William Morgan was Bishop of Llandaff and of Street Asaph, and the translator of the first version of the whole Bible into Welsh from Greek and Hebrew.
Background
Morgan was born in 1545 at Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant, in the parish of Penmachno, near Betws-y-Coed, North Wales (there is some doubt about the exact year of his birth, his memorial in Cambridge, for example, gives 1541). As his father was a tenant of the Gwydir estate, he was probably educated at Gwydir Castle, near Llanrwst, along with the children of the Wynn family.
Education
Morgan then attended Street John"s College, Cambridge where he studied a range of subjects including philosophy, mathematics and Greek. He graduated Bachelor's Degree in 1578 and Doctor of Divinity in 1583.
Career
At Cambridge he was a contemporary of the Welsh poet Edmwnd Prys, who later assisted Morgan with his translation of the Bible. His first clerical benefice was the parish of Llanbadarn Fawr, which he gained in 1572. In 1575 he moved to Welshpool, and then became vicar of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant in 1578, where he made his Bible translation.
In 1579 he became rector of Llanfyllin, which he held concurrently with being vicar of nearby Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant.
Morgan was still at Cambridge when William Salesbury published his Welsh New Testament in 1567. While he was pleased that this work was available, Morgan firmly believed in the importance of having the Old Testament translated into Welsh as well.
He began work on his own translation of the Old Testament in the early 1580s and published this, together with a revision of Salesbury"s New Testament, in 1588. Following the publication of his Bible, Morgan worked on a revision of the Book of Common Prayer (which had also been translated by Salesbury), published in 1599.
He also began work on a revision of the 1588 Bible, which contained a number of printing errors.
This work was continued after Morgan"s death by Bishop Richard Parry and Doctor John Davies, and a revised version of the Bible was published in 1620. This edition is still known as William Morgan"s translation, and it is this rather than the previous edition which became the standard Welsh Bible until the 20th century and continues to be used to this day. William Morgan was appointed Bishop of Llandaff in 1595 and moved to the bishopric of Street Asaph in 1601.
He died on 10 September 1604.
He had one son, Evan, who became vicar of his father"s old parish of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant. A slate plaque close to the gates of the Parish Church of Street Dogfan in Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant commemorates Morgan.
lieutenant was while at this church that he made his historic translations. There is a memorial in Street John"s College Chapel, Cambridge, where Morgan was a student.