John Ceiriog Hughes

Born on September 25, 1832, at Pen-y-bryn near Llanarmon Dyffryn Ceiriog in north-east Wales, John Ceiriog Hughes became one of the most admired Welsh-language writers of the 19th century. He took his bardic name from the Ceiriog Valley, and his poems and songs made such an impression that he was sometimes described as a Welsh Robert Burns.

Before literary success, he worked in practical jobs including in Manchester and later on the railways. Alongside that working life, he began winning poetry prizes in the 1850s and went on to publish collections that made him widely popular. His writing is especially remembered for its lyric grace, its affection for common people and rural Wales, and its close connection to Welsh folk music.

Hughes was also an important collector and arranger of traditional tunes, helping preserve and share Welsh musical culture as well as poetry. He died on April 23, 1887, in Caersws, Montgomeryshire, but his songs and verses continued to be read, sung, and cherished long after his lifetime.