The Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (), often called simply the Cymmrodorion, is a London-based Welsh learned society, with membership open to all. It was first established in 1751 as a social, cultural, literary and philanthropic institution. It fell into abeyance between 1787 and 1820, and again between 1843 and 1873. In its second and third incarnations its interests have been predominantly cultural and antiquarian. The present society claims continuity from that founded in 1751, although the three successive societies have in fact been slightly different in character and aims.
The society continues to be based in London, but now draws two-thirds of its membership from Wales.
History
First Society, 1751–1787
The Society was founded in 1751 by the brothers Lewis and Richard Morris, natives of Anglesey. The name, coined by Lewis Morris, was a form of the ("earliest natives"), in reference to the place of the Welsh as heirs to the ancient Britons.
Several factors combined to prompt the foundation of the new society. One may have been Lewis Morris's disappointment at his failure to be elected a Fellow of the Royal Society. More important was a desire to support the Welsh Charity School, established in 1716 under the auspices of another London Welsh Society, the Honourable and Loyal Society of Antient Britons. By the 1740s the Antient Britons had become somewhat moribund, and the new Society of Cymmrodorion was intended in part to supplement its efforts. It was also to raise funds to relieve impoverished Welsh people in London. The Society's primary object, however, was to be a hub of social activity for the Welsh in London, and (in the absence of a recognised political or cultural "capital" of Wales) a focus of Welsh culture. Regular meetings were held on the first Wednesday of each month, when papers were read on a variety of literary and learned topics.
Richard Morris served as the Society's first Llywydd ("President"). On his death in 1779, the Society offered a silver medal for the best elegy on its late President, a competition which can be seen as a forerunner of the National Eisteddfod of Wales. Sir Watkin Lewes succeeded Morris as Llywydd, and served until the first Society's demise in 1787. The Society had also a Penllywydd ("Chief President"). This office was held by William Vaughan of Corsygedol until shortly before his death in 1775, and then by Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet, of Wynnstay.
In the second half of the 18th century the Welsh Charity School was run jointly by the Antient Britons and the Cymmrodorion. The officers of the Cymmrodorion used the school building on Clerkenwell Green as their business address, sometimes held meetings there, and used one of its rooms as a library. The library was intended to hold a copy "of every Book that hath ever been printed in the antient British language", as well as manuscripts. It was, in other words, regarded as a prototype National Library of Wales. A regular and important activity in the Society's calendar (though primarily the responsibility of the Antient Britons) was the annual Saint David's Day dinner, held to raise funds to support the school.
The Cymmrodorion helped to fund a case in ecclesiastical law in which the churchwardens and parishioners of a Welsh-speaking benefice in Anglesey challenged the appointment to their benefice of a monoglot English priest who was unable to minister in Welsh. In 1766 John Egerton, Bishop of Bangor, appointed an elderly English priest, Dr Thomas Bowles, to the parish of St Beuno, Trefdraeth and chapelry of St Cwyfan, Llangwyfan. The Court of Arches heard evidence in the case in May 1770 but did not hear the promoters' and respondents' arguments until January 1773. Judging the case, the Dean of Arches, George Hay, agreed with the respondents that the promoters of the cause would have to prove Bowles was totally incapable of speaking any Welsh at all, and even if they did so Bowles had lawfully been granted the ecclesiastical freehold and therefore could not be deprived of it. However, he also agreed with the promoters of the cause that only clergy who could speak Welsh should be appointed to Welsh-speaking parishes. Therefore, although Hay let Bowles stay in post, the case established the principle that clergy being considered for Welsh-speaking parishes should be examined in their knowledge of Welsh and only those proficient in the language should be inducted to them.