Ann Griffiths

Born Ann Thomas in April 1776 at Dolwar Fach in the parish of Llanfihangel-yng-Ngwynfa, Montgomeryshire, she grew up in rural mid-Wales and wrote in Welsh. She is widely remembered as one of the great Welsh hymn writers, with work admired for its spiritual intensity, vivid imagery, and rich biblical language.

She joined the Methodist movement in the 1790s, and her religious experience became central to her poetry. In 1804 she married Thomas Griffiths, a farmer from Meifod. She died in August 1805, soon after the birth of her child, when she was still only 29.

Although her life was short, her influence was not. Her hymns were preserved and published after her death, and they have remained important in Welsh religious and literary culture ever since.