Watkin William Price, usually referred to as W. W. Price (4 September 1873 – 31 December 1967) was a notable local historian, schoolmaster and political activist at

Aberdare Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tyd ...

, South Wales.

Early life

Price was born on 4 September 1873 at 261 Cardiff Road,

Aberaman Aberaman is a village near Aberdare in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, south Wales. It was heavily dependent on the coal industry and the population, as a result, grew rapidly in the late nineteenth century. Most of the industry has now ...

, the son of Watkin and Sarah Price. His Welsh-speaking parents had moved to the area from Breconshire. He attended Blaengwawr Elementary School and after leaving formal education found work at the offices of ''Tarian y Gweithiwr'', the Welsh language weekly newspaper published at Aberdare. He became a pupil teacher at local schools before enrolling as a student at

University College Cardiff , latin_name = , image_name = Shield of the University of Cardiff.svg , image_size = 150px , caption = Coat of arms of Cardiff University , motto = cy, Gwirionedd, Undod a Chytgord , mottoeng = Truth, Unity and Concord , established = 1 ...

in 1895.

Teaching career

After three years teaching in Cardiff, he returned to the Aberdare area. He was successively appointed as headmaster of Llwydcoed (1912), Cap Coch (1921) and Blaengwawr (1924) schools; he retired from teaching in 1933.

Local historian

Price spent many years researching local history, an interest that began with preparing an essay for the national eisteddfod in 1920. His work remains of value to historians today and his manuscripts are kept 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 ...

Personal life

He married Margaret Williams in 1901 and they had four sons and one daughter.

References

1873 births 1967 deaths British local historians Aberdare 19th-century British historians 20th-century British historians 19th-century Welsh writers 20th-century Welsh writers {{Wales-bio-stub