REES, THOMAS (‘Twm Carnábwth ’; 1806?-1876), pugilist;
b. at Carnábwth, Mynachlog-ddu, Pembs. He was one of the ‘Rebecca rioters,’ but his part in that affair has been greatly exaggerated. He won great fame as a pugilist, but in 1847, in a fight (when drunk) with a man named Gabriel Davies, he lost one eye. This sobered him, and he became a member of Bethel Baptist church at Mynachlog-ddu. He lived in a house called ‘Trial,’ and was found dead there 17 Nov. 1876; his tombstone in Bethel graveyard records that he was 70 years old.
Bibliography:
- H. Tobit Evans, Rebecca and her Daughters, 9-13;
- [and see now David Williams, The Rebecca Riots (Cardiff, 1955)]
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D., F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor.
