LOCAL Characters

Reverend John Gruffydd Moelwyn Hughes, Birkenhead (1866-1944)

A native of Tanygrisiau, Blaen Ffestiniog Moelwyn worked as a youngster in the solicitor’s firm of William and David Lloyd George at Porthmadog.  He received his education in the Colleges of Clynnog, Bangor and Bala and later earned an MA and PhD at the University of Leipzig.  Ordained in 1895 he came to Merseyside from Cardigan in 1917.  He was the minister of the Presbyterian Church of Wales in Parkfield, Birkenhead from 1917 till his retirement in 1936.  His wife Mya hailed from Llangadog and six children were born to them.  Between the father and the children they had five doctorates, three in philosophy, one in science and one in medicine.  The Merseyside Welsh have never head a more talented family than Moelwyn and Mya and the children Ronw, Gwyndaf, Aneurin, Alun, Meurig and Rhiannon.

            Moelwyn was a lyrical poet, hymn writer, philosopher and a notable preacher.  Though he was elected a Moderator of the General Assembly in 1936, there was no one more critical of the Connexion than he was in his day.  He boasted of his allegiance to the Labour party and as a pacifist of conviction.  Dr Moelwyn Hughes died on 26 June 1944 and was buried in his wife’s grave at Llangadog, Carmarthenshire.

Ronw Moelwyn Hughes, KC

The son of Reverend Dr J. G. Moelwyn Hughes and Mya (nee Lewis) and was born in Cardigan during the ministry of his father in that town. He, like all his brothers and sister, was very able and he gained First Class Honours in Law at the University of Cambridge. Politics and the Law came easily to him from his university days. He served as a councillor in Birkenhead as his parents moved there in 1917. Ronw Moelwyn Hughes stood as a Parliamentary candidate for the Liberals in Rhondda West in 1929. That experience converted him to socialism and in 1941 he won Carmarthenshire for the Labour Party before loosing it to Rhys Hopkin Morris in 1945. In 1946 he was asked to conduct the enquiry into the disaster when 33 people were killed at the Bolton Wanderers Ground on March 9 1946. His father thought the world of him and changed his political allegiance as a tribute to him. Ronw Moelwyn Hughes died in 1955. He left Louise Mary, eldest daughter of Baron Fairfield, two sons and a daughter.

Ronw Moelwyn Hughes, Penbedw

Mab i'r Parchedig T G Moelwyn Hughes (1866-1944) a Mya (née Lewis) a fu yn fawr eu dylanwad ymhlith Cymry Penbedw. Ganwyd Ronw yn Aberteifi a chafodd yrfa nodedig fel myfyriwr gan ennill Anrhydedd Dosbarth Cyntaf yn y gyfraith ym Mhrifysgol Caergrawnt. Yr oedd y gyfraith a gwleidyddiaeth yn nwyd yn ei fywyd o ddyddiau coleg. Bu yn gynghorydd ar Gyngor Tref Penbedw a safodd fel ymgeisydd seneddol dros y Blaid Ryddfrydol yng Ngorllewin y Rhondda yn 1929. Gadawodd y Rhyddfrydwyr am y Blaid Lafur ac etholwyd ef yn Aelod Seneddol Llafur Sir Gaerfyrddin yn 1941 cyn colli'r sedd i Rhys Hopkin-Morris. Meddylid y byd ohono ym Mhenbedw fel ag yng ngorllewin Cymru, gan ei fod yn apelio'n fawr at y werin bobl. Yr oedd ei dad Moelwyn yn meddwl y byd ohono a newidiodd yntau ei liw gwleidyddol fel gweithred o barch i'w fab athrylithgar. Bu farw Ronw Moelwyn Hughes yn y flwyddyn 1955. Gadawodd wraig Louise Mary (merch hynaf Baron Fairfield) a dau fab a merch.

Reverend Dr Owen Thomas, Liverpool.