WILLIAM LEWIS

(1835? - 1918)

Cardiff printer and publisher

born at Tewkesbury. The printing business at Cardiff, founded by John Bird (q.v.) in 1791 and conducted in 1855 by Hugh Bird , was transferred by the latter in 1866 to his two assistants, William Lewis and John Williams , who worked in partnership until 1873 when William Lewis became sole proprietor . Lewis had, prior to coming to Cardiff , served as an assistant in a book and stationery establishment at Cheltenham . The business prospered greatly under William Lewis , the printing and publishing business becoming, in time, one of the largest in Wales ; for full details see Ifano Jones , Hist. of Printing and Printers in Wales , and an article by the same author entitled ' The House of Lewis, Cardiff ,' in The Pointer , No. 1, October 1922. William Lewis, who had retired from active participation in the business in 1913, died 4 February 1918 at Cardiff, and was succeeded in the business by his eldest son, Sidney William Lewis.

Source Dictionary of Welsh Biography