William Frost (1846-1891)


Harpist; b. 28 Dec. 1846 in Albert Street, Merthyr Tydfil, the son of William Frost, a blind harpist. (The father had lost his sight as the result of an accident received by him in a coal mine when he was only thirteen and had been sent to a school for the blind at Swansea, where he learnt to play the harp.) The son was taught by his father and became a fairly good harpist. When he was fifteen he won a prize for playing the harp at an eisteddfod held in Merthyr (1859. He won a scholarship given at the Swansea national eisteddfod, 1863, for singing ‘Sweet Richard’ and the eisteddfod committee arranged for him to receive lessons from Llewellyn Williams (Pencerdd y De). At the Chester eisteddfod, 1866, John Thomas (1826 - 1913) awarded him a pedal harp, valued at £50; he also won a triple harp at an eisteddfod held at Llandovery. He was much in demand as a harpist, as a teacher of the harp, and as adjudicator in harp competitions. He received a doctorate from Germany . After his marriage to a talented singer named Gedrych, he moved to Cardiff. There he founded the ‘Frost Concerts’ which did much for the cause of music at Cardiff. He wrote several songs , his ‘Hen Gymru fynyddig’ and ‘Hoff fryniau fy ngwlad’ being at one time very popular. He d. 25 Feb. 1891 at 5 The Parade, Cardiff.

Source: Dictionary of Welsh Biography