HUGHES, ARTHUR (1878 - 1965), writer

Born 2 January 1878 at Bryn Melyn near Harlech, Meironnydd, the son of John Hughes Jones, a physician, of Clwt-y-Bont, Caernarfonshire (who dropped the surname Jones) and his wife, Annie Harriet (née Jones; Gwyneth Vaughan, novelist. He became a ' Welsh scholar ' at St. David's College, Lampeter, where he graduated. He edited two anthologies of poetry which in their day were extremely useful to students, viz. Cywyddau Cymru, 1908 and Gemau'r Gogynfeirdd, 1910. His translation of one of Drummond's works, Y ddinas heb ynddi deml, appeared in 1904; the second volume of Drummond's works was edited by Gwyneth Vaughan.

His mother died in 1910, and the following year he emigrated to the Welsh colony in Patagonia under the patronage of Eluned Morgan, mainly because of a nervous complaint. He was given a home for a long period at the home of Barbara Llwyd (Mrs. J.O. Evans) and maintained his own 'batch', i.e. a bachelor's cottage, until his marriage, 10 January 1918, to a widow, Mrs. H.M. Durrouzet, daughter of Erw Fair farm, and grand-daughter of W.E. Williams, founder of the district of Treorci in Chubut. They had 3 daughters, two of them good poets, one of whom, Irma, became a chaired bard of the colony and editor of Y Drafod.

When he became deaf, he retired from public life and lived a hermit's life among his books. His influence on the Welsh mind and culture in the colony as a scholar, writer, poet and harpist was considerable, but his chief contribution was as a literary critic. He died 25 June 1965.

Author

• Reverend Richard Bryn Williams, (1902 - 1981)

Sources

• Personal knowledge
• [ Taliesin, 38, 6-23]

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20821089

Published date: 2001

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