David Rees Griffiths (6 November 1882 – 17 December 1953), also known by his

bardic name A bardic name (, ) is a pseudonym used in Wales, Cornwall, or Brittany by poets and other artists, especially those involved in the eisteddfod movement. The Welsh language, Welsh term bardd ('poet') originally referred to the Welsh poets of the M ...

of Amanwy, was a Welsh poet, and an older brother of politician Jim Griffiths. Griffiths was born in Betws, Carmarthenshire, where his father was a

blacksmith A blacksmith is a metalsmith who creates objects primarily from wrought iron or steel, but sometimes from #Other metals, other metals, by forging the metal, using tools to hammer, bend, and cut (cf. tinsmith). Blacksmiths produce objects such ...

. He was the fifth of ten children. He spent his working life as a

coal Coal is a combustible black or brownish-black sedimentary rock, formed as rock strata called coal seams. Coal is mostly carbon with variable amounts of other Chemical element, elements, chiefly hydrogen, sulfur, oxygen, and nitrogen. Coal i ...

miner A miner is a person who extracts ore, coal, chalk, clay, or other minerals from the earth through mining. There are two senses in which the term is used. In its narrowest sense, a miner is someone who works at the rock face (mining), face; cutt ...

, beginning work in 1894 at the age of eight, after a brief education at the local

primary school A primary school (in Ireland, India, the United Kingdom, Australia, New Zealand, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, South Africa, and Singapore), elementary school, or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ...

. His father's smithy remained a gathering point for local intellectuals and political activists. On 28 January 1908 David was badly injured in a colliery explosion, which killed one of his brothers. In 1919 he published his first volume of poetry, ''Ambell Gainc''. The profits from the edited volume (1924) went towards helping Rev. Gomer Morgan Roberts supplement his scholarship to Fircroft Adult College near Birmingham. Griffiths edited the volume of selected works from local miners it 'easily sold a thousand copies' for a shilling each and gave the 24 year old Roberts £30 to help support him. He also wrote a weekly column in ''The Amman Valley Chronicle'' entitled ''Colofn Cymry'r Dyffryn'' (column for the Welsh speakers of the valley) using the pen name Cerddetwr (one who wanders aimlessly). In 1910, Griffiths won his first eisteddfod chair, going on to win a further fifty in local events. In the same year, his wife Margaret died of

tuberculosis Tuberculosis (TB), also known colloquially as the "white death", or historically as consumption, is a contagious disease usually caused by ''Mycobacterium tuberculosis'' (MTB) bacteria. Tuberculosis generally affects the lungs, but it can al ...

. Griffiths also had a career as a journalist, writing for the ''Amman Valley Chronicle'' and also for

BBC The British Broadcasting Corporation (BBC) is a British public service broadcaster headquartered at Broadcasting House in London, England. Originally established in 1922 as the British Broadcasting Company, it evolved into its current sta ...

Radio. In 1927, he travelled to

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

along with his son Gwilym, who was suffering from the same disease from which Gwilym would die in 1935. In 1928, Griffiths became caretaker at the local

grammar school A grammar school is one of several different types of school in the history of education in the United Kingdom and other English-speaking countries, originally a Latin school, school teaching Latin, but more recently an academically oriented Se ...

. "

David David (; , "beloved one") was a king of ancient Israel and Judah and the third king of the United Monarchy, according to the Hebrew Bible and Old Testament. The Tel Dan stele, an Aramaic-inscribed stone erected by a king of Aram-Dam ...

" a short film based on Griffiths' life, was made as part of the celebrations for the

Festival of Britain The Festival of Britain was a national exhibition and fair that reached millions of visitors throughout the United Kingdom in the summer of 1951. Labour Party cabinet member Herbert Morrison was the prime mover; in 1947 he started with the ...

. Amanwy played himself. As a younger man, he was portrayed by Ieuan Davies, who would later the youngest of Griffith's two daughters, Marged Mallt. Griffiths' eldest daughter Menna Ruth would teach at the local nursery school. She died in 2013.

Works

*''Ambell Gainc'' (1919) *''0 Lwch y Lofa'' (ed.) (1924) *''Caneuon Amanwy'' (1956)

References

Sources

Biography
{{DEFAULTSORT:Griffiths, David Rees 1882 births 1953 deaths Welsh-language poets 20th-century Welsh poets