Williams, Evan

1749 - 1835  (~ 86 years)

• Name	Williams, Evan
  Born	1749	Ty-Canol, Swyddffynnon, Wales
  Gender	Male
  Buried	25 Aug 1835	St James, Pentonville, London, England
  Person ID	I00518	My Genealogy
  Last Modified	20 Jun 2015

  
  

  Family	Neate, Frances,   c. 16 Jan 1761, Lydiard Tregoze, Wiltshire, England ,   bur. 14 Apr 1814, The Strand, London, England  (Age ~ 53 years)
  Married	01 Jan 1789	St Peter and St Paul, Marlborough, Wiltshire, England
  Family ID	F00182	Group Sheet  |  Family Chart

  
  

• Notes

  At time of marriage "of St Martins in the Field" Bookseller, Corner of Craven Street, Strand. Wiltshire: - Registers of Marriages, 1591-1812 Marriages in the Church. Marriages at Marlborough (Parish of St. Peter and St. Paul the Apostles), 1611 to 1812. Volume 8. County: Wiltshire Country: England Evan Williams, of St. Martin in the Fields, & Frances Neate, sp., lic. 01 Jan 1789 The National Library of Wales :: Dictionary of Welsh Biography Williams, Evan. Thursday [1 Jan] was married at Marlborough, Mr. E.Williams, bookseller, in the Strand, to Miss Neate, eldest daughter of the late Robert Neate, of Salthorpe, in Wilts (LDA 6 Jan 1789). Partnership between Evan Williams and Thomas Williams, both of No. 11 Strand and No. 156 Leadenhall-street was dissolved June 30, 1799. The business to be carried on by Evan Williams, in the Strand, and Thomas Williams, in Leadenhall-street, each on his own account (LG 9 Aug 1800). Died in the Strand, April 14, 1814, Frances, wife of Mr. E.Williams, bookseller, and eldest daughter of Robert Neate, Esq., of Salthorp, Wilts., 51 (GM Apr 1814, 421). Large office pens, particularly well cut - Made and sold by E.Williams, Stationer to the Duke and Duchess of York, No. 11 Strand, London (MC 14 Nov 1814) WILLIAMS, EVAN (1749-1835), bookseller and publisher. He was one of the five remarkable sons of David Williams, a Calvinistic Methodist exhorter in Cardiganshire. The father was a blacksmith and he is said to have practised his craft at Swyddffynnon, Esgair near Llangwyryfon, and Pen-y-graig, Llanrhystud. He may have moved to meet the needs of the Mabws and Ffos-y-bleiddiaid estates. The children were probably born at Swyddffynnon, but in 1777 the father was living at Pen-y-graig, and the Calvinistic Methodists of that district used to meet at his house until their chapel at Rhiw-bwys was built. Reckoning from the record of his death, Evan Williams was born in 1749. He was educated at Ystrad Meurig grammar school under Edward Richard, like his brothers, John (?the old Sir,? 1745/6-1818, q.v.), Thomas (see below), DAVID (warden of Hungerford almshouse, rector of Heytesbury, and father of C. J. Blasius Williams, the expert on pulmonary diseases), and WILLIAM, rector of Llanstinan. He went to London and became interested in the Welsh movements in the city. In 1789 he became a member of the Gwyneddigion Society, but he does not appear to have held any of its offices. He was a trustee of the Welsh Charity School, and his name appears regularly in its minute books from 1795 until his death. He established a bookselling business with his brother Thomas at No. 13, Strand. The brother remained only for ten years or so in partnership, but Evan Williams continued for over forty years. The brothers began to publish books of Welsh interest. Up to 1800 the name of E. & T. Williams appears as booksellers in imprints (e.g. in 1791, in Walter Davies, Rhyddid; D. Thomas, Awdlau; John Williams, An Enquiry ? concerning the Discovery of America; M. Williams, A Treasury of Knowledge). In the following year E. Williams appears with J. Owen as publishers of W. Owen Pughe, The Heroic Elegies of Llywarch Hen. Other important books begun by the brothers, and continued by E. Williams alone, are A Welsh and English Dictionary by Owen Pughe, and the Cambrian Register, 1795-1818. In the second volume of the Cambrian Register issued in 1799, the brothers are described as E. & T. Williams (successors to Mr. Blamire), 11, Strand, and they had a warehouse at 156, Leadenhall Street. In 1803 the first batch of E. Williams's publications as ?Bookseller to the Duke and Dutchess of York, and successor to Mr. Blamire? appeared. They were Owen Pughe's Cambrian Biography, Coxe's A Vindication of the Celts, Sharon Turner's Vindication of the genuineness of the Ancient British poems, and Peter Roberts's History of the Cymry. All the books published by E. Williams on the history, poetry, philology, and antiquities of Wales, cannot be listed here, but the following should be noted: E. Pugh's Cambria Depicta, 1811; The poetical works of Edward Richard, 1811; Peter Roberts, Cambrian Popular Antiquities, 1815; and W. Owen Pughe's Coll. Gwynva, 1819; and Hu Gadarn, 1822. Evan Williams has a bad name in the letters of literary men of his period. He is called ?Mr. Skinflint? and ?Skin-devil Williams.? Nevertheless the publication of the kind of books for which he made himself responsible was a considerable venture, and it is right that a tribute should be paid to him on account of his valuable list of publications in Welsh or relating to Wales. He m. Frances, eldest daughter of Robert Neat of Saltross. Wilts. She d. in 1814 at the age of 52. He was 86 when he d. at Penton Street, 25 Aug. 1835. He was buried in the churchyard of S. James, Pentonville.