Lady Llanover (see Hall, Augusta Waddington).

Lawrence, T. E. (Lawrence of Arabia (l888-l935): b. Tremadoc; explorer and military leader, led Arab forces against the Turks and agitated for Arab independence. His story is told in his Seven Pillars of Wisdom and in the movie Lawrence of Arabia.

Lee, Lisa Scott (b. l976): from St. Asaph, a star in the British pop industry, former member of Steps, enormously successful on TV, in magazines etc.

Lee, Rowland (d. l543): Anglican Bishop, President, King's Council in the Welsh Marches in l534, noted for his cruel measures against the Welsh.

Leland, John (l506-52): author of The Itinerary of John Leland, consisting of notes from tours through England and Wales during l534-l543. It greatly influenced later antiquarians and topographers.

Leonowens, Anna (l83l-l9l5): Caernarfon-born governess to King Mongkut of Siam and instructress to his children. Her story is told in Anna and the King of Siam and The King and I. She later became involved in education and women's rights in Canada.

Levi, Thomas (l825-l9l6): from Ystradgynlais; composer of hymns including Oleuni Mwyn (Lead, Kindly Light), and religious and historical books, editor of the children's magazine Trysorfa Plant (Treasures for Children, l862-l9ll).

Lewis, Alun (l9l5-44): Cwmaman short-story writer, many of whose poems were written in World War Two in which he died of wounds. His first collection of poetry, Raiders' Dawn (l942), was followed by short stories written in India, and the collection of poems titled Ha, Ha, Among the Trumpets.

Lewis, Ceri Williams (b. l926): b. Treorchy, former coal miner, professor of Welsh at University College Cardiff in l979; has published many books on Welsh history and language.

Lewis, David (Tad y Tlodion. 1617-79): called the "father of the poor," Catholic martyr executed at Usk, canonized in l970.

Lewis, Eluned (l900-l979): b. Newtown, Mont; asst. editor of The Sunday Times, winner of the Gold Medal of the Book Guild in l934.

Lewis, Edward Arthur (l880-l942): historian who pioneered in Welsh social and economic history.

Lewis, Francis (l7l3-l803): b. Llandaff, Welsh-born signer of the American Declaration of Independence; orphaned at five, went to the US in l735. As a prosperous merchant, he supplied British troops in the French-Indian Wars, supposedly had his life spared at Ft. Oswego by conversing in Welsh to an Indian chief; his house destroyed by British soldiers, he died in poverty.

Lewis, Geoff (b. Talgarth): the first Welsh jockey to win the English Derby (on Mill Reef in 197l.)

Lewis Glyn Cothi (Lewys Glyn Cothi, l420-89): l5th century Welsh poet who composed verses that described his life as an outlaw and many elegies and eulogies for wealthy patrons that are found in a collection compiled by John Davies of Mallwyd in 1617.

Lewis, Henry (l889-l968): first Professor of Welsh at Swansea University College where he popularized Celtic studies, publishing many medieval texts.

Lewis, Howell Elvet (Elfed, l860-l953): preacher at King's Cross Welsh Chapel, London; winner of the Crown and the Chair as National Eisteddfodau; his collection, Caniadau (Songs) made him important in Welsh poetry. In l890 he published Sweet Singers of Wales, a study of hymns and their authors. One of his hymns, “Cofio'n Gwlad” (Remembering the Land) is often called the second national anthem of Wales (in addition to “We’ll Keep a Welcome”).

Lewis, Hugh (l562-l634): cleric whose translation of Coverdale's A Spiritual and most Precious Pearl (l595) was the first Welsh book to be printed at Oxford, creating great interest in all things Celtic.

Lewis, John (l548-l6l6): historian whose sole work, The History of Great Britain until the Death of Cadwaladr (l729) was written to counteract Polydor Vergil's denigration of Geoffrey of Monmouth.

Lewis, John David (l859-l9l4): publisher whose Gomerian Press at Llandyssul, Ceredigion, published many of Wales's prominent 20th century authors.

Lewis, John Llewelyn (l880-l969): American-born son of Welsh immigrants, worked in mines till aged l5. Became president of A.F.L. and later the C.I.O, which he led to organize within the major U.S. industries. Hated by the establishment, he achieved much for his workers, including travel time and a welfare fund.

Lewis, Lewis (Lewsyn yr Heliwr): b. Penderyn, Rhondda, sentenced to life imprisonment in Australia following his leadership of the Merthyr Riots of l831, On the prison ship John, he taught English to fellow Welsh and Irish convicts.

Lewis, Lewis William (Llew Llwyfo, l83l-l90l): b. Pensarn, Anglesey; poet, novelist, and journalist, former copper mine worker, founded or edited a number of newspapers in Wales, Liverpool and the USA; a prolific writer of heroic verse and a popular figure at eisteddfodau.

Lewis, Michael: Aberystwyth-born contemporary composer; won the Ivor Novello Award for a film score in The Madwoman of Chaillot, his first of many, including the movie Titanic. In l998, he formed the Welsh Choir of Southern California. Their debut CD is Hearts Afire (Calonnau ar Dân).

Lewis, Richard: (see Dic Penderyn).

Lewis, Robyn (b. l929): b. Llangollen, Denbs; distinguished lawyer, former Deputy Judge and Assistant Recorder at the Crown Court, London; elected by the Gorsedd of Bards to be Archdruid of Wales in 200l — the first to be elected rather than appointed to the office. The first National Prose Medalist to be so honoured, he is the author of l9 books, his latest the most substantional and ambitious — the New Legal Dictionary: Eiriadur Newydd y Cyfraith.

Lewis, Saunders (l893-l985): poet and dramatist, co-founder and early president of Plaid Cymru. Twice nominated for the Nobel Prize in literature, he wrote 19 plays from 1921 through l980 as well as religious poetry. In l962, his radio speech Tynged Yr Iaith (fate of the language) was a signal for Welsh youth, leading directly to the founding of Cymdeithas Yr Iaith Gymraeg.

Lewis, Sir Thomas (l88l-l945): born Taff’s Well, he pioneered the development of the electrocardiograph, often using his own body to experiment. At Univ. College Hospital, London, his life’s work was studying the operation of the heart and the blood flow.

Lilly, Gweneth (l920-2004): b. Liverpool, former teacher at St. Mary’s College, Bangor, a prize-winning prolific writer of novels for children.

Livesey, Roger (1906-1976): from Barry, popular theatre and movie actor with unmistakable husky voice starred The Life and Death of Colonel Blimp (l945).

Lockley, Ronald Mathias (l903-2000): b. Cardiff naturalist, founder of bird observatories in Britain and New Zealand; author of sixty books on nature that inspired Richard Adams' Watership Down.

London Welsh: The: largest and most active of all the communities of Welsh men and women outside Wales. The Cymmrodorion Society provided impetus for the establishment of many leading institutions including the National Library, Museum, and the University of Wales. Active are the London Welsh Association, a Welsh primary school, and the London Welsh Rugby Club.

Loomis, Roger Sherman (l887-l966): American scholar; co-founded the International Arthurian Society in l930; he contributed enormously to the study of Arthuriana and Celtic literary traditions.

Lord Rhys (l2th century): set up by Henry ll as a deputy in Wales, Rhys ap Gruffudd took back much of Ceredigion from Norman control. In 1176, he hosted an eisteddfod at Cardigan in which contests were set between harpists and crowthers and pipers, and with chairs to be awarded as prizes.

Lowe, Harold (l982-l944): born Deganwy, Gwynedd, he was the real hero of the Titanic, being the only officer who returned to the sinking ship to search for survivors. As Fifth Officer, he helped load the lifeboats before taking charge of boat Nr. l4 and rowing away, but after dispersing his occupants he returned to rescue many from the freezing waters.

Llanover, Lady (Augusta Waddington Hall, Gwenynen Gwent (Bee of Gwent), l802-96): Abergavenny patron of folk culture who collected important manuscripts, helped revive interest in Welsh music, folk dancing and traditional costumes as well as such important traditions as Plygain, Mari Lwyd, and others. She encouraged Welsh language and Welsh dress at her house and hired a triple harpist.

Llewelyn Gwyn (b. l942): Anglesey broadcaster, worked for The North Wales Chronicle and the Western Mail before joining BBC Wales in l979 as an introducer and news reporter.

Llewellyn, Carl: jockey who won the l992 Grand National Steeplechase on Party Politics, standing in for the injured Andy Adams, and the 1998 race, standing in for Tom Jenks on Earth Summit.

Llewellyn, Desmond (l9l4-l999): son of a mining engineer, his role as Q in the James Bond films from l963-l999 made him famous. Captured at Dunkirk with the Royal Welch Fusiliers, he was interred until the end of the War. Known to have hated gadgets of any kind, he was killed in a car crash.

Llewellyn, Gareth (b. l969): Cardiff-born, forward; in March, 2004, with 87 games for Wales International Rugby, he passed the record of Neil Jenkins.

Llewellyn, Grant (b. l960): b. Tenby; conductor with the BBC Symphony, Boston Symphony, Houston Symphony, the St. Paul Chamber Orchestra, the BBC National Orchestra of Wales and other prestigious orchestras; chosen in 2004 to lead the North Carolina Symphony.

Llewellyn, Sir Harry (l9l1-l990): from Abergavenny, Britain’s leading horseman of the post-war years. Won the Gold at Helsinki on Foxhunter in l952. Horse and rider won the George V1 Gold Cup three times at the Royal International Horse Show. His ashes are buried near Foxhunter’s on Blorenge Mountain.

Llewellyn, Martin (l565-l634): the first British cartographer; a survivor of a Dutch trading expedition, his charts covering the Far East and the Cape of Good Hope were only discovered in l975.

Llewellyn, Richard ((Richard Ll. Lloyd, l906-l983): from St. David’s, Pembs, he spent a few months at Gilfach Goch Colliery to gather material for his masterpiece How Green Was My Valley (l939) his first published novel, made into an Oscar–winning Hollywood movie (l94l).

Llewellyn-Jones, Frank (l907-l997): Mountain Ash; an authority on the physics of electrified gases and electrical contact phenomena. At the R.A.F. Establishment, Farnborough, he solved the problems caused by spark plug ignition and erosion in switches in aircraft engines.

Lloyd family: Montgomeryshire iron-masters and bankers persecuted for its Quaker beliefs in the l7th century. Thomas became Deputy-Governor of Pennsylvania under William Penn; Charles (l748-l828) developed the Taylor and Lloyd Bank in Birmingham (to become Lloyd's Bank).

Lloyd, David (l9l2-69): b. Trelogan, Flintshire: one of Wales' best-known tenors, famed in Europe for his singing of Verdi and Mozart; in Wales for concerts.

Lloyd, David Myrddin (l909-8l): distinguished staff member at the National Library of Scotland; author of essays, short stories, and translations from Irish.

Lloyd, David Tecwyn (l9l4-1992): pseudonym of E. H. Francis Thomas, essayist, short story writer and literary critic; editor of Taliesin magazine.

Lloyd, Elis (l897-l939): b. Newport, Mon., journalist and novelist with the Glamorgan Gazette, the South Wales News and Echo before studying law and entering politics as M.P. for Llandaff and Barry in l929.

Lloyd, Henry (l720-l783): b. Llanbedr, Mer., Jacobite writer and soldier whose books on military strategy may have been read by Napoleon.

Lloyd, Herbert (l720-69): from Lampeter, a notoriously corrupt and lawless squire who became M.P. for Cardigan Boroughs in l76l.

Lloyd, John (l630-79): from Brecon, executed during the Popish Plot of l678, he was canonized in l970.

Lloyd, John Ambrose (l8l5-74): b. Mold, a composer of two important collections of hymn tunes and anthems.

Lloyd, John Edward (l86l-l947): historian of early and medieval Wales; called "The old Magician of Bangor" by Saunders Lewis, author of A History of Wales to the Edwardian Conquest (1911) and Owen Glendower (1931).

Lloyd, John Selwyn (b. l93l): from Tal y Sarn, Caerns, teacher and prize-winning novelist.

Lloyd, Owen Morgan (l9l0-79): b. Blaenau Ffestiniog, an Independent minister and poet prominent at Eisteddfodau and on Radio Wales.

Lloyd, Robert (Llwyd o’r Bryn, l888-l96l): b. Llandderfel, Mer., a public speaker, author and adjudicator who coined the phrase Y Pethe to describe the values of traditional Welsh culture.

Lloyd, Thomas (l640-94): from Dolobran, Meifod, Montgomershire, persecuted as a Quaker, cam e to Pennsylvania to become one of the most importantfigures in the colony’s civil life as President of the Presidential Council and Deputy Governor under William Penn.

Lloyd-George, David (l863-l945): b. Manchester but raised in Llanystumdwy, Caernarfonshire, elected for Caernarfon Borough in l890, rising rapidly through the ranks to become President of the Board of Trade, Chancellor of the Exchequer and Prime Minister (the latter during World War One). As Chancellor he introduced social security (Old Age Pensions), National Insurance against sickness and unemployment, a lessening of the miners' work hours, and the establishment of labor exchanges. Totally committed to the war against Germany, Lloyd-George was a leading figure in the peace negotiations of l9l9 at Versailles. In l921, opposed to Woodrwow Wilson. His employment of the infamous Black and Tans and his ultimatum to Irish leader Michael Collins led to the establishment of the Irish Free State and civil war.

Lloyd-George, Gwilym (1894-1967): served in France during W.W.l; elected Liberal M.P. for Pembrokeshire in 1919, was defeated in 1924; became managing director of United Newspapers in 1925: returned to Parliament in 1925; rose to become parliamentary secretary of Board of Trade under Churchill; become Viscount Tenby in 1957.

Lloyd-George, Megan (1902-1966): b. Criccieth, elected in 1929 as Liberal M.P. for Anglesey; he was president of Parliament for Wales Campaign in 195l; switched to Labour in 1955 defeating the Liberals at Carmarthen in 1957. A superb speaker in English and Welsh; died two weeks after being re-elected.

Lloyd Jones, Rev. Gareth (b. l938): from Tremadog, Chair of the Dept of Theology and Religious Studies at Univ. of Wales, Bangor; Anglican priest and a Canon of Bangor Cathedral; author of several books in Welsh and English; a Fulbright Scholar at Yale University; has preached in several Welsh American churches; Dr. Jones is one of the eight scholars chosen to translate the Old Testament from Hebrew into modern Welsh (to celebrate the 400th anniversity of the first Welsh translation by Bishop Morgan).

Lloyd-Jones, John (l885-l965): b. Dolwyddelan, Caerns; Professor at University College, Dublin; master of the awdl, and Chair winner,

Lloyd-Price, Richard J. (l843-l923): from Rhiwlas, Mer., whose former whisky distillery became Camp Frongoch for Irish Republican prisoners from the Easter Rising of l9l6.

Llwyd, Alan (b. l948): from Dolgellau, Mer.; poet, and critic, editorial officer for the Welsh Joint Education Committee; has won both Crown and Chair on two occasions, and has edited several major anthologies of Welsh poets; editor of Barddas since l976 and organizer of Cymdeithas Cerdd Dafod.

Llwyd, Angharad (l780-l866): antiquarian, essayist; wrote The History of the Gwydir Family (l827) and The History of the Island of Mona (l832).

Llwyd (Lhuyd), Edward (1660-1709): from Llanforda, Oswestry, linguist, Keeper of the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Known as “the father of British palaentology,” he pioneered studies on Celtic languages and natural history.

Llwyd, Humphrey (l527- l568): antiquary and mapmaker from Denbigh who produced the first maps of Wales as a distinct unit from England.

Llwyd, Morgan (l6l9-59): from Ardudwy, Gwynedd; agent of the Commonwealth in Wales charged with dispossessing regular clergy. A prolific author, his Llyfr y Tri Aderyn (Book of the Three Birds) urged the Welsh people to prepare for Christ's return.

Llwyd, Richard (l752-l835): known as the Bard of Snowdon, poet and antiquary, with works on Welsh geneology and heraldry.

Llyr: a character in the Mabinogion, written as Leir by Geoffrey of Monmouth and eventually as Lear by William Shakespeare.

Llywarch ap Llywelyn (ll73-l220): a poet known as Prydydd y Moch, Poet of the Pigs) closely connected with praise of Llywelyn Fawr and the need for national unity under a strong leader.

Llywelyn ap Gruffudd (1225-l282): Y Llyw Olaf (The Last Ruler), grandson of Llywelyn Fawr, he united much of his country to assert his claim to be called "Prince of Wales" (officially recognized by Henry 111 in l267 at the Treaty of Montgomery). At the accession to the English throne of Edward l in l272, lacking significant support, Llywelyn was forced to accept humiliating terms and to give up most of his recently acquired lands. He then led his younger brother Dafydd’s revolt against oppressive English rule. Separated from his army at Cilmeri, he was killed by an English knight unaware of the Welsh prince's identity. A poignant ballad by modern Welsh songwriter and nationalist Dafydd Iwan expresses the intense grief of the Welsh people: "Collir Llywelyn, colli'r cyfan" (Losing Llewelyn is losing all).

Llywelyn ab Iorwerth, (ll73-l240): the grandson of Owain Gwynedd, Llywelyn became ruler of the kingdom of Gwynedd in l200; under his strong leadership, Wales was united as a single political unit. In l204 he was recognised by King John of England, who gave him his daughter Joan in marriage. Known to posterity as Llywelyn Fawr (Llywelyn the Great), he was pre-eminent in Wales.

Llywelyn ap Rhisiart (Lewis Morgannwg: l520-65): one of Glamorgan's great poets, the recognized head of the bardic order in mid l6th century Wales.

Llywelyn Bren: lord of Senghenydd who rebeled against Edward 11 in 1316 after the king had refused justice for the people of Wales. Llywelyn yielded rather than sacrifice his own men and was executed at Cardiff.

Llywelyn, Sion (l540-l6l5): poet and copyist whose transcriptions of early literature helped enormously in preserving priceless Welsh manuscripts.

Llywelyn-Williams, Alun (l9l3-l988): essayist, poet and critic, radio-producer and college professor.

Llwyd, Elfyn (b. l95l): from Betws y Coed, Gwynedd: M.P. since l992 for Plaid Cymru, working with Home Affairs, Transport and Agriculture: he is the leader of Plaid Cymru’s Parliamentary Group