Thomas Gwynn Jones or T. Gwynn Jones (10 October 1871 – 7 March 1949) was a leading Welsh

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

 poet, scholar, literary critic, novelist, translator, and journalist who did important work in Welsh

Welsh language

Welsh is a member of the Brythonic branch of the Celtic languages spoken natively in Wales, by some along the Welsh border in England, and in Y Wladfa...

 literature, Welsh education, and the study of Welsh folk tales in the first half of the twentieth century. He was also an accomplished translator into Welsh of works from English, German, Greek, and Irish.

Personal life

Jones was born in Betws-yn-Rhos, Denbighshire

Denbighshire

Denbighshire is a county in north-east Wales. It is named after the historic county of Denbighshire, but has substantially different borders. Denbighshire has the distinction of being the oldest inhabited part of Wales. Pontnewydd Palaeolithic site has remains of Neanderthals from 225,000 years...

, north Wales

Wales

Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

, near Abergele

Abergele

Abergele is a community and old Roman trading town, situated on the north coast of Wales between the holiday resorts of Colwyn Bay and Rhyl, in Conwy County Borough. Its northern suburb of Pensarn lies on the Irish Sea coast and is known for its beach, where it is claimed by some that a ghost ship...

. He was educated in Denbigh

Denbigh

Denbigh is a market town and community in Denbighshire, Wales. Before 1888, it was the county town of Denbighshire. Denbigh lies 8 miles to the north west of Ruthin and to the south of St Asaph. It is about 13 miles from the seaside resort of Rhyl. The town grew around the glove-making industry...

 and Abergele.

Career

In 1890 he was a sub-editor on the Welsh-language newspaper Baner ac Amserau Cymru (Y Faner). He wrote a famous biography of the great Liberal publisher Thomas Gee

Thomas Gee

Thomas Gee , was a Welsh Nonconformist preacher, journalist and publisher.Gee was born at Denbigh. At the age of fourteen he went into his father's printing office, but continued to attend the grammar school in the afternoons.In 1837 he went to London to improve his knowledge of printing, and on...

, whose work influenced Jones throughout his life. After many years as a journalist, Jones worked at the National Library of Wales

National Library of Wales

The National Library of Wales , Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales; one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies.Welsh is its main medium of communication...

, Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth

Aberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....

, and later as a lecturer in the Welsh department at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, where he became a professor in 1919.

He won the Chair

Chairing of the Bard

The Chairing of the Bard is one of the most important events in the Welsh eisteddfod tradition. The most famous chairing ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Friday afternoon of Eisteddfod week....

 at the National Eisteddfod of Wales

National Eisteddfod of Wales

The National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...

 in Bangor

Bangor, Gwynedd

Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

 in 1902 for his ode, Ymadawiad Arthur. His major work was an edition of the fifteenth century poet, Tudur Aled

Tudur Aled

Tudur Aled was a late medieval Welsh poet, born in Llansannan, Denbighshire.He is regarded as one of the finest poets of his period and was a master of cynghanedd....

.

A strong opponent of the First World War, Jones walked out of the Tabernacle Chapel in Aberystwyth when the minister offered a prayer for a British victory in the war.

Works

• Astudiaethau (1936)
• (trans.), Awen y Gwyddyl (1922) - translated Irish
  Irish language
  Irish , also known as Irish Gaelic, is a Goidelic language of the Indo-European language family, originating in Ireland and historically spoken by the Irish people. Irish is now spoken as a first language by a minority of Irish people, as well as being a second language of a larger proportion of...
  
   poetry.
• Bardism and Romance (1914)
• Beirniadaeth a Myfyrdod (1935)
• (trans.), Blodau o Hen Ardd (1927) - translated Greek
  Greek language
  Greek is an independent branch of the Indo-European family of languages. Native to the southern Balkans, it has the longest documented history of any Indo-European language, spanning 34 centuries of written records. Its writing system has been the Greek alphabet for the majority of its history;...
  
   epigrams.
• Brethyn Cartref (1913)
• Brithgofion (1944)
• Caniadau (1934)
• Cofiant Thomas Gee (1913)
• Cymeriadau (1933)
• Y Dwymyn (1944)
• Dyddgwaith (1937)
• Eglwys y Dyn Tlawd (1892)
• Emrys ap Iwan. Cofiant (1912)
• (trans.), Faust by Goethe (1922)
• Gwedi Brad a Gofid (1898)
• (ed.) Gwaith Tudur Aled, 2 vols.

, (1926)

• Gwlad y Gân a cherddi eraill (1902)
• John Homer (1923)
• Lona (1923)
• Llenyddiaeth Y Cymry (1915)
• Rhieingerddi'r Gogynfeirdd (1915)
• (trans.) Visions of the Sleeping Bard (1940)
• Welsh Folklore and Welsh Folk-custom (1930)