Dafydd Williams

Dafydd Williams (c. 1720–1794) was a Welsh-language hymn writer from Carmarthenshire and later Glamorgan and Monmouthshire. Originally a Methodist, he became a Baptist at Llanbedr-y-fro in 1777, becoming one of the founders of the Baptist cause in that area. He preached widely, but was never ordained. He was a prolific hymn writer and poet, beginning with numerous collections include Golwg y ffyddloniaid ar degwch a gogoniant Iesu Grist (1760), a long poem together with three hymns; Gorfoledd ym mhebyll Seion (c.1762), with three more parts appearing in 1777–8 (these were collected and republished in more substantial volumes in 1782 and 1786); Diferion o ffynnon iechydwriaeth (1772, 1777); Joy in the Tents of Zion (1779), English translations of twenty-two hymns; Telynau i blant yr addewid (1782); Gwin i'r diffygiol o'r winwydden orau (c.1785–6); Hymnau priod-ferch y brenin Alpha (c.1787); Myfyrdod pererin (c.1788); and Yr udgorn arian (1789). In addition he published numerous elegies and evangelical poems.