Rees was born at
Puncheston,
Pembrokeshire, the son of James and Eunice Rees. He was the brother of
Jonathan Rees, who wrote under the pen name Nathan Wyn. The family moved to
Aberdare when he was a child and he began working in the local
colliery at the age of only eight. Having moved to
Cardiff, he became a
Calvinistic Methodist minister at the age of 23 and gained his first
National Eisteddfod victory in 1881. In 1893, Rees participated in the Eisteddfod that was held as part of the
World Columbian Exposition in
Chicago, Illinois, winning the Bardic Chair and a $500 prize for a 2,000 line
awdl on the set subject
Iesu o Nazareth ("Jesus of Nazareth"). Rees went on to become the
Archdruid of the
Gorsedd Cymru and to announce the posthumous victory of
Hedd Wyn at the famous 1917 "Eisteddfod of the Black Chair" in
Birkenhead. ==Works==