James Davies (Iago ap Dewi) (1800 – 16 April 1869) was a Welsh poet, and printer. He was born and grew up at Pencader in

Carmarthenshire Carmarthenshire (; or informally ') is a Principal areas of Wales, county in the South West Wales, south-west of Wales. The three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford. Carmarthen is the county town and administrative centre. ...

, where he worked from a young age as a farm labourer. When about 20 years of age, he began an apprenticeship with John Evans, a local printer, at the ''

Seren Gomer ''Seren Gomer'' was the first Welsh-language weekly newspaper. The first number was published in 1814 in Swansea by the local Baptists, Baptist minister and writer Joseph Harris (Gomer). Publishing history The weekly was intended to cover news ...

'' office. His poetry was encouraged by two colleagues: W. E. Jones ("Gwilym Cawrdaf") and William Thomas ("Gwilym Mai"). Around 1840, when Davies left Carmarthen, he went to work at Josiah Thomas Jones's printing office at

Cowbridge Cowbridge () is a market town in the Vale of Glamorgan, Wales, approximately west of the centre of Cardiff. The Cowbridge with Llanblethian community and civil parish elect a town council. A Cowbridge electoral ward exists for elections to ...

, where Jones had come from

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil () is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydfil, daughter of K ...

. He continued with the firm for the rest of his life, moving with Jones in 1842 to

Carmarthen Carmarthen (, ; , 'Merlin's fort' or possibly 'Sea-town fort') is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community (Wales), community in Wales, lying on the River Towy north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. At the 2021 United Kingdom cen ...

, and in 1854 to

Aberdare Aberdare ( ; ) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and River Cynon, Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tydf ...

. His works include a number of poems he published under the title ''Myfyrdodau Barddonol'' (1858). He died in April 1869.

References

1800 births 1869 deaths Welsh male poets Welsh poets {{wales-bio-stub