The Gwyneddigion Society was founded in December 1770 by a group of expatriate Welshmen resident in London, its first formal meeting taking place on 4 February 1771. Foremost of the founders was
Owen Jones (known as
Owain Myfyr), who became the society's first president. Originally from
Llanfihangel Glyn Myfyr, Jones had moved to London as a young man and had earned his fortune as a furrier. Other notable early members included
Iolo Morganwg (Edward Williams),
William Owen Pughe,
Jac Glan-y-gors (John Jones),
Siôn Ceiriog (John Edwards),
Edward Jones ("Bardd y Brenin"), and
Twm o'r Nant (Thomas Edwards). Although the society's name (meaning "Gwynedd scholars") suggests a particular link with the region of
Gwynedd, its affiliations were from the start with the whole of
North Wales, and later with all parts of Wales. It seems likely that the society was formed in part in reaction to the perceived social and intellectual elitism of the existing London Welsh societies, notably the
Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (although there was in practice considerable overlap between the membership and the officials of the various societies). The emphasis in the early years was on sociability, music (including
harp-playing and
penillion-singing), and pleasure. The society's principal meeting-place was the Bull's Head Tavern in
Walbrook, and one member,
David Samwell, wrote: Under rules adopted in 1777, every member had to be Welsh-speaking, and had to avow a fondness for singing, or at least for hearing poetry sung to the harp. However, the society rapidly adopted a more broadly cultural, and specifically a literary, role. When the Cymmrodorion Society was dissolved in 1787, its presidential chair was passed to the Gwyneddigion Society. One member described the Bull's Head between 1790 and 1815 as the "centre of Welsh literary life" ("
canolfan bywyd llenyddol ein gwlad"). The society promoted annual
eisteddfodau in Wales, the precursors of the
National Eisteddfod (the first being held at
Bala in 1789); but these experienced difficulties, and the experiment was abandoned after 1793. It had its own library, and maintained contact with scholars across Wales, such as
William Jones, to aid them in their knowledge gathering. It also offered an annual prize for literature, in the form of a silver medal. Most significantly, the society (with the financial backing of Owen Jones) published important Welsh literary texts, including
Barddoniaeth Dafydd ab Gwilym (1789) and
The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales (1801–07). ==Revival==