File TAA1/8 - General correspondence

Sir Evan Vincent Evans (1851-1934) was born in Nancaw, Llangelynnin, Merionethshire. In 1872 he left Wales for London, where he successfully pursued a career and eventually became manager of the Chancery Lane Land and Safe Deposit Company. He was a prominent member of Welsh cultural organisations and was secretary of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion and the National Eisteddfod Society, Chairman of the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire, and a member of the Royal Commission on the Public Records, as well as being on numerous educational councils; he wrote numerous articles for Welsh newspapers and was involved with several organisations formed for the benefit of Welsh soldiers during the 1914-1918 War.

Ganwyd Thomas Gwynn Jones (1871-1949), bardd, newyddiadurwr, cyfieithydd, nofelydd, dramodydd, beirniad ac ysgolhaig, yn y Gwyndy Uchaf, Betws yn Rhos, sir Ddinbych. Yn 1899 priododd Margaret Davies, a chawsant ferch a dau fab. Heblaw am addysg elfennol, yr oedd Jones yn hynanddysgedig, er iddo dderbyn gwersi mewn mathemateg, Lladin a Groeg gan gymydog. Rhwystrwyd ei uchelgais o astudio yn Rhydychen gan afiechyd, a gweithiodd fel newyddiadurwr gyda Baner ac Amserau Cymru, Y Cymro (y daeth yn olygydd arno faes o law), Yr Herald Gymraeg a phapurau newydd eraill rhwng 1891 a 1909, pan gymerodd swydd yn Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru yn Aberystwyth. Fe'i penodwyd yn ddarlithydd yn Adran y Gymraeg yng Ngholeg Prifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth, yn 1913, a'i ddyrchafu i Gadair Gregynog mewn Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg yn 1919; ymddeolodd yn 1937. Derbyniodd y CBE yr un flwyddyn. Dylanwadwyd Jones yn gryf gan y llenor Robert Ambrose Jones (Emrys ap Iwan,1851-1906) ac yn arbennig gan y newyddiadurwr a'r cyfieithydd Daniel Rees (1855-1931), gyda'r hwn y magodd berthynas glos. Yn ogystal ag ymhyfrydu mewn llenyddiaeth Gymraeg a Saesneg cyfoes ac o'r bedwaredd ganrif ar bymtheg, datblygodd ddiddordeb mewn llenyddiaeth Gymraeg yr oesoedd canol a'r cyfnod modern cynnar, a hefyd llên gwerin ac ieithoedd tramor, yn enwedig Gwyddeleg ac ieithoedd Celtaidd eraill; bu ar ymweliad ag Iwerddon deirgwaith rhwng 1892 a 1913, daeth i gysylltiad ag ysgolheigion Gwyddelig, a defnyddiodd lysenwau fel Fionn mhac Eóghain yn ei ohebiaeth atynt. Ei brif lwyddiant oedd fel bardd pwysicaf ei genhedlaeth, yn cyfansoddi'n bennaf yn y mesurau caeth. Cyfansoddodd a chyhoeddodd farddoniaeth yn y 1880au, ac enillodd y Gadair yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol yn 1902 a 1909 (am 'Ymadawiad Arthur a 'Gwlad y bryniau'); ymhlith gweithiau eraill o'i eiddo mae 'Tir na nOg', 'Madog' ac 'Y Dwymyn'. Cyfieithodd Jones waith Goethe, Ibsen, Shakespeare ac eraill i'r Gymraeg, a chyhoeddodd gyfieithiad Saesneg o Gweledigaethau y Bardd Cwsc Ellis Wynne (1670/1-1734). Mae ei brif gyhoeddiadau academaidd yn cynnwys astudiaeth ar waith y bardd Tudur Aled (bl. 1480-1526), ac roedd yn awdur nofelau, dramâu, cofiannau a llyfr taith hefyd. Yn ogystal, yr oedd yn beirniadu a darlithio mewn eisteddfodau yn rheolaidd, ac yn athro dylanwadol.

Stuart Rendel, 1st Baron Rendel (1834-1913), was an industrialist and politician. He was born in Plymouth, Devon, the son of James Meadows Rendel (1799-1856), a civil engineer, and Catherine Jane Rendel (née Harris, 1797-1884). He went to Eton, and graduated from Oriel College, Oxford, in 1856. Despite being called to the Bar, he eventually became the manager of the Sir William Armstrong & Co. gunnery company, being vice-chairman of the company by the time of his death. The links he formed with foreign governments in this capacity became useful when he was involved in peace negotiations between China and France in 1885. In 1880 he was elected the Liberal Member of Parliament for Montgomeryshire, becoming the chairman of the 'Welsh Parliamentary Party', 1888-1894. He was heavily involved with the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 1889, and with proposals for the disestablishment of the church in Wales. He was a close friend of W. E. Gladstone, and following Gladstone's resignation in 1894 he was elevated to the House of Lords as Baron Rendel. He was president of University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1895-1913, contributing £1000 a year to the College. He also donated land in Aberystwyth to serve as the site for the National Library of Wales, in 1897. In 1857 he married Ellen Sophy Hubbard (died 1912), and they had four daughters. He died on 4 June 1913 in London. George Wightwick Rendel (1833-1902), Lord Rendel's elder brother, was a civil engineer. A partner in William Armstrong & Co., he directed the ordnance works at Elswick for 24 years and designed warships. He was Civil Lord of the Admiralty, 1882-1887. He married twice and had nine children, including Sir George William Rendel. He died at Sandown, Isle of Wight, on 9 October 1902. Sir George William Rendel (1889-1979) was a diplomat. He was educated at Downside and at Queen's College Oxford, graduating in Modern History in 1911. He then entered the Diplomatic Service, serving in various European capitals. Amongst other positions he was head of the Eastern Department of the Foreign Office, 1930-1938, Ambassador to the Yugoslav Government in London, 1941-1943, and British Ambassador to Belgium, 1947-1950. He represented the United Kingdom on various committees of the United Nations. Although he retired in 1950, he was employed by the Foreign Office in various capacities, 1950-1964. In 1937, he crossed Arabia, travelling with his wife Geraldine (1884-1965). He wrote a volume of memoirs, The Sword and the Olive (1957). His daughter was Miss Rosemary Rendel. He was knighted in 1943 and died 6 May 1979. Lord Rendel's eldest daughter Rose Ellen married Professor H. C. Goodhart (died 1895) and they had one son, Harry Stuart Goodhart-Rendel (1887-1959), an architect and musician. He inherited the bulk of Lord Rendel's estate in 1913, and died, unmarried, in 1959.

Sir John Williams (1840-1926), royal physician, president of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, and chief founder of the National Library of Wales, was born in Gwynfe, Carmarthenshire. His private library included important manuscripts from the estate of Peniarth, Merionethshire. It was Sir John who, amongst others, pioneered the setting up of a Welsh hospital in South Africa during the Boer War. Amongst the many honours bestowed upon him during his lifetime, he was knighted by Queen Victoria in 1894.

J. Lloyd Williams (1854-1945) was an eminent botanist and musician. A leading expert on the alpine flora of Snowdonia and marine algae on the one hand, he was also well-known as a composer, conductor and critic, and is regarded as the foremost collector of Welsh folk songs.

He was born in Plas Isa, Llanrwst, 10 July 1854, the eldest of seven children of Robert and Jane Williams. Between 1868 and 1872 he served as a pupil teacher at the local British School, before studying at the Normal College, Bangor, 1873-1874. In 1875 he was appointed headmaster of the Board School at Garndolbenmaen. In the mid-1890s he worked with Professor John Bretland Farmer at the Royal College of Science, London, and from 1897 to 1912 was assistant lecturer in Botany at the University College of North Wales, Bangor. From 1912 to 1915 he was Adviser in Agricultural Botany to the Board of Agriculture at Bangor. He held the chair of Botany at University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, from 1915 to 1925. Much of his researches were published in the Annals of Botany and the Proceedings of the Royal Society.

Though his professional career centred on science, he was also a fine musician, a collector, composer, critic and conductor. While at Garndolbenmaen he wrote operas, the best known being Aelwyd Angharad and Cadifor with Llew Tegid (Lewis David Jones) as librettist. He was prominent in establishing the Welsh Folk-Song Society in 1906 and edited its Journal from the beginning until his death. He also edited the general music magazine Y Cerddor from 1931 to 1939 and, jointly with Arthur Somerville, compiled the two volumes of Sixteen Welsh Melodies, 1907 and 1909. To the end he continued his researches into the origins and development of Welsh music.

He published four volumes of autobiography, entitled Atgofion Tri Chwarter Canrif, and a study of three Welsh musicians, Y Tri Thelynor, which traces the careers of John Parry, Evan Williams and Edward Jones.

He was awarded the DSc degree of the University of Wales for his work on marine algae in 1908 and DMus (honoris causa) in 1936. He died 15 November 1945.

David Lloyd George, Liberal statesman and Prime Minister from 1916 until 1922, was born in Manchester in January 1863. His father died the following year and his mother took herself and her children to live with her brother Richard Lloyd (1834-1917) at Llanystumdwy, where David attended the National School. He qualified in law in 1884 and began to practice as a solicitor at Cricieth; he became known in his profession as a fierce advocate and an eloquent speaker. Together with his younger brother William George (1865-1967) he set up the family legal practice Lloyd George and George. In 1890 Lloyd George was elected Liberal MP for the Caernarvonshire Boroughs. His interests at this time were mainly those of Wales, including the Disestablishment of the Welsh Church and land reform; he was also prominent in the nationalistic movement Cymru Fydd which was founded in 1886. He also opposed the conduct of the South African war (1899-1902) and the 1902 Education Act. When the Liberals came to power in 1905 Lloyd George became President of the Board of Trade under Campbell-Bannerman and he soon proved himself an exceptional administrator and mediator. In 1908 he succeeded H. H. Asquith as Chancellor of the Exchequer, piloting the Old Age Pension Bill through the House of Commons, and, in 1909, he introduced his controversial first 'People's Budget', which emphasised social reform by raising revenue in novel ways, and which was rejected by the House of Lords. In 1911, he was successfully to introduce the National Insurance Bill. Upon the formation of a wartime coalition government in 1915, Lloyd George became Minister of Munitions, and in 1916 he succeeded first Lord Kitchener, as Secretary for War. On Asquith's enforced resignation in December 1916, Lloyd George became Prime Minister, steering Britain through the First World War and appearing prominently in the subsequent Paris Peace Conference of 1919. In 1921, he carried through the Anglo-Irish Treaty which created an autonomous Ireland. When, in November 1922, the Conservative members of the government took their decision to resign, thus making it impossible to continue the Coalition, Lloyd George also resigned his post as Prime Minister. Though he never held office again, he did however remain politically active for a number of years, even travelling to Germany to meet Adolf Hitler in 1936. He also published his War Memoirs in six volumes in the late 1930s. In 1945, the last year of his life, Lloyd George was created 1st Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor and Viscount Gwynedd. He died at Ty Newydd, Llanystumdwy on 26 March 1945 and was buried near the river Dwyfor. He remained the Liberal MP for the Caernarfon Boroughs at the time of his death. Lloyd George was twice married: his first marriage in 1888 to Margaret Owen, the daughter of Richard Owen of Mynydd Ednyfed Fawr, Criccieth, a prosperous Eifionydd farmer. Despite her husband's political activities in London, Margaret maintained strong links with Criccieth, and ensured that the first language of the home was Welsh. The marriage produced five children - Richard (1889-1968), Mair Eluned, who died in 1907 aged seventeen, Olwen, later Lady Olwen Carey-Evans (1892-1990), Gwilym (1894-1967), and Megan (1902-1966). His second marriage, in October 1943, was to his long-standing secretary and mistress, Frances Stevenson.<br>Both Gwilym and Megan followed their father into politics, and Gwilym held a number of ministerial posts at Westminster between 1942 and 1957. Megan was MP for Anglesey as a Liberal, 1929-1951, but she joined the Lloyd George family group of independent Liberal MPs at the constitutional crisis of August 1931. She served as the committed president of the tenacious Parliament for Wales campaign throughout its duration from 1950 until 1956. Her politics moved to the left in the 1950s, she joined the Labour Party in April 1955, and she was Labour MP for Carmarthen from 1957 until her death in 1966. Like her mother, Megan served as a Justice of the Peace in Criccieth and was also a member of the town council for many years. The family's affinity with Criccieth, and their interest (rooted in their Nonconformist upbringing) in religion and education, is reflected in the papers they collected relating to schools and chapels in the area.