Who was Sir Thomas Parry?

The son of a quarry worker, Sir Thomas Parry (1904-1985) was born in Carmel, Gwynedd in 1904. He received his early education in Pen-y-groes and from there he went to University College, Bangor where he gained a First Class Honours Degree in Welsh and Latin in 1926. In the same year he took up a position as an assistant lecturer in Welsh and Latin at University College Cardiff and completed his M.A. before returning to Bangor in 1929 as lecturer in Welsh. He was appointed Professor in 1947 and held this position until 1953 when he was appointed Librarian at the National Library of Wales.

In 1958 he was appointed Principal of the University of Wales, Aberystwyth and held that position until he retired in 1969. He was Vice-Chancellor of the University of Wales from 1961 to 1963 and for a second term from 1967 until 1969. Whilst he was Principal the college expanded considerably from the point of view of student numbers and of buildings and resources. It was during his time here that the college was re-established on Penglais Campus. In 1963 he was appointed Chairman of the Library Committee UGC and was chairman of the influential Parry Report on university libraries in 1967.

He was prominent in the activities of the National Eisteddfod, as President of the Council in 1959-1960. He was President of the Society of the Cymmrydorion from 1978 until 1982 and President of the Court of the National Library from 1969 until 1977.

He received numerous awards, including a FBA in 1959, D Litt in 1968, LLD in 1970 and in 1978 was awarded a knighthood and the Medal of the Cymmrodorion.

He was a poet and critic in the strict metre. He was also a dramatist and his prose play Llywelyn Fawr (1954) and his translation of Murder in the Cathedral (Lladd wrth yr Allor, 1949) are considered important works.

His literary works include standard works such as Hanes Llenyddiaeth Gymraeg hyd 1900 (1945), Llenyddiaeth Cymru 1900-1945 (1945), Gwaith Dafydd ap Gwilym (1952), Baledi'r Ddeunawfed Ganrif (1935), The Oxford Book of Welsh Verse (1962) and Hanes ein Llên (1948).

Although an academic of great commitment he did not distance himself from those around him or forget his roots in the working environment of the quarry. Many of his past students and colleagues remember him not only as a distinguished scholar but as a man who had pastoral concern for those he taught, those who were responsible to him at work and also on a social level.