Death of a champion of Welsh History

4 October 2017 saw the passing away of Professor Emeritus John Gwynn Williams, former Professor of Welsh History at the University College of North Wales at Bangor 1963-83, and its Vice-principal 1974-1979 under Sir Charles Evans. He spent a lifetime promoting and developing study into the History of Wales and was one of a remarkable group of historians that were the second generation of pioneers in this field. This group included Sir Glanmor Williams, Ieuan Gwynedd Jones, Gwynedd Pierce and J. Gwynn Williams himself. Through their efforts and achievements Welsh History was confirmed as an acknowledged field of study within the academic world, setting down firm historical foundations for Welsh identity in so doing.  

Although he had roots in Mawddwy, Merionethshire, he was brought up in Flintshire and he was particularly proud of the Welsh heritage that he encountered there where rural and industrial societies were intertwined. He was born in 1924 at a time of severe pressure on the industrial communities amongst whom he lived. As the son of a Wesleyan minister he was to some extent cushioned from these pressures, but what he observed remained a profound influence on his viewpoints. Family background instilled in him the importance and value of education, and he achieved distinction as a pupil at Holywell County School where he also struck a lifetime friendship with Sir Ronald Waterhouse,

After a period serving in the Navy he developed into a brilliant historian under the influence of A.H. Dodd and R.T. Jenkins as a student at the then University College of North Wales, Bangor, where he graduated. It was Dodd’s influence, more than anything, that instilled in him an interest in the history of the seventeenth-century, which became his main period of research, and R.T. Jenkins further fostered his interest in the significance of that century for Wales. In 1963, at an early stage in his career, J. Gwynn became head of the Department of Welsh History at Bangor, and was appointed Professor of Welsh History, positions that he held until his retirement in 1983. The Department of Welsh History developed under his leadership to include four members of staff by the late 1970s, offering everything that was taught through the medium of Welsh and English alike – the only department to achieve this at the time.

During the 1970s he published a number of notable articles on Welsh society during the seventeenth century, articles that were ground-breaking in their day for shedding light on the lower orders of early modern society and which followed the Annales historians of France in their methodology. This was his main field of interest until the end of the seventies when his attention was diverted to the history of his own college at Bangor. His The University College of North Wales: Foundations 1884-1927 was published in 1985 to celebrate the 1984 centenary of the college’s foundation. He went on to research the movement to establish university education in Wales in general, and published the fruit of this in 1993 and 1997. These volumes were highly astute analyses not only of the institutions concerned but also of the social and political circumstances of the time. It is, perhaps, regrettable that he did not publish more extensively on the seventeenth century, a period over which he displayed such mastery in his teaching.

As a teacher he inspired several generations of students, including Catrin Stevens, Glyn Parry and Leighton Andrews, and his dry humour and pithy comments were memorable. He served to promote Welsh history in several significant and key capacities. He was Vice-principal of UCNW, Bangor 1974-1979, a period that saw mounting tensions and protest relating to the lack of the use of Welsh in college administration; initially a defender of the institutional standpoint he had the courage eventually to turn to support the Welsh cause, furthering Cambricization. He also served as President of the National Library of Wales, Chairman of the University of Wales Press, a member of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales 1967-1991 and Vice-president of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. Local concerns were of equal importance to him as the national. He was an active Chairman of the Council for the Caernarfonshire Historical Society, for instance, and its President. He was also Vice-president of the historical society of his native county, Flintshire, and editor of its journal. He also received several honours, including CBE, an honorary D.Litt., awarded by the University of Wales, and a Honorary Fellowship awarded by Bangor University in 2007.

He is survived by his widow, the author Beryl Stafford Williams, and by three sons, William, Guto and Tomos.        

Publication date: 13 October 2017