Williams, Gwyn A.

Professor Gwyn Alf Williams was a leading Welsh historian and political activist. As a historian, his interests encompassed medieval London, the French Revolution, early 19th century political radicalism, and the history and historiography of modern Wales. Among his publications were Artisans and sans culottes (1968), The Merthyr Rising (1978) , Madoc: the making of a myth (1980) and When was Wales? (1985). In later life, Professor Williams became well known as a TV broadcaster, presenting programmes on Welsh history, political revolutionaries, and King Arthur. He also co-presented The Dragon has two tongues with Wynford Vaughan Thomas.

Educated at UCW Aberystwyth, Gwyn Williams became a lecturer there, moving to the University of York in 1963, and becoming Professor of History two years later. In 1974, he became Professor of History at Cardiff University, retiring in 1985.

Gwyn Williams was politically active for most of his life. He was intellectually sympathetic to Marxism, and was a member of the Communist party, leaving it in 1948. Later he was very much involved in Plaid Cymru, the Welsh nationalist party. He wrote extensively on socialism and nationalism, both in academic works and in journalism. Gwyn Williams was working on Latins in the Rain , a work of essays on Welsh themes, at the time of his death in 1995.

From the guide to the Gwyn Alf Williams, 1959-1995, (Swansea University)