Owen Morgan Edwards

Who was Owen Morgan Edwards?

Owen Morgan Edwards was a Welsh historian, educationalist and writer. He is often known as O. M. Edwards.

Owen Edwards was born in Llanuwchllyn near Bala, the eldest son of Owen and Beti Edwards. He gives a vivid description of his early education in his autobiography Clych Adgof published in 1906. Llanuwchllyn was then and remains a strongly Welsh-speaking area, but the Welsh Not was in use at the local school and usually found itself round Owen's neck, as a punishment for speaking Welsh.

After studying at Bala and University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, graduating with a pass degree in 1883. He then spent a year at the University of Glasgow studying philosophy before studying at Balliol College, Oxford from 1884 to 1887, winning all the university's three main prizes for history. He came under the influence of the Dafydd ap Gwilym Society at Oxford, establishing friendships with other students who later became prominent in Welsh life such as John Morris-Jones and becoming a strong cultural nationalist. He then spent a year on the continent before returning to Oxford, where he was appointed a Fellow of Lincoln College and became tutor in history there and at other colleges. He remained in this position until 1907 .