 1894-5; ‘The Court of the President and Council of Wales and the Marches 1478-1575,’ in Cymm., 1897; ‘Notes on the Charters of Neath Abbey,’ in Arch. Camb., 1887; ‘A Progress through Wales in the 17th century’ (i.e. of Henry, duke of Beaufort), in Cymm., 1883. Several of these were subsequently published as pamphlets. He also edited the 4th ed. of C. Fowler's The Law of Collieries, 1884. He d. 9 Sept. 1897.
Bibliography:
- Asaph (Em. W.);
- Cymm., 1897;
- Foster, Men at the Bar, 1896;
- Ww
- J. R. Tanner, Hist. Reg. of the University of Cambridge;
- N.L.W. MS. 9264.
Author:
Griffith Milwyn Griffiths, M.A., Aberystwyth
