Name: John Peter

Author: Robert Thomas Jenkins

Born at Bala 10 April 1833, son of Peter Jones, millwright, and his wife Ellen. He was a pupil at the Bala free school (today the grammar school), then in 1847 began working as a millwright. His tramps across country stimulated his interest in geology and antiquities; he was also interested in poetry, and in 1849 he and his friends, among whom was Thomas Charles Edwards, founded ‘Cymdeithas Lenyddol Penllyn.’ Further efforts after self-cultivation led him to study foreign languages, and to two journeys (1856, 1857) on the Continent. He began preaching, and in September 1855 went to the Independent College at Bala, becoming in 1859 tutor there; and from 1859 to 1870 he was pastor of the Independent churches of Bala and Tyn-y-bont. In 1861 he married Elizabeth Noall, a woman of no mean ability, some of whose work may be read in Y Drysorfa, 1864 and 1869. He died 17 January 1877. Peter was a copious writer on general subjects (including science, for he was a good geologist) in the chief Welsh quarterlies. But his best work dealt with the Welsh language and its literature. He was a diligent copyist of manuscripts and a considerable bibliographer. Yet, what specially distinguishes him is his scientific study of Welsh philology. He was a disciple of Edward Lhuyd’s, and a fellow-worker with such men as Thomas Stephens and Daniel Silvan Evans and John Rhys in this country, and Gaidoz and Schuchardt (both of whom visited him at Bala) abroad. When Y Cymmrodor was founded, Peter was one of its editors, and some of his work appeared in it and in the Revue Celtique. His manuscripts are today partly at the N.L.W. and partly in the library of the University College of North Wales.