William John Gruffydd (14 February 1881 – 29 September 1954) was a Welsh scholar, poet, writer and editor, and the last Member of Parliament to represent the University of Wales seat.

Gruffydd published his first volume of poetry, Telynegion ("Lyrics") jointly with his friend and fellow-poet R. Silyn Roberts in 1900, having written its contents in the summer of 1899 before he left for Oxford.

Although his total poetical output is comparatively small, due in part to the pressures of his academic work, it was of a very high standard and he was a major voice in Welsh-language poetry of the first two decades of the 20th century.

[6] He was President of Council of the National Eisteddfod of Wales and edited Y Llenor ('The Writer', a highly influential Welsh-language journal of literature published by the university).

As a researcher and academic he wrote a large number of books and articles and remains one of the key figures of his age in Welsh literary studies.

Gruffydd's exact political status at the election was ambiguous: despite having the official endorsement of the Liberal Party he was not (and never had been) a member and was listed as an independent on the ballot.

In fact, with the exception of Gwilym Lloyd-George (who was in any case travelling in the direction of the Conservatives) every Liberal MP who had ever held government office was defeated.