Author: Crebar, Elizabeth
Biography:
CREBAR, Elizabeth, formerly DAVIES, formerly MORRIS (1754-1833: findmypast.co.uk)
She was the eldest surviving daughter of Lewis Morris (1701-1765), the Welsh poet, scholar, antiquarian, and cartographer, and his second wife Anne Lloyd, who had married on 20 Oct. 1749. His wife had inherited an estate at Penbryn, Goginan, near Aberystwyth, and he retired there not long after their marriage. Although considered very wealthy in early life, at his death in 1765 he left only £65. Elizabeth probably married a Mr. Davies around 1775 but there is, as yet, no known record of the marriage. As Elizabeth Davies she married Richard Crebar (he may have been the son of William Crebar, Mayor of Aberystwyth) on 4 Aug. 1778 at Llanbadarn Fawr, Cardiganshire. There were at least two children from the marriage and probably more: Elizabeth (1779) and Jane (1783). Her poems went through three editions and all are rare. She was in receipt of parish relief 1816-20 and one of her poems, probably written in Dec. 1817, solicits "Winter Fuel" (firewood) from a wealthy neighbour, Roderick Richards of Penglais Hall. (He complied.) In 1826 she gave her age as 72 and stated that she had been blind for over 28 years. She died at Tymawr, Swyddfyon, and was buried on 22 Feb. 1833 at St. John the Baptist, Ystrad Meurig, aged 79, with the register recording that she was the eldest daughter of Lewis Morris of Penbryn. Her topographical poem "On Aberystwyth Sea Shore" had earlier identified her father. Although her occasional verse is mostly dull, one poem on the death of her brother Pryse Morris during a rebellion on board the slave ship Thomas is of historical interest. Her "The Poetess on the Loss of her Sight" records “Blind and destitute I’m left . . . Of my children all bereft,” and has a simple charm worth preserving. (findmypast.co.uk 27 Jan. 2021; ancestry.co.uk 27 Jan 2021; ODNB and DWB ["Morris, Owen"] 27 Jan. 2021) AA
Other Names:
- Mrs. E. Crebar