PARRY, ROBERT (Robyn Ddu Eryri ; 1804-1892), poet;
b. at Caernarvon, 7 Feb. 1804, son of a tailor who was also a bonesetter and a versifier. He was for a period a pupil at Evan Richardson's (q.v.) school and showed some signs of talent which won for him the patronage of Peter Bailey Williams (q.v.). He failed to master any craft or trade and spent years of his life wandering from place to place in Wales and England; he once visited the United States, but did not stay long. He was at different times, a schoolmaster, a lawyer's clerk, a preacher, a lecturer on temperance, an advocate of Mormonism, and, between 1850 and 1852, editor of Y Wawr, a periodical published in Cardiff. He was best known as a speaker on temperance; many doubted his sincerity, in view of his own conduct, but John Davies (Gwyneddon, q.v.), who knew him well, believed him to have been too harshly judged. His verse, although he wrote a great deal, is of little account. The most interesting thing he wrote is the autobiography which serves as an introduction to the collection of his poems Teithiau a Barddoniaeth Robyn Ddu Eryri, published by Hugh Humphreys, Caernarvon, in 1857. This is rambling, but it is a picture of the man. Bangor MSS. 636, 752-5, 978, 1286, 1549, 3839, 4870, 5277, at U.C.N.W., are in his hand. He d. at Ludlow, Nov. 4 1892, at the age of 88, and was buried at Ludford.
Bibliography:
- Teithiau a Barddoniaeth Robyn Ddu Eryri, (Caernarvon, 1857);
- Gen. (Gŵyl Dewi), 1893, 32, 46;
- Cymru (O.M.E.), iii, 257.
Author:
Edward Morgan Humphreys, O.B.E., M.A., (1882-1955), Caernarfon
