File TB5 - General correspondence

Identity area

Reference code

TB5

Title

General correspondence

Date(s)

  • 1910-1970 (Creation)

Level of description

File

Extent and medium

1 folder.

Context area

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

Biographical history

George Eyre Evans (1857-1939), Unitarian minister, historian and antiquary, was born in Colyton, Devon, on 8 September 1857, the son of the Rev. David Lewis Evans and his wife Ophelia (née Powell). He moved to Carmarthen in 1864 when his father became a tutor at Carmarthen College. He was educated at Queen Elizabeth's Grammar School, Carmarthen, Gwilym Marles's academy in Llandysul and Liverpool University. He became a Unitarian minister like his father, served as minister of the Church of the Saviour at Whitchurch, Shropshire, 1889-1897, and later devoted many years to unpaid service at the Unitarian chapel in Aberystwyth. For eighteen years he was a researcher for the Royal Commission on Ancient Monuments in Wales and Monmouthshire. He was a member of the Cambrian Archaeological Society from 1903 and was the secretary of the Carmarthenshire Antiquarian Society from its formation in 1906 until his death. He was elected to the Court of Governors of UCW Aberystwyth in 1919, and to the Councils of the National Museum of Wales in 1921 and the National Library of Wales in 1924. He lived in Aberystwyth from 1898-1928, then returned to Carmarthen, where he died on 9 November 1939. He published many books on historical, antiquarian and religious subjects, including a History of Renshaw Street Chapel, Liverpool (London, 1887), Whitchurch of Long Ago (Oswestry, 1893), Vestiges of Protestant Dissent (Liverpool, 1897), Colytonia (Liverpool, 1898), Cardiganshire, a Personal Survey (Aberystwyth, 1903), Lampeter (Aberystwyth, 1905) and Lloyd Letters (Aberystwyth, 1908). He also published a private magazine entitled Antiquarian Notes from 1898 until at least 1905. On his death he left a number of unpublished works still in manuscript.

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

(1880-1944)

Biographical history

Name of creator

(1892-1963)

Biographical history

Yr oedd Griffith John Williams (1892-1963) yn un o ysgolheigion ac athrawon Cymraeg mwyaf ei gyfnod.
Fe'i ganwyd yng Nghellan Court, sef Swyddfa Post Cellan, Ceredigion, 19 Gorffennaf 1892, yn fab i John ac Anne (neé Griffiths) Williams. Derbyniodd ei addysg gynnar yn ysgolion Cellan a Thregaron. Yn 1911, wedi derbyn Ysgoloriaeth Cynddelw, aeth i Goleg Prifysgol Cymru, Aberystwyth, gan raddio yn y Gymraeg yn 1914.
Rhwng 1914 ac 1915 bu'n athro yn ysgol sir Dolgellau, ac yna, rhwng 1915 ac 1916, yn ysgol sir y Porth, Rhondda. Yna dychwelodd i Aberystwyth i astudio testunau Cymraeg Canol, gan dderbyn gradd MA am ei draethawd 'The verbal forms in the Mabinogion and Bruts'. Yn y cyfamser, dechreuodd astudio llawysgrifau Llanover a roddwyd i'r Llyfrgell Genedlaethol yn 1917, a dechreuodd ymddiddori ym mywyd a gwaith Iolo Morganwg. Yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Castell-Nedd, 1918, enillodd ar y traethawd 'Beirdd Morgannwg hyd ddiwedd y ddeunawfed ganrif', ac yn 1919 cyhoeddodd erthyglau'n ymwneud â gwaith Iolo yn Y Beirniad. Yn sgîl hyn derbyniodd gymrodoriaeth gan Brifysgol Cymru i barhau gyda'i ymchwil yn y maes a, rhwng 1919 a 1920, bu'n gweithio dan oruchwyliaeth Syr John Morris-Jones. Yn 1921 derbyniodd y wobr yn Eisteddfod Genedlaethol Caernarfon am draethawd hir a manwl ar gysylltiad Iolo â'r un-ar-bymtheg o gywyddau a gynhwyswyd yn 'Y Chwanegiad' i Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym (1789).
Bu'n cystadlu yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol fel bardd hefyd. Enillodd yn Eisteddfod Corwen yn 1919 ar y tair telyneg, y soned, y darn barddonol i'w adrodd, ac ar gyfansoddi penillion telyn. Yn y Barri yn 1920 gwobrwywyd ei delyneg 'Gwladys Ddu' a'i soned 'Llanilltud Fawr'. Fodd bynnag, rhoes y gorau i farddoni wrth ymroi i ymchwilio i fywyd a gwaith Iolo a'i benodi yn 1921 yn ddarlithydd yn Adran y Gymraeg yng Ngholeg y Brifysgol, Caerdydd. Yn 1946 olynodd W. J. Gruffydd yng Nghadair y Gymraeg.
Ymhlith ei gyhoeddiadau ceir Gramadegau'r Penceirddiaid (1933), sef testun safonol o ramadeg y beirdd yn yr Oesoedd Canol gyda rhagymadrodd awdurdodol ar y ffynonellau llawysgrif ac ar addysg y beirdd. Gwnaeth hefyd astudiaeth drwyadl o waith ysgolheigion Cymraeg y Dadeni Dysg, a'i gampwaith yn y maes hwn oedd ei olygiad o Ramadeg Cymraeg Gruffydd Robert (1939). Gwnaeth hefyd gyfraniadau i lên a dysg yr ail ganrif-ar-bymtheg, y ddeunawfed a'r bedwaredd ganrif-ar-bymtheg, gan gynnwys astudiaethau safonol o waith Stephen Hughes, Charles Edwards, Edward Lhuyd, William Owen [-Pughe], ac eraill. Dangosodd le allweddol cymdeithasau Cymreig Llundain, yn enwedig y Cymmrodorion a'r Gwyneddigion, yn natblygiad llenyddiaeth Gymraeg y cyfnod diweddar. Serch hynny, mae'n sicr mai ar draddodiad llenyddol Morgannwg y cyflawnodd G. J. Williams ei waith llawnaf. Yn 1926, cyhoeddwyd traethawd buddugol 1921 o dan y teitl Iolo Morganwg a Chywyddau'r Ychwanegiad. Yn 1948 ymddangosodd Traddodiad Llenyddol Morgannwg, ac yn 1956, ar ôl astudio papurau ychwanegol a drosglwyddwyd i'r Llyfrgell Genedlaethol gan Iolo Aneirin Williams, ymddangosodd Iolo Morganwg: y gyfrol gyntaf.
Ar ôl ymddeol yn 1957 parhaodd i olygu'r cylchgrawn Llên Cymru, y bu ef yn bennaf gyfrifol am ei sefydlu yn 1950. Yn 1959 traddododd Ddarlith O'Donnell yng ngholegau Prifysgol Cymru ar y testun 'Edward 'Lhuyd'. Beirniadai yn yr Eisteddfod Genedlaethol, darlithiai i gymdeithasau lleol ac yn 1960 etholwyd ef yn llywydd cyntaf yr Academi Gymreig. Bu'n aelod o fwrdd golygyddol Geiriadur Prifysgol Cymru a, rhwng 1959 ac 1961, yn gadeirydd Pwyllgor Amgueddfa Werin Sain Ffagan. Roedd hefyd yn gasglwr brwd ar hen lyfrau Cymraeg.
Priododd ag Elizabeth Elen Roberts, Blaenau Ffestiniog, yn 1922. Bu hi'n gyd-fyfyriwr ag ef yng Ngholeg Aberystwyth rhwng 1910 ac 1914. Bu'n athrawes y Gymraeg yn ysgol sir y merched, Trefforest, Pontypridd, 1914-1918, ac yn ysgol sir Glynebwy, Mynwy, 1918-1922.
Bu Elizabeth Williams yn gymorth mawr i'w gŵr yn ei waith ymchwil, ac ymddiddorai hithau, fel yntau, ym mywyd Cymru a'r iaith Gymraeg. Roedd y ddau yn rhan o'r criw bychan yn y dau-ddegau a sefydlodd y Mudiad Cenedlaethol a ddatblygodd wedyn yn Blaid Cymru.
Bu Griffith John Williams farw 10 Ionawr 1963, ac Elizabeth Williams, 31 Ionawr 1979.

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

Biographical history

Frederick Elwyn Jones (1909-1989) was born in Llanelli, Carmarthenshire; in 1927 he went to the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and in the following year to Gonville and Caius College, Cambridge, to read history. He was President of the Cambridge Union in 1931. He was called to the Bar at Gray's Inn in 1935 and began to practice on the Welsh circuit in 1936. During his time in London he became involved in Labour politics and was introduced to many Fabians, including the Webbs, the Mitchisons and the Coles. In 1934 he visited Vienna, Austria, to assist the beleaguered Austrian Socialists and trade unionists who were being harassed. In 1936, as a representative of the International Association of Democratic Lawyers, he visited Germany, Greece, Romania and Hungary. His publications during the 1930s, Hitler's Drive to the East, The Battle for Peace and The Attack from Within were based upon these travels. In 1937 he married the artist and writer Pearl Binder. In the Second World War he was appointed Staff Captain in the Department of Legal Services and was involved in cases in North Africa, Sicily, and Italy. Whilst in the army he was adopted as the prospective Labour Party candidate for the Plaistow division of West Ham and was elected in the 1945 General Election. In August 1945 the Attorney General asked him to appear for the prosecution in the Nuremberg War Trials and he was delegated to prepare the prosecution case against Admiral Raeder. During the period of Conservative rule from 1951 to 1964 he built up his legal practice, being particularly interested in trades union and negligence cases. He also attended trials abroad on behalf of various organizations, such as the International Commission of Jurists. During the years 1950-1974 he represented West Ham South, London. Following the Labour victory in the 1964 General Election he was appointed Attorney General and, in this capacity, was involved with the discussions over Rhodesia. He prosecuted the Moors Murder case and opened inquiries into the Aberfan and Torrey Canyon disasters. He was also responsible for establishing the Law Commission under Sir Leslie Scarman. In 1974, following Labour's general election victory, Harold Wilson appointed him Lord Chancellor, a post he retained until 1979. He adopted the title Lord Elwyn-Jones of Llanelli and Newham. When Labour lost the 1979 General Election he became a Lord of Appeal. In 1983 his memoirs, entitled In My Time, were published. Lord Elwyn- Jones died on 4 December 1989, at the age of 80.
His brother, Dr Walter Idris Jones (1900-1977), was a distinguished scientist and sportsman. He captained the Welsh international rugby team in 1925. In 1933 he became the research manager of Powell Dyffryn Limited and was appointed director-general of research at the National Coal Board in 1946. In 1962 he became director-general of research and development (Coal Processing and Combustion) at the National Coal Board. He died unmarried in 1977.

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

Biographical history

George Maitland Lloyd Davies (1880-1949) (name changed from G. M. Temple Davies), a Calvinistic Methodist minister, was born in Liverpool, the son of John Davies, a tea merchant, and his wife Gwen, the daughter of John Jones (1796-1857) of Tal-y-sarn, Caernarfonshire, the celebrated Methodist preacher. In 1913, George Davies left his job as the manager of the Wrexham branch of the Bank of Liverpool to become secretary of the Welsh Town Planning and Housing Trust. In 1914, he and Richard Roberts of Blaenau Ffestiniog formed Fellowship of Reconciliation (Cymdeithas y Cymod), a Christian society to promote peace. They published a monthly periodical called Y Deyrnas, 1916-1919. Davies married Leslie Eleanor Royde-Smith in 1916, and they had one child, Jane Hedd. Davies was imprisoned several times, 1917-1919, as a conscientious objector. In 1923, he was elected as MP for the University of Wales as a Christian Pacifist. He was not returned in the next election, and in 1926 he was ordained as a minister in the Presbyterian Church of Wales. He was minister of the churches at Tywyn and Maethlon, Merionethshire, 1926-1930. He spent the following years working among the unemployed in Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire. In 1932, he moved to the Quaker settlement at Maes-yr-Haf in the Rhondda. The Welsh National Pacifist Society was established in 1937, with Davies as president. A pamphlet was published to coincide with the launching, titled Ymorthodwn a rhyfel (We reject war). He retired to Dolwyddelan, Caernarfonshire, in 1946.

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

Biographical history

Name of creator

Name of creator

Biographical history

Idris Llewelyn Foster (1911-1984), Celtic scholar, was born in Carneddi, Bethesda, Caernarfonshire. After attending Bethesda County School he went to the University College of North Wales, Bangor, graduating in Latin and Welsh, and was awarded a MA in 1935. He spent time in Dublin and Bonn before being appointed Head of the Department of Celtic at the University of Liverpool in 1936. After serving in Naval Intelligence during World War Two he became Jesus Professor of Celtic at Oxford and a Fellow of Jesus College, where he stayed from 1947 until his retirement in 1978. He was noted as a scholar and teacher in the fields of Medieval Welsh and Irish. He wrote on early Welsh poetry and was pre-eminent in the study of Medieval Welsh prose, his most important research being into the tale of Culhwch ac Olwen. He wrote numerous articles and essays and co-edited the volumes Culture and Environment (1963) and Prehistoric and Early Wales (1965). His edition of Culhwch ac Olwen was published posthumously by the University of Wales Press (1992), edited by Rachel Bromwich and D. Simon Evans. He also edited the Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1954-1977. He was involved with many organisations and committees, including the Standing Commission on Museums and Galleries and Cyngor yr Iaith Gymraeg. He was Chairman of the Council and President of the Court of the National Eisteddfod, Treasurer and Vice-President of the National Library of Wales, President of the Cambrian Archaeological Association and a member of the Governing Body of the Church in Wales. He was knighted in 1977. Following his retirement he lived in Carneddi and died there in 1984.

Archival history

Immediate source of acquisition or transfer

Content and structure area

Scope and content

Some one hundred and two letters, 1910-1970, mostly addressed to T. I. Ellis from various correspondents, including Sir John Ballinger, 1926, George Eyre Evans, 1927, George [M. Ll. Davies], 1929, E. Prosser Rhys, 1937, [Baron] Davies, Llandinam, 1944, G. J. Williams, 1944 (3), G[lyn] S[imon], 1957, 1968, Henry Brooke, 1959, 1962, T[homas] P[arry], 1961, Ifan [ab Owen Edwards], 1964, [Sir] Elwyn [Jones], Attorney General, 1966, [J.] Beverley [Smith], 1966, Idris Foster, 1967 (2), and Goronwy Daniel, 1969. Also included are a few copy letters from Ellis.

Appraisal, destruction and scheduling

Accruals

System of arrangement

Conditions of access and use area

Conditions governing access

Conditions governing reproduction

Language of material

  • English
  • Welsh

Script of material

Language and script notes

English, Welsh.

Physical characteristics and technical requirements

Finding aids

Allied materials area

Existence and location of originals

Existence and location of copies

Related units of description

Related descriptions

Notes area

Note

Title based on contents.

Alternative identifier(s)

Access points

Subject access points

Place access points

Name access points

Genre access points

Description control area

Description identifier

Institution identifier

Rules and/or conventions used

Status

Level of detail

Dates of creation revision deletion

Language(s)

Script(s)

Sources

Accession area