David Samwell (15 October 1751 – 23 November 1798) was a Welsh naval surgeon and poet. He was an important supporter of Welsh cultural organisations and was known by the pseudonym Dafydd Ddu Feddyg.

Personal history

Samwell was born in

Nantglyn Nantglyn is a small village and community in Denbighshire, Wales. The population of the community taken at the 2011 census was 323. It is situated in a rural location about away from the nearest town, Denbigh. Nantglyn is located on a small r ...

, a small village in Denbighshire to William Samuel, a local vicar. His grandfather,

Edward Samuel Edward Samuel (Penmorfa, Caernarfonshire 1674 – ?Llangar 1748), Welsh clergyman, poet and translator, was encouraged by Humphrey Humphreys, then bishop of Bangor, to train for the ministry, which he undertook at Oriel College, Oxford, from where, ...

was also a notable Welsh author and poet. Samwell became a surgeon in the Royal Navy and between 1776 and 1779 he sailed around the world with Captain

James Cook James Cook (7 November 1728 Old Style date: 27 October – 14 February 1779) was a British explorer, navigator, cartographer, and captain in the British Royal Navy, famous for his three voyages between 1768 and 1779 in the Pacific Ocean an ...

on board . As a ship's surgeon it was Samwell's job to ensure the crew's health did not deteriorate over the long journeys to the Pacific Ocean. Aboard the ship Samwell wrote of his travels, including some poetry. The journal of his experiences aboard Captain James Cook's ship provide a detailed account of the third and last voyages of Cook to the Pacific Ocean. Part of the journal Samwell, David. ''A Narrative of the Death of Captain James Cook''. London, 1786. describes the death of Captain Cook at the hands of natives on the Sandwich Islands in 1779. He also wrote an unpublished journal, ''Some Account of a Voyage to the South Seas 1776-1777-1778'' which is a work of social anthropology. Between his voyages, Samwell lived in London. There he and other Welshmen would meet, and he joined the Gwyneddigion Society which had formed in 1770.McCririck (1963) p. 31 The society was initially formed for men from North Wales, but gradually the membership grew to accept all Welshmen. The society celebrated with a rowdy ball every

St David's Day Saint David's Day ( cy, Dydd Gŵyl Dewi Sant or ; ), or the Feast of Saint David, is the feast day of Saint David, the patron saint of Wales, and falls on 1 March, the date of Saint David's death in 589 AD. The feast has been regularly celebr ...

and Samwell was described as one of the noisiest. He was described as 'tall, stout, black-haired, pock-marked, fierce looking, wondrous friendly in company' and when teased he would close one eye and look for a pot to throw at his tormenter. In 1792 Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams) organised here the first meeting of Gorsedd Beirdd Ynys Prydain at Primrose Hill in London. Samwell was present at the event which saw a stone circle set and a sword was ceremonially sheathed as a symbol of peace after the events of the French Revolution. The next year though saw Britain enter conflict with France during the French Revolutionary Wars, and in 1798 Samwell was treating English prisoners of war in Versailles. He returned to Britain in the autumn of that year and died in London in November.

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* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Samwell, David 1751 births 1798 deaths 18th-century Welsh writers 18th-century British male writers People from Denbighshire Welsh surgeons 18th-century Welsh medical doctors 18th-century Welsh poets Royal Navy Medical Service officers James Cook