Author: Williams, Taliesin
Biography:
WILLIAMS, Taliesin (1787-1847: ODNB)
He lived a worthy and productive life--always in the shadow of his father Edward Williams (Iolo Morganwg, q.v.), but he willingly accepted the role of keeper of the flame. He was named for a legendary Welsh bard, supposed author of The Book of Taliesin. For his parentage and background see the headnote for his father. He was born in Cardiff, Glamorganshire, Wales, on 7 July 1787 and baptised at Flemingston on 16 Sept. He attended school in Cowbridge, where for some time his father kept a shop, and became a partner in his father’s trade as a stonemason. In 1813 after Edward Williams had become a leader of the Unitarian movement in Wales, he went to Neath to train as a schoolmaster with a Unitarian there. In 1816 he established a school in Merthyr Tydfil which proved very successful, and he lived there the rest of his life. On 16 Oct. 1821 he married Mary Petherick at Luxulion (or Luxullion), Cornwall, England; they went on to have six children, some of whom were baptised as non-conformists. He published both in English and Welsh. Part of the first poem in this bibliography was written for his pupils to recite at the school; his author’s preface tentatively proposes more poems about Welsh castles but there may not have been much encouragement. Another English poem, The Doom of Colyn Dolphyn, appeared in 1837. The Welsh original of the second poem here won a prize at the Gwent and Dyfed Eisteddfod of 1834 and was published in an English translation by Henry Bruce the following year. Williams devoted much of his time to perpetuating druidic theories and “traditions” invented by his father. He was a responsible custodian of his father’s papers, arranging for the publication of selections as the Iolo Manuscripts (1848) and having all the remaining papers bound into volumes which were eventually deposited in the National Library. He died after a long illness at Merthyr Tydfil on 16 Feb. 1847 and was buried at Flemingston on 20 Feb. His widow, with only one wage-earning child and no income apart from schoolteaching, applied to the RLF and was granted £40. (ODNB under “Williams, Edward, 1747-1826” 16 June 2024; DWB 16 June 2024; ancestry.com 16 June 2024; findmypast.com 16 June 2024; “Preface” to Cardiff Castle [1827]; RLF #1162) HJ
Other Names:
- Teliesin Williams
- Taliesin Williams
- Telliesin Williams