Thomas Edwards (Caerfallwch, 1779–1858), was a Welsh writer and

lexicographer Lexicography is the study of lexicons and the art of compiling dictionaries. It is divided into two separate academic disciplines: * Practical lexicography is the art or craft of compiling, writing and editing dictionary, dictionaries. * The ...

born in

Northop Northop () is a village, community and electoral ward situated in Flintshire, Wales, approximately 12 miles west of the city of Chester, midway between Mold and Flint, and situated just off junction 33 of the A55 North Wales Expressway. At th ...

Flintshire Flintshire () is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, the Dee Estuary to the north-east, the English county of Cheshire to the east, Wrexham County Borough to the south, and Denbighshire to the west. ...

, Wales. He wrote an ''Analysis of Welsh

Orthography An orthography is a set of convention (norm), conventions for writing a language, including norms of spelling, punctuation, Word#Word boundaries, word boundaries, capitalization, hyphenation, and Emphasis (typography), emphasis. Most national ...

'' and an ''English and Welsh Dictionary''.

Life and writings

At the age of 14, Edwards was apprenticed to a saddler named Birch, in whose family he cultivated his taste for Welsh-language literature. He married in 1801 or 1802. He moved to London and became a secretary to Nathaniel M. Rothschild. In 1838, Edwards was appointed with five others to improve Welsh orthography, in connection with the

Abergavenny Abergavenny (; , , archaically , ) is a market town and Community (Wales), community in Monmouthshire, Wales. Abergavenny is promoted as a "Gateway to Wales"; it is approximately from the England–Wales border, border with England and is loca ...

Eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

. In 1845 he published his ''Analysis of Welsh Orthography''. For many years he was a member of the '' Cymmrodorion'' and delivered several lectures there. One of them, entitled "Currency", later appeared in print. In addition, he was a frequent contributor to Welsh magazines.

Dictionary

Edwards's most notable work was his ''English and Welsh Dictionary'', published by Evans of

Holywell, Flintshire Holywell ( ; ) is a market town and community in Flintshire, Wales. It lies to the west of the estuary of the River Dee. The community includes Greenfield. In 2011, it had a population of 8,886. Etymology The name Holywell is literally ' + ' ...

in 1850. A second edition appeared in 1864, and then another in the United States. It is considered by some to be the best dictionary of the Welsh language.

Death

Family grave of Thomas Edwards in Highgate Cemetery

Thomas Edwards died at 10 Cloudesley Square, London, on 4 June 1858. He was interred in a family grave in

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in North London, England, designed by architect Stephen Geary. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East sides. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for so ...

, near the top end on the western side.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Thomas 1779 births 1858 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery 19th-century Welsh writers 19th-century Welsh people People from Northop