John Thomas (harpist)

The bardic name Pencerdd Gwalia (Chief of the Welsh minstrels) was conferred on him at the 1861 Aberdare Eisteddfod.

[1] He was born in Bridgend on Saint David's Day, son of a tailor, also named John Thomas, a clarinetist in the amateur town band.

At the age of 14, through the influence of Ada Lovelace, (Lord Byron's daughter), he was admitted to the Royal Academy of Music in London.

He also wrote an opera, a symphony, two harp concertos, overtures, chamber music, and two cantatas – Llewellyn (1863) and The Bride of Neath Valley (1866).

His first wife, Alice Ann Keate, died in 1880, two years after their marriage; he married Joan Francis Denny in 1885.