Robert Ellis (also spelt Elis; 3 February 1812 – 19 August 1875), also known by the

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 ...

Cynddelw, was a

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language family, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut P ...

poet, editor, biographer, lexicographer and eisteddfod adjudicator. He was born at Tyn y Meini, Bryndreiniog, Pen-y-Bont-Fawr, in the historic county of

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire, also known as ''Maldwyn'' ( cy, Sir Drefaldwyn meaning "the Shire of Baldwin's town"), is one of thirteen historic counties of Wales, historic counties and a former administrative county of Wales. It is named after its county tow ...

Mid Wales Mid Wales ( cy, Canolbarth Cymru or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands") or Central Wales refers to a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd ...

, where he initially worked as a farm labourer. His bardic name honoured the 12th-century poet Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr.

Ministry

Ellis was a Baptist minister, and is not to be confused with a

Calvinistic Methodist Calvinistic Methodists were born out of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival and survive as a body of Christians now forming the Presbyterian Church of Wales. Calvinistic Methodism became a major denomination in Wales, growing rapidly in the 1 ...

minister of the same name also during the 19th-century. Ellis served as a minister from 1836 to 1840 at Llanelian-yn-Rhos and

Llanddulas Llanddulas is a village in Conwy county borough, Wales, midway between Old Colwyn and Abergele and next to the North Wales Expressway in the community of Llanddulas and Rhyd-y-Foel. The village lies beneath the limestone hill of Cefn-yr-Og ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; cy, Sir Ddinbych; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. Its borders differ from the historic county of the same name. This part of Wales contains the country's oldest known evidence of habitation – Pontnewydd (Bontnewy ...

; from 1838 to 1840 Glyn Ceiriog in the

Ceiriog Valley The Ceiriog Valley ( cy, Dyffryn Ceiriog) is the valley of the River Ceiriog in north-east Wales. Its Welsh name, "Dyffryn Ceiriog", is the name of an electoral ward of Wrexham County Borough. The ward is the largest ward of the county borough b ...

. From 1847 to 1862, he served a
Carmel Chapel
Tredegar,

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

. Jones (1969) documented that, while in Tredegar, Ellis supported two notable local historians. First, in his capacity as one of the adjudicators at the local 1862 eisteddfod, Ellis praised the entry of ''Hanes Tredegar'' () by David Morris (Eiddil Gwent). Second, Ellis helped Evan Powell, who entered his ''History of Tredegar'' into the local 1884 eisteddfod, to blossom 'into a lover of books'. Ellis served from 1862 until his death in 1875 at

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a royal town, community and port in Gwynedd, Wales, with a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the eastern shore of the Menai Strait, opposite the Isle of Anglesey. The city of Bangor is ...

North Wales , area_land_km2 = 6,172 , postal_code_type = Postcode , postal_code = LL, CH, SY , image_map1 = Wales North Wales locator map.svg , map_caption1 = Six principal areas of Wales common ...

Publications

Ellis had his poem ''Yr Adgyfodiad'' published in 1849, in the Welsh-language newspaper ''

Seren Gomer ''Seren Gomer'' was the first Welsh-language weekly newspaper. The first number was published in 1814 in Swansea by the local Baptist minister and writer Joseph Harris (Gomer). Publishing history The weekly was intended to cover news from the wh ...

''. Many other poems, biographies, an autobiography, and a dictionary followed. His dictionary, ', which was published by H. Humphreys in

in 1868, was one of the first dictionaries to be published only in Welsh (rather than English and Welsh).

References

External links

Robert Ellis
at the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales ( cy, Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru), Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million boo ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Robert 1812 births 1875 deaths People from Montgomeryshire Welsh-language poets Welsh-language writers 19th-century Welsh writers 19th-century Welsh poets Welsh-speaking clergy