b.
4 July 1807
in a cottage called
Beudy Clegyrog
,
Llan-badrig
,
Anglesey
. He only had four days’ schooling, two when he was 5 years of age and two more fifteen years later. His mother died when he was 4 years of age, and in the spring of
1818
his father died also. As the children were in dire poverty the
Llandrygarn vestry
(for by now they were in that parish) found employment for the three eldest and put the two youngest,
Robert
and
William
, on the parish. After a month at
Tryfil Bach
,
Robert
was sent to
Pentre'r Bwâu
. There he and
Marged
, the
farmer
's daughter, fell in love and there followed the happiest period of his life. But
Marged
d. about
1823
and
Robert
left the place. He continued to work as a
farm labourer
for a time, then gave it up and became a
weaver
, working at
Bontnewydd
,
Llan-rhyddlad
,
Gerlan
,
Llanfairpwll
, and
Tan-y-fron
,
Llansannan
. He became such a master of the art of
weaving the herring-bone pattern
that he was asked to supply the mantle material presented to
princess
Victoria
at the
Beaumaris eisteddfod
,
1832
. He married
Grace
Williams
of
Ynys-y-gwyddyl
,
Llanfflewin
,
21 Nov. 1828
, and from that time on until
1857
lived at
Llanrhyddlad
, where he
kept a shop
and made a good income by the sale of his exquisitely worked material. While he was thus engaged and while, at the same time, he was trying to bring up seven children, he set to work to educate himself. After his family had retired for the night he would retire to his study to read and work until the small hours of the morning. Music and poetry first attracted his attention, then he learned
English
,
Greek
, and
Latin
, but his main interest lay in the
history and literature of Wales
. The upshot was that, in
1857
, the implements of his craft were laid aside and he went to
Denbigh
to work in
Gee
's office, mostly on the
Gwyddoniadur
and the dictionaries. Shortly after the death of his son,
Golyddan
(below),
Nov. 1862
, he went to
Bangor
to try and
earn a living by his pen
. Sometimes he was in great poverty, sometimes his circumstances improved. He was paid £360 by
Messrs. Mackenzie
for his
Hanes y Brytaniaid a'r Cymry
, won a number of prizes at the national eisteddfod — among others one of £100 at
Cardiff
in
1883
for the work published later as his
Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, 1300-1650
— and in
1883
was given a
Civil List Pension
of £150. In
1884
, being by this time old and ill, he went to live with his daughter
Catherine
(below) at
Holy-head
. In
1887
his wife d., and he went to live with his eldest daughter,
Elin
, at
Bethesda
,
where he d.
3 Oct. 1889
. Both were buried at
Holyhead
.
When he was 16 years of age he was admitted to membership by the
Methodists
. Later, he was given the opportunity of going to
S. Bees College
and being ordained as a clergyman, but after a careful study of the
Book of Common Prayer
and the
New Testament
he came to the conclusion that he could never accept holy orders which, in his view, smacked too much of popery. He concluded, moreover, that according to the
New Testament
‘every Christian Church should be independent.’ Accordingly, he became an
Independent
; but he very soon realised that the churches of this denomination were not altogether independent — a state of affairs which he endeavoured to rectify. He was accused of adopting the code of the
Plymouth Brethren
, and
Gwilym Hiraethog
thundered against him and his opinions in sermons delivered at the
Caernarvon
and
Llangefni
Assemblies of
July 1844
. At the
Aberffraw eisteddfod
,
1849
, he was made a
bard
and given the name
Gweirydd ap Rhys
. Quite certainly, there was no more industrious
Welsh
writer
than
Pryse
in the whole of the
19th cent.
; he contributed more than any one else to the
Gwyddoniadur
— sufficient, indeed, almost to fill a whole volume of that work; he produced five dictionaries; he edited a number of books, including a reprint of the
Myvyrian Archaiology
,
1870
, and of the
Bible
,
1876
; and he also edited the greater part of
Enwogion y Ffydd
. His weekly paper,
Papur y Cymry
,
1863-4
, was short-lived. His most important works are
Hanes y Brytaniaid a'r Cymry
(
1872-4
) and
Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymreig, 1300-1650
(
1885
). An outstanding characteristic of all his work is his independent judgement; he sought at all times to go to the fountain head and find out the truth for himself.
JOHN
PRYSE
(
Golyddan
;
1840
-
1862
),
poet
,
was the son of
Gweirydd ap Rhys
; b. at
Cae-crin
,
Llanrhyddlad
,
Anglesey
,
10 June 1840
. He was educated at the
British School
,
Llanrhyddlad
, after which he was sent to
R. E.
Williams
(‘
Apeles
’),
Independent minister
of
Llanddeusant
, to learn
Greek
and
Latin
. When he was 13 or 14 years of age he was apprenticed to
Dr.
Jones
of
Llanfachraeth
and
Holyhead
, but continued with his other studies. In
1855
he was sent to the
Andersonian College
,
Glasgow
, where he won two first prizes, then he returned to
Holyhead
to assist
Dr.
Jones
. During this period he was reading extensively in
French
,
English
,
Greek
, and
Latin
. At the end of
Sept. 1860
he went to
Edinburgh University
where he gained two prizes and the top place in the first
M.D.
examination. In the course of the summer holidays he returned to
Holyhead
as usual, where he worked very hard; he caught a
heavy cold
which settled on the lungs and brought on
tuberculosis
. He d. at his parents’ house,
Vale View
,
Denbigh
,
13 Nov. 1862
, and was buried in
S. Davids churchyard
there. He left 40,000 lines of poetry, mostly unsuccessful eisteddfod entries. His ambition, like that of most of the eisteddfod bards of those
days, was to write a great Christian epic in the Miltonic style. None of them succeeded in doing so, but his efforts are probably the most worthy.
CATHERINE
PRICHARD
(
Buddug
;
1842
-
1909
),
poet
,
was the daughter of
Gweirydd ap Rhys
; b. at
Cae-crin
,
Llanrhyddlad
,
Anglesey
,
4 July 1842
. She was admitted to the bardic order by
Clwydfardd
(q.v.)
at the
Denbigh eisteddfod
,
1860
, and was given the name
Buddug
, a name which she had made use of in
Udgorn Cymru
when defending her sex against the attacks made on it in the series ‘
Ffoledd Ffasiwn
.’ She m.
Owen
Prichard
(
Cybi Velyn
) of
Holyhead
,
2 Jan. 1863
. She wrote a number of lyrics, the best known being ‘
O na byddai'n haf o hyd
’ and ‘
Neges y Blodeuyn
.’ She d.
29 March 1909
. A collection of her poems was published in ‘
Cyfres y Fil
’ (O.M.E.).
