Arthur James Johnes

Born in Garthmyl, Montgomeryshire, on February 4, 1809, he was educated at Oswestry grammar school and at University College London in its early years. He was called to the bar at Lincoln's Inn in 1835, and in 1847 became a county court judge serving North Wales and part of South Wales, a post he held until his retirement in 1870.

Alongside his legal career, he was deeply interested in Welsh literature and public life. He helped promote the Cambrian Quarterly Magazine, wrote under the pen name Maelog, and in 1834 published English translations of poems by Dafydd ap Gwilym. He also won a Cymmrodorion Society prize for his essay on the causes of religious dissent in Wales, a work later expanded and republished.

His pamphlets and essays show a writer engaged with the social and legal questions of his day, including court reform, bankruptcy law, and church affairs in Wales. He died on July 23, 1871, and was buried at Berriew.