Robert Williams (1810–1881) was a Welsh Anglican clergyman and Celtic scholar.
Life
Robert Williams, born at
Conway, Carnarvonshire, on 29 June 1810, was the second son of Robert Williams, perpetual curate of
Llandudno
Llandudno (, ) is a seaside resort, town and community in Conwy County Borough, Wales, located on the Creuddyn peninsula, which protrudes into the Irish Sea. In the 2011 UK census, the community – which includes Gogarth, Penrhyn Bay, Craigsi ...
. He matriculated from
Christ Church, Oxford
Christ Church ( la, Ædes Christi, the temple or house, '' ædēs'', of Christ, and thus sometimes known as "The House") is a constituent college of the University of Oxford in England. Founded in 1546 by King Henry VIII, the college is uniqu ...
, as
servitor
In certain universities (including some colleges of University of Oxford and the University of Edinburgh), a servitor was an undergraduate student who received free accommodation (and some free meals), and was exempted from paying fees for lecture ...
, on 10 June 1828, and graduated BA in 1832 and MA in 1836. After a short curacy at
Llangerniew in West Denbighshire (1833–6), he became in 1837 vicar of
Llangadwaladr
Llangadwaladr () is a small village in south-west Anglesey, Wales, located around 2 miles east of Aberffraw and 3 miles south of Gwalchmai, Anglesey, Gwalchmai. It is part of the community (Wales), community of Bodorgan.
The village is a short ...
, to which was added in 1838 the perpetual curacy of
Rhydycroesau
is a tiny village on the English-Welsh border, west of Oswestry on the B roads in Zone 4 of the Great Britain numbering scheme, B4580 road. It lies partly in the Shropshire parish of Oswestry Rural; the other part is in Montgomeryshire, Powys. ...
, near Oswestry. The former he held till 1877, and the latter till 1879, when he was appointed to the rectory of
Culmington
Culmington is a village and civil parish in south Shropshire, England, about east of Craven Arms and north of Ludlow. The village is about above sea level, beside the River Corve, just east of the B4365 road. The 2011 Census recorded the par ...
, Shropshire. This, together with an honorary canonry at St. Asaph conferred upon him in 1872, he held till his death.
He died, unmarried, on 26 April 1881. He was buried on 2 May at Culmington, where a memorial stone with a Welsh and Cornish inscription, provided by public subscription, was placed in 1899.
[Thomas 1900, p. 441.]
Works
While still an undergraduate, Williams evinced his taste for Welsh research by winning, in 1831, a prize offered by the
Cymmrodorion Society
The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion ( cy, Anrhydeddus Gymdeithas y Cymmrodorion), often called simply the Cymmrodorion, is a London-based Welsh learned society, with membership open to all. It was first established in 1751 as a social, cultural ...
for the best "biographical sketch of the most eminent Welshmen since the Reformation". The society had his production translated into Welsh and printed under the title of ''Enwogion Cymru''. In 1836 the English version was issued with additions (London, 12mo), and it was subsequently developed into ''Enwogion Cymru: A Biographical Dictionary of Eminent Welshmen'' (Llandovery, 1852, 8vo), which was then the best work of its kind relating to the principality.
His most scholarly work, however, was his ''
Lexicon Cornu-Britannicum: a Dictionary of the Ancient Celtic Language of Cornwall'' (Llandovery, 1865, 4to). In this lexicon copious examples with English translations are given from such
Cornish works as are still extant, but its special feature was the addition of synonyms and cognate words from
Welsh
Welsh may refer to:
Related to Wales
* Welsh, referring or related to Wales
* Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales
* Welsh people
People
* Welsh (surname)
* Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peop ...
,
Breton
Breton most often refers to:
*anything associated with Brittany, and generally
** Breton people
** Breton language, a Southwestern Brittonic Celtic language of the Indo-European language family, spoken in Brittany
** Breton (horse), a breed
**Ga ...
,
Erse,
Gaelic
Gaelic is an adjective that means "pertaining to the Gaels". As a noun it refers to the group of languages spoken by the Gaels, or to any one of the languages individually. Gaelic languages are spoken in Ireland, Scotland, the Isle of Man, and Ca ...
, and
Manx. The author announced his intention of "completing the subject" by the issue of a Cornish grammar, but this never made its appearance. When the
catholic epistles
The catholic epistles (also called the general epistlesEncarta-encyclopedie Winkler Prins (1993–2002) s.v. "katholieke brieven". Microsoft Corporation/Het Spectrum.) are seven epistles of the New Testament. Listed in order of their appearance in ...
and gospels (''Liherieu hag Avieleu'', London, 1870) were first brought out in Breton, with parallel Welsh and Gaelic versions, Williams was responsible for a considerable portion of the Gaelic text. He also discovered at
Peniarth
Peniarth is a village and community in Meifod, Powys, Wales. It is 87.1 miles (140.2 km) from Cardiff and 156.9 miles (252.5 km) from London.
It is represented in the Senedd by Russell George (Conservative). It is part of the Montgomery ...
a previously unknown Cornish drama, being the ''
Ordinale de Vita Sancti Mereadoci''.
Williams's next considerable undertaking was the editing, with translations and glossaries, of ''
Selections from the Hengwrt MSS. preserved in the Peniarth Library''. The first volume, which was completed in 1876 (London, 8vo), contained the Welsh text of the legend of the
Holy Grail
The Holy Grail (french: Saint Graal, br, Graal Santel, cy, Greal Sanctaidd, kw, Gral) is a treasure that serves as an important motif in Arthurian literature. Various traditions describe the Holy Grail as a cup, dish, or stone with miracul ...
.
[cf. Nutt 1888, pp. 3, 38.] Of the second volume, containing the Welsh versions of the ''Gests of Charlemayne'', ''Bown o' Hamtown'', the ''
Elucidarium
''Elucidarium'' (also ''Elucidarius'', so called because it "elucidates the obscurity of various things") is an encyclopedic work or ''summa'' about medieval Christian theology and folk belief, originally written in the late 11th century by Honor ...
'', and other religious compilations of the Middle Ages, two parts only were issued (in 1878 and 1880 respectively) during Williams's lifetime, but the translation was completed with critical and bibliographical notes by
G. Hartwell Jones, thereby completing the second volume in 1892. According to the ''
Dictionary of National Biography
The ''Dictionary of National Biography'' (''DNB'') is a standard work of reference on notable figures from British history, published since 1885. The updated ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography'' (''ODNB'') was published on 23 September ...
'', this, in spite of its great value, is perhaps the least satisfactory of Williams's works, as his reading of the text is not always to be relied upon.
Williams supplied a translation of the Welsh poems contained in the ''
Book of Taliesin
The Book of Taliesin ( cy, Llyfr Taliesin) is one of the most famous of Middle Welsh manuscripts, dating from the first half of the 14th century though many of the fifty-six poems it preserves are taken to originate in the 10th century or before ...
'' (a thirteenth-century manuscript preserved at Peniarth) for
William Forbes Skene
William Forbes Skene Writer to the Signet, WS FRSE Society of Antiquaries of Scotland, FSA(Scot) Doctor of Civil Law, DCL Legum Doctor, LLD (7 June 1809 – 29 August 1892), was a Scotland, Scottish lawyer, historian and antiquary.
He co-founde ...
's ''Four Ancient Books of Wales'' (Edinburgh, 1868, 8vo). He also wrote a history of his native town, published in 1835 under the title of ''
The History of Aberconway'' (Denbigh, 8vo). He was for many years a member of the editorial committee of the
Cambrian Archæological Association, and contributed papers to the ''Journal'' of that society as well as to the now defunct ''
Cambrian Journal
The Cambrian Period ( ; sometimes symbolized Ꞓ) was the first geological period of the Paleozoic Era, and of the Phanerozoic Eon. The Cambrian lasted 53.4 million years from the end of the preceding Ediacaran Period 538.8 million years ago (m ...
''.
References
Sources
* Jones Thomas (1959)
"Williams, Robert (1810-1881), cleric, Celtic scholar and antiquary" ''
Dictionary of Welsh Biography
The ''Dictionary of Welsh Biography'' (DWB) (also ''The Dictionary of Welsh Biography Down to 1940'' and ''The Dictionary of Welsh Biography, 1941 to 1970'') is a biographical dictionary of Welsh people who have made a significant contribution to ...
''. University of Wales Press. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
* Meyer, Robert T. (1969)
"The Middle-Cornish Play "Beunans Meriasek"" ''Comparative Drama'', 3(1): pp. 54–64.
* Nutt, Alfred (1888). ''
Studies on the Legend of the Holy Grail''. London: Harrison and Sons. pp. 3, 38.
* Roberts, T. R. (1908).
"Williams, Robert, 1810-1881". ''Eminent Welshmen: A Short Biographical Dictionary''. Vol. 1. Cardiff & Merthyr Tydfil: The Educational Publishing Company, Ltd. pp. 586–587.
* Thomas, D. L.; Jones, Beti (2004)
"Williams, Robert (1810–1881), Celtic scholar and antiquary" ''Oxford Dictionary of National Biography''. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
* ''
Archæologia Cambrensis''
Third Series, No. LX October 1869. pp. 408–409.
* ''Archæologia Cambrensis''
Fourth Series.—Vol. XII, No. XLVI April 1881. p. 172.
* ''
Bye-gones
''Bye-gones'' was a 19th-century quarterly antiquarian journal which covered Wales and the border counties. It was first published in the 1871, by Woodall, Minshall and Company of Oswestry. John Askew Roberts (1826-1884) (who had previously serve ...
''
5 July 1899 p. 155.
Attribution:
*
External links
* Ockerbloom, John Mark, ed
"Williams, Robert, 1810-1881" ''
The Online Books Page
The Online Books Page is an index of e-text books available on the Internet. It is edited by John Mark Ockerbloom and is hosted by the library of the University of Pennsylvania. The Online Books Page lists over 2 million books and has several feat ...
''. Retrieved 12 September 2022.
{{Authority control
1810 births
1881 deaths
19th-century Welsh writers
19th-century antiquarians
Welsh antiquarians
Welsh lexicographers
19th-century Welsh Anglican priests
Burials in Herefordshire