Famous People from the Vale

Read about the Blue Plaques in Barry

Iolo Morganwg

Edward Williams (1747 – 1826)

His work

Edward Williams from Llancarfan, near Cowbridge, spent most of his life working as a stonemason in the Vale of Glamorgan and in London. A critic and a bard he was known in literary circles as Iolo Morganwg. A volume of his work entitled Poems, Lyric and Pastoral was published in English in London in 1794.

A colourful character

Iolo Morganwg was a very interesting and complex character and known as a bit of a forger. During his lifetime he invented several traditions. Iolo set up a number of businesses but ended up in Cardiff prison for bankruptcy several times. It's believed that his flamboyant character was down to laudanum, a form of the drug opium, which he took throughout his life.

Famous creations

Include the Gorsedd of Bards, which he created in 1792, when he persuaded some of the London Welsh to hold the Gorsedd of Bards on Primrose Hill. The Gorsedd did not receive a very warm welcome in Wales initially, and he had to wait until 1819 before any formal relationship between the Gorsedd and the Eisteddfod was established. That year, the Eisteddfod was held in the Ivy Bush Hotel in Carmarthen.

After his death

When Edward Williams passed away in his home in Flemingston in the Vale of Glamorgan in 1826, a number of interesting manuscripts, letters and volumes on a wide-ranging number of subjects were found. 

Present day

A large collection of his work can be found in the National Library of Wales.In Cowbridge opposite the Town Hall there is a memorial plaque inscribed with the words ‘Y gwir yn erbyn y byd’.

Grace Williams (1906 – 1977)

Composer 

Education

Grace Williams was born in Barry in 1906 and was educated at Barry Grammar School. Her father was a music teacher and the conductor of the Romilly Boys Choir.

It was when the National Eisteddfod came to Barry in 1920 that Grace Williams decided that she would like to pursue a career in music. She won the Morfydd Owen Scholarship and went on to study music at University College, Cardiff.

From there she went on to the Royal College of Music where she studied composition with Vaughan Williams. Another scholarship enabled her to go Vienna where she studied with Egon Wellez. In 1931 she decided to return to Britain where she took up a teaching post in London and it was there her friendship with Benjamin Britten began to develop.

After the war 

Grace worked for the BBC Schools Department but she suffered from persistent bouts of ill health and eventually decided to return to Barry where she spent the rest of her life. Her last work, Two Choruses for chorus, harp and two horns is set in the seaport of Barry. Grace Williams died in 1977.

Orchestra

Grace Wiliams wrote mainly for orchestra and voices with orchestra, although she wrote a number of memorable songs. Welsh folk tunes often feature in her work for voices and in the Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes written for the orchestra.

Many of her works echo the rhythms and cadences of old Welsh poetry. One of Grace Williams’s most famous works is the Penillion for orchestra, which was comissioned for the National Youth Orchestra of Wales in 1955.

Works include:

Fantasia on Old Welsh Nursery Tunes (1940); Sinfonia Concertante for Piano & Orchestra (1940); Symphony No 1 (1943); Sea Sketches for String Orchestra (1944); The Dancers (1951); Penillion (1955); Symphony No 2 (1956); Ave Maris Stella (1973).

Gwynfor Evans

Politician (1912 - 2005)

Born in Barry

In 1912 where his father owned and ran the well-known department store Dan Evans. Gwynfor was educated in the town before going on to study Law in University College Aberystwyth and Oxford University. Aged 18 he decided to learn Welsh.

A student politician

Where he set up a branch of Plaid Cymru. Gwynfor Evans was also a pacifist and a Christian and when the Second World War broke out he refused to join the armed forces. 

In 1945 he was elected President of Plaid Cymru and in 1966 he won a by-election in Carmarthen following the death of Labour MP, Dame Megan Lloyd George. This was a major turning point in the politics of Britain as this was Plaid Cymru’s first seat in Westminster.

Campaigning

During much of the 50's he campaigned to secure an assembly for Wales and was a vociferous opponent of the intention to drown the village of Cwm Celyn to provide a water reservoir for the city of Liverpool.

In 1970, he lost his seat to Labour candidate, Gwynoro Jones but four years later, along with two new Plaid Cymru members Dafydd Ellis Thomas and Dafydd Wigley, he became an MP once again. In 1979 he lost his seat and never returned to Westminster although he remained very active in Welsh politics.

Striking

In 1980, he decided to go on hunger strike in an effort to persuade Margaret Thatcher’s government to establish a Welsh-language television channel. With support throughout Wales many people decided not to renew their television licenses in protest. The Government eventually agreed to establish what became S4C as a three-year experiment in 1982.

Retired

In 1981, he retired as President of Plaid Cymru and devoted much of his time to writing. He wrote a number of books in both Welsh and English. Gwynfor Evans passed away in his home in Pencarreg, Carmarthenshire, on 21 April 2005 at 92 years of age.