ANNA WALTER THOMAS

Anna Walter Thomas (1839-1920) was an English linguist, poet, and educator. The daughter of Thomas Fison by his second wife, Charlotte, she was the youngest of his twenty children. Born on 14 February 1839 at Barmingham, Suffolk, she was educated in London, at Cheltenham, and on the continent. She went to live with one of her brothers at Oxford, and became proficient in the Classics and a number of modern languages, and took an interest in Welsh.

In 1871, Anna married David Walter Thomas, a Welsh clergyman who was instrumental in founding a Welsh church in the Welsh settlement of Argentina. They had three daughters and two sons, one of whom was the priest and scholar, Evan Lorimer Thomas. Anna threw herself into Welsh life, holding night classes for the local quarreymen, and was instrumental in aiding many of them pursuing their studies further. She also competed in eisteddfodau (Welsh festivals of music, literature, and performance), and at the National Eisteddfod in Cardiff in 1883, she won the prize for a poem (in English).

In 1884, Anna was a candidate for the chair of Modern Languages at the University College of North Wales, Bangor, and was nearly elected. She died on 12 February 1920 and was buried at Holyhead.

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