ROBERTS, ROBERT (SILYN) (Rhosyr ; 1871-1930), Calvinistic Methodist minister, poet, social reformer, tutor;
b. at Bryn Llidiart, Llanllyfni, 28 March 1871. Starting as a slate quarryman, he was educated at Bangor University College (B.A. 1899, M.A. 1901) and at Bala Theological College. He became minister of Lewisham (Welsh) Calvinistic Methodist church, 1901-5, and Tanygrisiau, Blaenau Ffestiniog, 1905-12. He was crown bard at the national eisteddfod, 1902, for a poem on ‘Trystan and Esyllt.’ He published, with W. J. Gruffydd, in 1900, Telynegion, which marks the beginning of a new lyrical period in Welsh poetry. He published Trystan ac Esyllt a Chaniadau Eraill in 1904. Other poems were published later, some under the pseudonym ‘Rhosyr,’ but they have not been collected with the exception of a short memorial selection, Cofarwydd, 1930. He published a pamphlet on the I.L.P.: Y Blaid Lafur Anibynnol, ei Hanes a'i Hamcan, 1908, and was elected Labour member on the Merioneth county council. He lectured in the United States and Canada on the Welsh campaign against tuberculosis. In 1912 he was appointed first secretary of the Welsh Appointments Board of the University of Wales. On the outbreak of the war in 1914, he was active and energetic in seeking commissions for Welshmen in the armed forces, and was appointed by the Government, 1918-22, commissioner for Wales to organise training for disabled ex-service men. From 1922 he was tutor of extra-mural classes under the University College of North Wales, and in 1925 he established the North Wales District of the Workers’ Educational Association. He travelled extensively in Europe and America, and wrote much for Y Glorian, Y Dinesydd Cymreig, The Welsh Outlook, etc. He published Gwyntoedd Croesion, 1924 (a translation of J. O. Francis's drama, Cross Currents), Bugail Geifr Lorraine, 1925 (a translation of Souvestre's novel), and in 1945, a romance, Llio Plas y Nos. He m., in 1905, Mary Parry, of London, and had two sons and one daughter. He d. at Bangor 15 Aug. 1930.
Bibliography:
- Y Traethodydd, April 1942;
- Liv. D.P., 18 Aug. 1930;
- Y Goleuad, 3 and 17 Sept. 1930;
- Cambria, Winter 1930;
- Papur Pawb, 2 April 1904;
- Yr Ymwelydd Misol, Aug. 1912;
- and his own works.
- [Authorised biography, Silyn, by David Thomas (Liverpool, 1956).]
Author:
David Thomas, O.B.E., M.A., (1880-1967), Bangor
