Folk-Lore/Volume 27/Obituary/Sir John Rhys
OBITUARIES.
RT. HON. SIR JOHN RHYS.
On the 17th December last the world of scholarship suffered a serious loss by the sudden death of Sir John Rhys. He was born in 1840, in Cardiganshire. His parents belonged to that class of yeoman farmers which has produced so many distinguished sons of Wales, few or none of whom have been more greatly gifted, or have rendered more honourable or permanent service to the state and to their fellow-countrymen than Sir John Rhys. Through circumstances little favourable to learning he fought his way up to the University of Oxford, and there became the first occupant of the Chair when the Professorship of Celtic was established, the Principal of Jesus College, and one of the foremost philologists of his day, an authority whose reputation was everywhere recognized as of the highest rank. The recipient of abundant honours at home and abroad, he preserved to the end his intense sympathy with his Welsh fellow-countrymen in their political and social struggles: he was before all things a Welshman and a patriot. His labours on the various Government Commissions in which he took part from time to time have thrown much light on the history and condition of the Welsh peasantry, and have contributed valuable assistance in dealing with Welsh problems. The same sympathy was a prime condition of his success in his researches on the subject of Welsh folklore. Combined with it, his wide and intimate knowledge of the land, the people, and their history enabled him, not merely to collect their traditions, but to interpret those traditions and the ancient and deeply interesting literature wherein so many of them are embedded, and of which indeed they form an organic part. His Celtic learning was profound. By means of it he disentangled many a ravelled skein of tale and custom on both sides of St. George's Channel. The first results of his field-work were recorded in the early volumes of the Cymrurodor. He subsequently entered on similar enquiries in the Isle of Man, in connection with other work. These labours in the field formed the foundation of the book on Celtic Folklore, published in 1901, which may be regarded as his final, though by no means his only, contribution to the science of Folklore. His philological, archaeological, and historical works do not concern us here; but they will always be among the chief pillars of his fame.
For many years Sir John Rhys was a Vice-President of this Society. In 1891 he presided over the section of Myth, Ritual, and Magic at the International Folklore Congress of London. In 1900 he was President of the Anthropological section of the British Association. In 1907 he received the honour of Knighthood, and in 1911 the higher honour of being appointed a member of the Privy Council, in recognition of his many distinguished services to the state. His wit, his geniality, his innate kindness and simplicity of heart endeared him to all who knew him; and they included a distinguished company of scholars in this country and elsewhere. He was happy in his marriage. Lady Rhys shared his interests, and was for many years a companion and helpmate who contributed much to her husband's success, though latterly she had been laid aside by ill-health. Her loss was a blow from which he never seemed to have wholly recovered. The two daughters who survive him are the centre of a wide circle of sorrowing friends for whom he will be an enduring and inspiring memory.