John Alun Lloyd, MBAA – in his own words: “I was born in Gwern-y-Mynydd, near Mold, on the second of September, in the year 1895. “When I was about three years old, I moved to Penycae near Ruabon. My father kept the smithy in Penycae for fourteen years, but I should say that the smithy kept him”.
“I was at Penycae elementary school for a term, and then at the Council School in Acrefair, under Mr William Parry – without doubt the best schoolmaster I ever came to know. There was also there a teacher who has had an influence on me to today, namely Mr Ll Moss Davies and I shall have a deep respect for the man as long as I live”.
“From there I went to Ruabon Grammar School, where I was for a time, and from there I came to work for my father at the smithy”.
“What made me an astronomer? That question is often asked of me. I cannot answer the question except by saying that I had some tendency towards Astronomy since childhood. I remember well how I looked at Halley’s Comet through a binocular fieldglass (in 1910). This was my first instrument. I marked on an atlas its position among the stars. I read everything I could get a hold of relating to Astronomy. I toiled over them until they were understood.”
An English translation by Rhys Morris of Chapter 24 entitled Seryddiaeth yng Nghymru [Astronomy in Wales] from Seryddiaeth a Seryddwyr [Astronomy and Astronomers] by the Rev’d J Silas Evans (1923)