Dictionary of Welsh Biography



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WATKYNS, ROWLAND (d. 1663?), cleric and author; b. in Longtown, in that portion of Herefordshire which was formerly in the diocese of S. Davids. He was instituted vicar of Llanfrynach, Brecknock, in 1635, dispossessed in 1648, but restored after the Restoration. He d., possibly in 1663, in which year his successor, Thomas Lewis, was instituted.

As far as is known he published one work only, viz. Flamma sine Fumo: or Poems without Fictions (London, 1662). The poems, in Latin and English, are to various people of note in South Wales and the English Border, many of them to members of landed families. There is one ‘To his Honoured friend Mr. John Williams the most pious and learned Minister and Vicar of Devynnock and Luel.’ That he was married is proved by ‘An epitaph upon my beloved daughter Susanna Watkyns, who was born upon Ash Wednesday, 1655, and dyed the 5 of August, 1658.’

Bibliography:

  • Bradney, ‘Flamma sine Fumo,’ in Jnl. W.B.S., ii, 145-7.

Author:

Sir William Llewelyn Davies, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. (1887-1952), Aberystwyth