Thomas Rowland Hughes (often referred to as T. Rowland Hughes) (April 17, 1903 – October 24, 1949), was a Welsh novelist, dramatist and poet He was the son of a quarryman from Llanberis, Caernarvonshire (Gwynedd today), in northern Wales. He is primarily renowned in the present day for his novels about characters living and working in the slate quarries of northern Wales, but in his day he was just as well known as a poet. William Jones is his most famous novel.
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Hughes obtained a first class degree in English at the University College of North Wales in Bangor. In 1928, he was awarded a scholarship by the University of Wales to study at Jesus College, Oxford, leading to a B.Litt. degree in 1931 on "The London Magazine from 1820 to 1829".[1] His most important job was as a producer with the BBC in Cardiff. In his thirties he began to suffer from multiple sclerosis, and it was at this time that he began to write his most well-known works.
Hughes won the Chair at the National Eisteddfod on two occasions, in 1937 for his ode 'Y Ffin' ('The Boundary'), and again in 1940 for 'Pererinion' ('Pilgrims').