author
A Welsh radical writer and goldsmith in London, he used print to challenge oppression and defend the Welsh language. His work helped connect political dissent, cultural pride, and practical language learning in a changing Wales.
Born in the mid-1760s near Pwllheli in Caernarvonshire, Thomas Roberts moved to London before he was 14 and likely trained as a goldsmith. He later built a life there with his wife Mary, from a Quaker family, and became active in Welsh circles in the city.
Roberts is remembered as a radical Welsh writer who took part in the Gwyneddigion society, a London group that mixed Welsh-language culture with lively political debate. In 1798 he published Cwyn yn erbyn Gorthrymder (A Complaint Against Oppression), a pamphlet that argued against injustice and became associated with a wider Welsh Enlightenment spirit.
He also worked to make useful reading more available in Welsh. His later publications included an English and Welsh vocabulary, a pocket phrasebook, a Welsh version of Poor Richard's Almanack, and work on the Welsh edition of the Book of Common Prayer. Across these projects, he stands out as someone who treated language as both a cultural inheritance and a practical tool.