Robert Ellis (also spelt Elis; 3 February 1812 – 19 August 1875), also known by the

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 ...

Cynddelw, was a

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic languages, Celtic language of the Brittonic languages, Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales by about 18% of the population, by some in England, and in (the Welsh c ...

poet, editor, biographer, lexicographer and

eisteddfod In Welsh culture, an ''eisteddfod'' is an institution and festival with several ranked competitions, including in poetry and music. The term ''eisteddfod'', which is formed from the Welsh morphemes: , meaning 'sit', and , meaning 'be', means, a ...

adjudicator. He was born at Tyn y Meini, Bryndreiniog,

Pen-y-Bont-Fawr Pen-y-Bont-Fawr (or Penybontfawr) is a small village and Community (Wales), community in the Afon Tanat, Tanat valley in Montgomeryshire, Powys, Wales. In the 2011 UK Census it had a population of 440 with 58% born in England and 39% in Wales (m ...

, in the historic county of

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

Mid Wales Mid Wales ( or simply ''Y Canolbarth'', meaning "the midlands"), or Central Wales, is a region of Wales, encompassing its midlands, in-between North Wales and South Wales. The Mid Wales Regional Committee of the Senedd covered the unitary autho ...

, where he initially worked as a farm labourer. His bardic name honoured the 12th-century poet

Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr Cynddelw Brydydd Mawr ("Cynddelw the Great Poet"; or ; 1155–1200), was the court poet of Madog ap Maredudd, Owain Gwynedd (Owen the Great), and Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd, and one of the most prominent Welsh poets of the 12th century. Cyn ...

Ministry

Ellis was a Baptist minister, and is not to be confused with a

Calvinistic Methodist The Presbyterian Church of Wales (), also known as the Calvinistic Methodist Church (), is a denomination of Protestant Christianity based in Wales. The Calvinistic Methodist movement has its origins in the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival ...

minister of the same name also during the 19th-century. Ellis served as a minister from 1836 to 1840 at Llanelian-yn-Rhos and

Llanddulas Llanddulas is a village in Conwy county borough, Wales, midway between Old Colwyn and Abergele and next to the North Wales Expressway in the community of Llanddulas and Rhyd-y-Foel. The village lies beneath the limestone hill of Cefn-yr-Og ...

Denbighshire Denbighshire ( ; ) is a county in the north-east of Wales. It borders the Irish Sea to the north, Flintshire to the east, Wrexham to the southeast, Powys to the south, and Gwynedd and Conwy to the west. Rhyl is the largest town, and Ruthi ...

; from 1838 to 1840

Glyn Ceiriog Glyn Ceiriog () is the principal settlement of the Ceiriog Valley and a community in Wrexham County Borough, north-east Wales. Glyn Ceiriog translates simply as Ceiriog Valley, though there are other villages in the valley. The village and comm ...

in the

Ceiriog Valley The Ceiriog Valley () is the valley of the River Ceiriog in north-east Wales. Its Welsh name, "Dyffryn Ceiriog", is the name of an electoral ward of Wrexham County Borough. The ward is the largest ward of the county borough by area and forms a s ...

. From 1847 to 1862, he served a
Carmel Chapel

Tredegar Tredegar (; ) is a town and community situated on the banks of the Sirhowy River in the county borough of Blaenau Gwent, in the southeast of Wales. Within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire, it became an early centre of the Industrial R ...

South Wales South Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the Historic counties of Wales, historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire ( ...

. Jones (1969) documented that, while in Tredegar, Ellis supported two notable local historians. First, in his capacity as one of the adjudicators at the local 1862 eisteddfod, Ellis praised the entry of ''Hanes Tredegar'' () by David Morris (Eiddil Gwent). Second, Ellis helped Evan Powell, who entered his ''History of Tredegar'' into the local 1884 eisteddfod, to blossom 'into a lover of books'. Ellis served from 1862 until his death in 1875 at

Caernarfon Caernarfon (; ) is a List of place names with royal patronage in the United Kingdom, royal town, Community (Wales), community and port in Gwynedd, Wales. It has a population of 9,852 (with Caeathro). It lies along the A487 road, on the easter ...

North Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

Publications

Ellis had his poem ''Yr Adgyfodiad'' published in 1849, in the Welsh-language newspaper ''

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 ...

''. Many other poems, biographies, an autobiography, and a dictionary followed. His dictionary, ', which was published by H. Humphreys in

in 1868, was one of the first dictionaries to be published only in Welsh (rather than English and Welsh).

References

External links

Robert Ellis
at the

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

{{DEFAULTSORT:Ellis, Robert 1812 births 1875 deaths People from Montgomeryshire Welsh-language poets Welsh-language writers 19th-century Welsh writers 19th-century Welsh historians 19th-century Welsh poets Welsh-speaking clergy