John Edward Lloyd

Sir John Edward Lloyd (5 May 1861 – 20 June 1947) was a Welsh historian who is credited with being the founding father of Welsh medieval studies and of creating the foundations of modern Welsh history. He was born in Liverpool, England, on 5 May 1861, to Edward Lloyd (1837-1917), a prosperous draper and a J.P., and Margaret Lloyd (née Jones) (1834-1921).

Lloyd was initially educated in a private school, 'Chatham Institute', in Liverpool.^[1] Having succeeded in his 'Oxford Local Examinations'^[2], in 1877 Lloyd enrolled in the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, Wales, the first constituent college in the federal University of Wales, in which two years later, he passed 'the matriculation examination for London University'^[3]. However, 'his sights were set on Oxford'^[3] and in 1881 he enrolled in Lincoln College, Oxford^[4]. In 1883 he graduated from the college with a first class honours degree in Classical Moderations.^[5] Upon leaving Oxford in 1883, Lloyd then obtained his first academic position in Aberystwyth teaching English history.^[6] In 1891 he applied for the post of its College Principal. However, his application was unsuccessful. Feeling slighted, he looked for an academic post elsewhere, which he obtained shortly afterwards in Bangor University.^[7]

Within a year of arriving in Bangor, Lloyd married Clementina (Tina) Miller, a former student from Aberdeen, Scotland, who had attended his history classes.^[8] They had two children, Eluned, who was born in 1897, and Edward, who was born in 1904.^[9] He was knighted in 1934.

Lloyd became a much-published and famous Welsh historian. In 1906 he made a substantial contribution to the history of iron production in South Wales with his The early history of the old South Wales iron works (1760 to 1840).^[10][11] In 1911 and 1912 he had published the first serious history of the country's formative years with his two-volume A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest.^[12][13] In 1919 he was admitted as a Fellow to the Society of Antiquaries of London.^[14] And in 1932 he had published his Owain Glyn Dŵr (Owen Glendower).^[15] He was the first editor of 'Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig', which was published posthumously in 1953. Its English counterpart, the Dictionary of Welsh Biography, was published in 1959 with Robert Thomas Jenkins as its sole editor.

English Wikisource has original works by or about:

John Edward Lloyd

The following publications are a selection of Lloyd's published output. See Jones (1948) under 'Further reading' and Works by or about John Edward Lloyd at the Internet Archive for additional publications.

• Lloyd, John Edward (1892). "Welsh place-names: A study of some common name-elements". Y Cymmrodor. II: 15–60.
• Lloyd, J.E. 1899-1900. Wales and the coming of the Normans (1039-1093). Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. 138-44.
• Lloyd, John Edward (1919). "Who was Gwenllian de Lacy?". Archaeologia Cambrensis Journal of the Cambrian Archaeological Association. XIX (Part III July): 292-298.
• —— (1928). "Hywel Dda: the historical setting". Aberystwyth Studies. 10: 1–4.
• —— (1928). "The Welsh chronicles [Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture]". Proceedings of the British Academy. 14: 369–391.^[16]
• —— (1944). "The death of Arthur". Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies. XI: 158-160.

• Lloyd, John Edward (1896). Ail Lyfr Hanes (Hanes Cymru o 400 Hyd 1066 O.C.). Caernarfon: Cwmni'r Wasg Genedlaethol Gymreig.
• Lloyd, John (1903). Historical Memoranda of Breconshire; a Collection of Papers from Various Sources Relating to the History of the County, Volume 1. Brecon: Ellis Owen, 'Brecon & Radnor Express Offices'.
• Lloyd, John (1904). Historical Memoranda of Breconshire; a Collection of Papers from Various Sources Relating to the History of the County, Volume II. London: Bedford Press.
• Lloyd, J.E. (1914). Carnarvonshire. Cambridge: University Press.
• Lloyd, John Edward (1929). The Welsh Chronicles (From the Proceedings of the British Academy). London: Humphrey Milford.
• Lloyd, John Edward (1932). Wales and the Past Two voices. Cardiff: National Museum of Wales.

• (With Hubert Lewis) Lloyd, J.E. (1889). The ancient laws of Wales. London: Elliot Stock.
• Lloyd, John Edward (1928). Hywel Dda: Penn a Molyant yr Holl Vrytanyeit (Brut y Tywysogion) 928-1928. Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru.
• —— (1935). A History of Carmarthenshire. Vol. I (1st ed.). Cardiff: London Carmarthenshire Society.
• —— (1939). A History of Carmarthenshire. Vol. II (1st ed.). Cardiff: London Carmarthenshire Society.
• (With R.T. Jenkins) —— (1959). The Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940. London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion.

• Jenkins, Robert Thomas (2001). "Lloyd, Sir John Edward (1861 - 1947), historian, and first editor of Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig". In Johnston, Dafydd; Gruffydd Jones, Elin Haf (eds.). Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Aberystwyth: The National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
• Joyce, Stephen J. (2021). "The Chronicles of Medieval Wales and the March: New Contexts, Studies, and Texts". Paregon. Retrieved 14 April 2026.
• Lloyd, John (1906). The early history of the old South Wales iron works (1760 to 1840). London: Bedford Press.
• Lloyd, John Edward (1911). A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, Volume I. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
• Lloyd, John Edward (1912). A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, Volume II. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
• Lloyd, J.E. (1932a). Owain Glyn Dŵr (Owen Glendower). London: G. Bell and Sons for The Historical Association.
• Pryce, Huw (2011). J.E. Lloyd and the creation of Welsh history Renewing a nation's past. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-2388-5.

• Edwards, J.G. (1956). "Sir John Edward Lloyd 1861-1947" (PDF). Proceedings of the British Academy: 319-327. Retrieved 13 April 2026.
• Jenkins, R.T. (1947). "Syr John Edward Lloyd". Y Llenor. 25: 77–87.
• Jones, Garmon (1948). "A list of the published writings of the late Sir John Edward Lloyd". Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies. XII (4): 96–105.
• Pryce, Huw (2004). "From medieval to modern Wales: the Wales of John Edward Lloyd". In Davies, R.R.; Jenkins, Geraint H. (eds.). From medieval to modern Wales: Historical essays in honour of Kenneth O. Morgan and Ralph A. Griffiths. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1881-9.
• Pryce, Huw (2016). "J.E. Lloyd's History of Wales (1911): Publication and reception". In Evans, Neil; Pryce, Huw (eds.). Writing a small nation's past Wales in comparative perspective, 1850-1950. Abingdon, Oxfordshire: Routledge. ISBN 978-1-4094-5062-7. Retrieved 12 April 2026.
• Pryce, Huw (2022). Writing Welsh history. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-874603-4.
• Williams, E.W. (2014). "J. E. Lloyd and the intellectual foundations of Welsh history" (PDF). National Library of Wales Journal. 36 (1): 1-44. Retrieved 13 April 2026.
• Williams, E.W. (2015). "JE Lloyd and his intellectual legacy; the tribes of Wales reconsidered" (PDF). National Library of Wales Journal. 36 (2): 1-68. Retrieved 11 April 2026.