ROBERTS, WILLIAM JOHN (Gwilym Cowlyd ; 1827-1904), poet, printer, bookseller, bibliophile, and eccentric;
b. at Trefriw, Caerns., the son of John Roberts, Tyddyn Gwilym. He was a nephew of Ieuan Glan Geirionydd (q.v.). He founded the Gorsedd of Geirionydd (1865), in opposition to the established Gorsedd of the Bards, which he denounced as heretical. Under his presidency as ‘Chief Bard Positive,’ Arwest Glan Geirionydd, a counter-eisteddfod, with its own gorsedd, was held annually near lake Geirionydd, near the reputed birthplace of Taliesin. Among his productions are ‘Mynyddoedd Eryri’ and Murmuron.’ He published the life and works of Ieuan Glan Geirionydd, the works of Owen Gethin Jones (q.v.), and Diliau'r Delyn (old penillion). He d. early in Dec. 1904 at Llanrwst, and was buried on 8 Dec. in S. Mary's churchyard there.
Bibliography:
- Asaph (Em. W.);
- E. D. Rowlands, Dyffryn Conwy a'r Creuddyn, 125-8;
- Owen Williams, Awduron Sir Ddinbych, 1937;
- Baner, 7 and 14 Dec. 1904;
- Gen. (Gŵyl Dewi), 1907;
- Gen., April 1906.
Author:
Henry Parry Jones, M.A., Llanrwst
