1848 - 1908

Welsh printer and publisher

Rees was orphaned as a boy and raised by maternal relatives in Cwmtwrch, South Wales. He had little formal education and became a coal miner when he was 18. He became prominent in trade unions and was fired for activism. He went to the USA for three years but returned to Wales in 1872 to start a book shop. In 1877 he established a printing press in Ystalyfera.

From then until his death he was involved in printing and publishing. He established Y Gwladwr Cymreig (1885) and Llais Llafur (1898-1971), weekly newspapers, and published Cwrs y Byd, Yr Oes Newydd and Cenhadwr. Llais Llafur was his most important contribution, and instrumental in promoting the labor movement in South Wales for many years.
[Last updated: 12 SEP 2004]

References

Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940. (London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1959)

© Roger Ridley Fenton