Thomas Rowland Hughes
Encyclopedia
Thomas Rowland Hughes (April 17, 1903 – October 24, 1949), was a Welsh
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...

 novelist, dramatist and poet
Poet
A poet is a person who writes poetry. A poet's work can be literal, meaning that his work is derived from a specific event, or metaphorical, meaning that his work can take on many meanings and forms. Poets have existed since antiquity, in nearly all languages, and have produced works that vary...

 He was the son of a quarryman from Llanberis
Llanberis
Llanberis is a village in Gwynedd, North Wales, lying on the southern banks of Llyn Padarn in Snowdonia. It takes its name from Saint Peris, an early Welsh saint.According to the United Kingdom Census 2001, the population of Llanberis was 1,954...

, Caernarvonshire (Gwynedd
Gwynedd
Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

 today), in northern Wales
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...

. He is primarily renowned in the present day for his novels about characters living and working in the slate
Slate
Slate is a fine-grained, foliated, homogeneous metamorphic rock derived from an original shale-type sedimentary rock composed of clay or volcanic ash through low-grade regional metamorphism. The result is a foliated rock in which the foliation may not correspond to the original sedimentary layering...

 quarries
Quarry
A quarry is a type of open-pit mine from which rock or minerals are extracted. Quarries are generally used for extracting building materials, such as dimension stone, construction aggregate, riprap, sand, and gravel. They are often collocated with concrete and asphalt plants due to the requirement...

 of northern Wales, but in his day he was just as well known as a poet. William Jones
William Jones (novel)
William Jones is a novel by T. Rowland Hughes, written in 1944.It tells of the story of a quarryman in Gwynedd who decides to leave his community to look for work in the coal mines of South Wales....

is his most famous novel.

His life

Hughes obtained a first class degree in English
English language
English is a West Germanic language that arose in the Anglo-Saxon kingdoms of England and spread into what was to become south-east Scotland under the influence of the Anglian medieval kingdom of Northumbria...

 at the University College of North Wales in Bangor
Bangor, Wales
Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

. In 1928, he was awarded a scholarship by the University of Wales to study at Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

, leading to a B.Litt. degree in 1931 on "The London Magazine from 1820 to 1829". His most important job was as a producer with the BBC
BBC
The British Broadcasting Corporation is a British public service broadcaster. Its headquarters is at Broadcasting House in the City of Westminster, London. It is the largest broadcaster in the world, with about 23,000 staff...

 in Cardiff
Cardiff
Cardiff is the capital, largest city and most populous county of Wales and the 10th largest city in the United Kingdom. The city is Wales' chief commercial centre, the base for most national cultural and sporting institutions, the Welsh national media, and the seat of the National Assembly for...

. In his thirties he began to suffer from multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis
Multiple sclerosis is an inflammatory disease in which the fatty myelin sheaths around the axons of the brain and spinal cord are damaged, leading to demyelination and scarring as well as a broad spectrum of signs and symptoms...

, and it was at this time that he began to write his most well-known works.

Hughes won the Chair
Chairing of the Bard
The Chairing of the Bard is one of the most important events in the Welsh eisteddfod tradition. The most famous chairing ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Friday afternoon of Eisteddfod week....

 at the National Eisteddfod on two occasions, in 1937 for his ode 'Y Ffin' ('The Boundary'), and again in 1940 for 'Pererinion' ('Pilgrims').

Poetry

  • Tydi a roddaist ("Thou Gavest", set to music by Arwel Hughes
    Arwel Hughes
    Arwel Hughes OBE , was a Welsh orchestral conductor and composer.Hughes was born in Rhosllannerchrugog near Wrexham and was educated at Ruabon Grammar School and at the Royal College of Music, where he studied with Ralph Vaughan Williams and C. H. Kitson...

     in 1938).
  • Cân neu ddwy (“A Song or Two”, 1948)

Novels

  • O Law i Law (1943)
  • William Jones
    William Jones (novel)
    William Jones is a novel by T. Rowland Hughes, written in 1944.It tells of the story of a quarryman in Gwynedd who decides to leave his community to look for work in the coal mines of South Wales....

    (1944)
  • Yr Ogof (“The Cave”, 1945)
  • Chwalfa
    Chwalfa
    Chwalfa is a Welsh language novel written by T. Rowland Hughes in 1946.The novel chronicles the history of the Ifans family in the imaginary quarry town of Llechfaen. However, the story is based on the real events in Bethesda, Gwynedd, at the time of the 'Great Strike' at Penrhyn Quarry between...

    (“Upheaval”, 1946)
  • Y Cychwyn (“The Beginning”, 1947)

Criticism and Memoirs

  • Memoir by Edward Rees (1968)
  • John Rowlands, T. Rowland Hughes (Writers of Wales series, Cardiff, 1975)

External links

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