Sarah Jane Rees (9 January 1839 – 27 June 1916), also known by the bardic name "Cranogwen", was a Welsh teacher, poet, editor, master mariner and temperance campaigner.

[9] She gave a lecture entitled Yr Ieuengctyd a Diwylliant eu Meddyliau (transl.The young, and the culture of their minds) at the Independent Chapel, Bridgend (Brynmenyn) on 2 January 1867, and an admission ticket from the event is preserved in the collections of Amgueddfa Cymru, National Museum Wales.

Contemporary reports in the Welsh-language newspapers indicated that her lecture was very well received and as her tour progressed she shared the stage with local dignitaries.

[10][8] While teaching navigation and other subjects, she also became editor of the Welsh-language women's periodical Y Frythones (1878–1889), a "platform for Welsh bluestockings and proto-suffragettes".

This periodical also provided the first opportunities for publication of work by significant authors including Mary Oliver Jones and Ellen Hughes.

[8] Open about this unconventional arrangement, Rees still remained a committed Methodist and toured giving lectures on education, temperance and other subjects.

[15] In the last twenty years of her life, she created and devoted a great deal of effort towards the 'Cymdeithas Merched y De' (Women's society of the South), a movement which supported sobriety.

[19] Rees died on 27 June 1916 at Cilfynydd[20] and was buried in St Crannogs churchyard, where her grave was marked by a large elaborate obelisk.