Maria Jane Williams

Maria Jane Williams (1795 – 10 November 1873) was a 19th-century Welsh musician and folklorist born at Aberpergwm House, Glynneath in the historic county of Glamorganshire, South Wales. She was the second daughter of Rees Williams of Aberpergwm in the Vale of Neath and Ann Jenkins of Fforest, Ystradfellte and the sister of William Williams, her eldest briother, who was the first to suggest the formation of a Welsh Manuscripts Society. From an early age Williams displayed she displayed an extraordinary talent for music. She won several Eisteddfodic prizes. However, perhaps she is most highly regarded for her book The Ancient National Airs of Gwent and Morgannwg which rescued many Welsh songs from obscurity, including Y Deryn Pur (The Gentle Bird) and Y Ferch o'r Sger (The Maid of Sker).

Life Williams was born in 1795 at Aberpergwm House, Glynneath to 'an old Welsh family in South Wales.' Her father was Rees Williams of Aberpergwm in the Vale of Neath and her mother was Ann Jenkins of Fforest Ystradfellte. She had three brothers, William, Rees and Thomas, and a sister. Her eldest brother, William Williams (1788-1855), is credited with having been the first person to suggest the idea of a Welsh Manuscripts Society. She lived in Blaen Baglan. But in her later years she lived at a house called Ynys-las, near Aberpergwm House. She died in 1873 and is buried at St Cadoc's Church in the grounds of Aberpergwm House. and was an accomplished player of the guitar, and the harp, having been taught by the famous harpist Alvers (who might have been Elias Parish Alvars). And it provides notes on the songs and a list of persons for whom copies of it had been printed, which evidenced how well patronised Welsh folk song was during this period. , which in turn was republished in 2015. Through this collection Williams rescued many songs, the best known being Y Deryn Pur (The Gentle Dove) and Y Ferch o'r Sger (The Maid of Sker). In October 1838, at the ensuing Eisteddfod, she won a prize for the best arrangement of any Welsh air for four voices.

Lucy Broadwood, an ex-president and mentor of the Folk Song Society, and one of the earliest collectors of Celtic folk songs, in a scathing attack on the folklorists of the day, claimed that during the period 1800 to 1850 in Wales, as in the rest of Britain, ‘a mass of "traditional" and so-called "Druidical" songs was published which does not bear critical investigation.’ However, she claimed that Maria Jane Williams was one of only two people in Britain at this time who were the exception to this rule. Maria Jane Williams claimed that: ‘The songs were given as...obtained...in their wild and original state; no embellishments of the melody have been attempted, and the accompanying words are those sung to the airs.’

Williams helped John Parry to produce the ‘Welsh Harper’ and John Thomas consulted her before publishing his two volumes of Welsh airs.