| William Rees was one of the five founder Trustees of the College, and he remained in that capacity until his death. He was born at Tonn, Llandovery of a family well-established in the area. He was apprenticed to the printer’s trade at Hereford but returned to Llandovery in 1829, joining his uncle, David Rice Rees in the printing business. When his uncle retired from printing in 1835, William continued with the press and it went from strength to strength: it would not be too much to say that it became the finest in Wales. He printed works of outstanding merit – content-wise and design-wise: the three volumes of Lady Charlotte Guest’s translation of the Mabinogion in 1848-49 demonstrate this.
William Rees was a generous patron of all things Welsh, a knowledgeable antiquarian and devout churchman. At Tonn, he collected an outstanding library especially of books relating to Wales. He made a major contribution towards the location of the school at Llandovery, and organised the original building fund. For a quarter of a century as Honorary Secretary to the Trustee body, he was at the centre of the school’s affairs. |
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He was an acquaintance of Lady Llanover through the Welsh Manuscript Society, and it is possible that Rees’s bibliophile interests had made him an acquaintance of Thomas Phillips.
William Rees’s distinction as a printer and publisher is matched only by his immense contribution to life in Llandovery. He was Town Clerk from 1836 to 1867, Justice of the Peace, archaeologist. He was appointed Secretary to the Trustees of the Institution and was responsible for the Building Fund. His diligence and attendance at Trustee meetings are noteworthy. |
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