John Williams (
bardic name
A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement.
The Welsh term bardd ("poet") originally referred to the Welsh poets of the Middle Ages, who m ...
: Ab Ithel) (7 April 1811
–27 August 1862), was an antiquary and
Anglican
Anglicanism is a Western Christian tradition that has developed from the practices, liturgy, and identity of the Church of England following the English Reformation, in the context of the Protestant Reformation in Europe. It is one of th ...
priest. Born in
Llangynhafal,
Denbighshire Wales in 1811, he graduated from
Jesus College, Oxford in 1835 to become the Anglican curate of
Llanfor,
Merionethshire, where he married
Elizabeth Lloyd Williams. In 1843 he became
perpetual curate of
Nercwys,
Flintshire, and
rector
Rector (Latin for the member of a vessel's crew who steers) may refer to:
Style or title
*Rector (ecclesiastical), a cleric who functions as an administrative leader in some Christian denominations
*Rector (academia), a senior official in an edu ...
of
Llanymawddwy,
Merionethshire, in 1849.
Writing career
For much of his early life he adopted the pseudonym Cynhaval, after his birthplace in Llangynhafal,
Denbighshire, however took the pseudonym Ab Ithel from the surname of his grandfather, William Bethell. His first book entitled ''
The Church of England independent of the
Church of Rome in all ages'', concerned the relationship between the Church of England and
Rome. This book was published in 1836. It was followed by another in 1844 on the