Revd John Owen Williams (Pedrog, 1853-1932) NLW3364588

John Owen Williams (1853–1932) was a Welsh

Congregational Congregational churches (also Congregationalist churches or Congregationalism) are Protestant churches in the Calvinist tradition practising congregationalist church governance, in which each congregation independently and autonomously runs its ...

minister and poet who served as

Archdruid Archdruid () is the title used by the presiding official of the Gorsedd. The Archdruid presides over the most important ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod of Wales including the Crowning of the Bard, the award of the and the Chairing of the ...

. Pedrog was born in May 1853 in Madryn, near Pwllheli, the youngest son of Owen and Martha Williams, both of whom were in service locally. He had a tragic childhood. At the age of two he was sent to stay with his father’s sister Jane Owen, in Llanbedrog, when his elder brother contracted smallpox. A few years later his mother died in childbirth. His father then decided to go to sea as a ship’s steward but his first voyage seemingly ended in a Melbourne hospital where he died. Pedrog's memories of both his parents were few and hazy. While resident in Liverpool, Pedrog joined the Welsh Wesleyan church in Chester. From there he moved to a Congregationalist church in Liverpool, of which he later became minister of that church, and was ordained in May 1884. A prolific writer and Eisteddfod competitor, he won his first eisteddfod chair in 1887. Thereafter he won the Chair at the National Eisteddfod in 1891, 1895 and 1900. In 1928, Pedrog replaced Elfed as

, and officiated over the National Eisteddfod in that role until 1932. He also inaugurated the Gorsedd of Cornwall in 1928.

References

1853 births 1932 deaths Chaired bards Welsh Eisteddfod archdruids Welsh-language poets {{Wales-poet-stub