John Blackwell (1797 – 19 May 1840), who used the bardic name Alun, was a

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it has ...

poet.

Life

Blackwell was born near

Mold A mold () or mould () is one of the structures certain fungi can form. The dust-like, colored appearance of molds is due to the formation of spores containing fungal secondary metabolites. The spores are the dispersal units of the fungi. Not ...

Flintshire , settlement_type = County , image_skyline = , image_alt = , image_caption = , image_flag = , image_shield = Arms of Flint ...

, in north

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

, and followed the trade of a shoemaker. He won prizes offered for poems and essays in the Welsh language and, supported by friends, he entered

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship S ...

, in 1824, graduating B.A. in 1828. In the autumn of that year, at the Royal Denbigh Eisteddvod, a prize was awarded him for his Welsh elegy on the death of Bishop Reginald Heber. In 1829 Blackwell was ordained to the curacy of Holywell. During his residence there he contributed largely to the columns of ''Gwyliedydd'', an Anglican periodical; and in 1832 he was presented with a prize medal at the Beaumaris Eisteddvod. In 1833 he was presented by Lord-chancellor Brougham to the living of Manor Deivy, in Pembrokeshire. Soon afterwards he became editor of an illustrated magazine in the Welsh, ''Y Cylchgrawn'', which he ran successfully. He died on 14 May 1840, and was buried at Manor Deivy Church. Blackwell's poems and essays, with a memoir of his life, were edited by the Rev. Griffith Edwards of Minera, in a volume entitled ''Ceinion Alun'', Ruthin, 1851.

References

;Attribution

External links

* 1797 births 1840 deaths People from Mold, Flintshire Welsh-language poets Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford 19th-century Welsh poets {{Wales-writer-stub