Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Llwyd, Richard

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691861Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 34 — Llwyd, Richard1893Daniel Lleufer Thomas

LLWYD, RICHARD (1752–1835), poet, known as 'the Bard of Snowdon,' was the son of John and Alice Llwyd of Beaumaris, Anglesey, where he was born in 1752. The early death of his father, a small coast trader, left the family in necessitous circumstances. After an education of nine months at the free school at Beaumaris, Llwyd at twelve years of age entered the domestic service of a gentleman in the neighbourhood, but utilised every spare moment for his self-improvement. By 1780 he was entrusted with the duties of steward and secretary to a Mr. Griffith of Caerhun, near Conway, then the only acting magistrate in that district. He finally acquired a competency, retired to Beaumaris, and published there his best-known poem, entitled 'Beaumaris Bay,' 1800, 8vo, with many historical and genealogical notes. His other productions were 'Gayton Wake, or Mary Dod; and her List of Merits,' Chester, 1804, 12mo, with a portrait of the author; and 'Poems, Tales, Odes, Sonnets, Translations from the British' (with notes), 2 vols. Chester, 1804, 8vo. Early in 1807 he removed to Chester, where he died 29 Dec. 1835, and was buried at St. John's Church. On the south side of the church wall a tablet was placed to his memory. Early in 1814 he married Ann, daughter of Alderman Bingley of Chester. She died in 1834.

A collected edition of his works, with a memoir and portrait, and an engraving of his residence, known as Bank Place, Chester, was published in 1837, Chester, 8vo. The notes by Llwyd show him to have been well versed in heraldry, genealogy, and Welsh archæology.

[The Poetical Works of Richard Llwyd; Williams's Eminent Welshmen, pp. 294, 295.]

D. Ll. T.