DAVIES, ROBERT HUMPHREY ('Gomerian '; 1856 - 1947), correspondent of Welsh and English newspapers in U.S.A.;

Born at Penygogwydd, near Dinorwig, Caernarfonshire, son of Humphrey R. Davies and Janet (née Hughes). He was taken as a child by his parents to America, and lived for some years at Dam, near Slatington, Pa. When he was sixteen he was apprenticed as a compositor in the offices of Y Wasg, Pittsburgh, Pa., where, apart from fifteen months in New York and Utica, he spent the remainder of his long life. He married, 2 February 1887, Annie Evans of Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania.

'Gomerian' was connected with many Welsh and English newspapers published in the U.S.A., and developed into a fluent writer in both languages. He wrote much to Y Drych; when The Druid began publication at Scranton, Pennsylvania, he soon became one of its chief correspondents. He was very active in Welsh circles in Pittsburgh; for fourteen years he was secretary of the St. David's Day Society and he was twice elected its president. He arranged several eisteddfodau and visited Wales to invite David Lloyd-George to attend the international eisteddfod to be held in the U.S.A. At the suggestion of Lloyd George he formed the American Gorsedd of Bards of which he became the recorder; he served, e.g. as recorder, of the Gorsedd held at San Francisco in 1915. He also was mainly responsible for the publication of the Royal Blue Book which contains an account of the proceedings of the international eisteddfod held at Pittsburgh in 1913. He died at Pittsburgh in 1947.

Author

• Robert (Bob) Owen, (1885 - 1962)

Sources

• The Cambrian (Utica), 1903, 430-2
• The Royal blue book prize productions of the Pittsburgh International Eisteddfod, July 2, 3, 4 and 5, 1913 (Pittsburgh 1916), 1913, 73-5
• Y Drych, 15 November 1947
• Who's who in Wales, (1921)
• personal knowledge

Additional Links

• VIAF: 106905525
• Wikidata: Q20751822

Published date: 2001

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/