Gwilym Tilsley

Who was Gwilym Tilsley?

Rev. Gwilym Richard Tilsley, commonly known by his bardic name of "Tilsli", was a Welsh poet who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales between 1969 and 1972.

He was born in Tŷ Llwyd near Llanidloes and educated at Manledd primary school, Llanidloes County School, the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and Wesley House, Cambridge, before entering the Methodist ministry.

As a Methodist minister, he served in Commins Coch near Machynlleth, Pontrhydygroes in Cardiganshire, Aberdare, Colwyn Bay, Llanrwst, Caernarfon, Rhyl and Wrexham before retiring to Prestatyn. This experience of the itinerant life of a Methodist minister in both north and south Wales inspired the two heroic poems to the industrial worker which brought him to prominence: in 1950 he won the chair at the Caerphilly Eisteddfod for a poem Moliant i'r Glöwr in praise of the miner, and in 1957 he won it again at Llangefni with the poem Cwm Carnedd about the life of the slate quarryman.

Tilsli wrote the words for several Welsh hymns, including "Am ffydd, nefol dad, y deisyfwn".