John Henry Roberts

John Henry Roberts, known as Pencerdd Gwynedd, was a Welsh composer and teacher born at Mynydd Llandegai, in the county of Caernarvon, on 31 March 1848, and died in Liverpool on 6 August 1924. He was distinguished for combining composition with teaching and music publishing.

As a boy he worked in the Penrhyn quarry and devoted his spare time to music. He later conducted a choir in Abergynolwyn. S. S. Wesley promoted a subscription so that he could study at the Royal Academy of Music between 1870 and 1874. In 1898 he was appointed organist of the Methodist church in Chatham Street, Liverpool, and founded the Cambrian School of Music.

He was averse to publicity and refused to serve as an adjudicator at eisteddfodau. His partsongs and hymn tunes, such as 'Adelaide', 'Uxbridge' and 'Port Penrhyn', enjoyed wide circulation. His overture Caractacus was performed at the National Eisteddfod of 1894, with him conducting. He left numerous educational and hymnal publications.