Geraint H. Jenkins

Geraint Huw Jenkins, FBA, FLSW (24 January 1946 – 7 January 2025) was born in Penparcau, a village outside Aberystwyth, Ceredigion in Mid Wales. He was an academic historian who specialised in the history of Wales. Jenkins married author Ann Ffrancon, with whom he had three daughters, Gwenno, Angharad and Rhiannon. From 1990 to 1993 Jenkins was Professor of Welsh History at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. In 1993 he became Director of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. Jenkins retired from academia in 2009 and was appointed Emeritus professor of Welsh History at the University of Wales. In 2010 he was one of the founding fellows of the Learned Society of Wales. Jenkins wrote many essays and over thirty books on many subjects and was the general editor of the series A social history of the Welsh language.

Life and career Jenkins attended grammar school in Aberystwyth from which in 1967 he went to the University College of Wales, Swansea to study history. At Swansea he studied for a PhD on literature and religion between the Reformation and Methodism under the direction of Professor Glanmor Williams. In 1968 Jenkins returned to Ceredigion and became a lecturer in Welsh history in the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. He was promoted to senior lecturer in 1981 and reader in 1988. And in 1990 he was appointed Professor of Welsh History. In 1993 he was appointed Director of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies, serving until 2008. In 2009 he was appointed Emeritus Professor at the University of Wales. He served on the 'Board of Celtic Studies' at the University of Wales from 1985 and chaired the board from 1993 to 2007.

Jenkins was particularly noted for his contribution to the study of Iolo Morganwg and his work in collating and editing the papers of the latter to enable the publication of A Rattleskull Genius: The Many Faces of Iolo Morganwg (Iolo Morganwg and the Romantic Tradition in Wales (2006). A reviewer described it as "a scholarly feast" but warned that "...it must run some risk of satiating the appetite it is designed to whet."

While at Swansea Jenkins played for his college football team and watched the 'Swans' at home. He subsequently wrote about footballers in Wales, three books about Swansea City Football Club, and two concise biographies about two famous Welsh international footballers, John Charles and Billy Meredith.

Jenkins died on 7 January 2025, aged 78.

Honours Jenkins received a Doctor of Letters degree from the University of Wales in 1994.

Selected publications Books 1970s

1980s

1990s

Cadw Tŷ mewn Cwmwl Tystion, 1990 (Welsh Arts Council Prize, 1991)

2000s

2010s

Editorships Sole editorships A Social History of the Welsh Language, 11 vols. (University of Wales Press, 1997–2000). The Correspondence of Iolo Morganwg 1770–1826, 3 vols. (University of Wales Press, 2007). Y Gymraeg yn ei Disgleirdeb, 1997 The Welsh Language before the Industrial Revolution, 1997 Iaith Carreg fy Aelwyd, 1998 Language and Community in the Nineteenth Century, 1998 Gwnewch Bopeth yn Gymraeg, 1999 Cymru a’r Cymry 2000, 2001 Joint editorships Politics and Society in Wales 1840–1922, 1988 Merêd: Casgliad o’i Ysgrifau, 1995 Cardiganshire in Modern Times, 1998 Eu Hiaith a Gadwant?, 2000 Let's Do Our Best for the Ancient Tongue, 2000 From Medieval to Modern Wales, 2004

A Rattleskull Genius: the many faces of Iolo Morganwg, 2005 Degrees of Influence, 2008 The Welsh Language in the Twentieth Century, 2015 Cardiganshire County History: medieval and early modern Cardiganshire, 2019