Talk:William Price (physician)

Price's Mistresses

Should 'Gwenllian Llywelyn' be described as Price's mistress or partner?

My first inclination was to use the word mistress too, but in this case the term 'mistress' would be problematic. As I understand it, Price had several long term relationships with women. They generally lived together and raised children. Given Price's somewhat ideosyncratic religious views and his outspoken opinion against marriage, it would seem wrong to describe these relationships with pejorative terms such as 'mistress' that come from a Christian point of view. -- Solipsist 05:02, 27 May 2005 (UTC)

"Partner" was not even used in that sense at that time. Stop being so absurd. If he was a heathen "druid," why would he name his son "Jesus Christ?" In any case, he was an immoral fornicator. Do not people like that even care sufficiently about their children as to bestow them legitimacy and an environment that is at least apparently moral? Anglius

Yes I agree, Price and the townsfolk of Llantrisant are unlikely to have used the word 'partner' in the 19th Century. But that doesn't matter as we are writing an encyclopedia for today's readers (that's why we re-write the 1911 Britannica articles). I'm quite clear that using the word 'mistress' in this case is wrong. It would be fine if Price had been a practicing or lapsed Christian, but he wasn't. He subscribed to a different set of morals - many of them quite bewildering even from today's perspective - and this included a denial of the concept of marriage. As such the article should be written from a Neutral Point of View. Price would seem to have been a serial monogamist, and in such relationships the correct term to use appears to be 'partner'. -- Solipsist 07:07, 28 May 2005 (UTC)

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Hello, long time reader, first time editer. Dr Price is an ancestor of mine, very interesting chap as well. According to family history, he called his son 'Jesus Christ' to annoy the local chapel congregation. Anthropax 14:38, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

That's great, thanks for the input. If you spot any mistakes in the article, please feel free to dive in and edit. In particular if you happen to have access to a photograph of the man, that is old enough to be public domain or otherwise GFDL licensable, that would be an excellent addition. -- Solipsist 12:16, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

Thank you. I'll try to dig up some more information, and perhaps a photo. Anthropax 14:38, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

I agree with the use of the term partner, as it does give an idea of the sort of relationship he would have, even though it's a modern term Anthropax 22:40, 24 Jun 2005 (UTC)

There seem to be a couple of books on Dr Will. I've ordered one, and if it provides any good information, then I'll put it up. Anthropax

Hey Anthroprax, my father says Dr. Price is an ancestor of ours. I don't know enough about this to know if I'm actually a direct descendant or if he's a more distant relation. If you don't mind me asking, which of Price's children are you descended from? --Kathryn NicDhàna 20:57, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

Statue

I can't recall the exact location of the statue of Dr. Price. I added a mention of it, but if someone gets a chance to add a more precise location before I can find my notes, I think that would be a good addition. --Kathryn NicDhàna 20:54, 18 October 2006 (UTC)

The main article can hardly touch upon the life of Dr William Price, he managed to cram such an enormous amount into his 93yrs. He was undoubtedly an extremely talented and intelligent individual, with some cutting-edge ideas that were a century ahead of their time. He was also a herbalist, vegetarian, a prolific author, he still holds the record for being the fastest Doctor ever through medical training and completed a course which was taking most students 4 years in only 12 months. He railed against the conditions that were imposed upon the workers of the time and was uniquely elected works surgeon at the Brown Lenox chain-works Pontypridd where the workers paid a few pennies a month towards his wage in expectation of treatment when they required it, (a bit like the NHS but 100 yrs before the NHS). Elsewhere he would treat those who were ill or injured, not expecting payment until they were well enough to work and repay him. He also attempted the worlds first bone graft - when a miners leg was smashed in a pit accident rather than amputate, which would have certainly confined the miner to a miserable life in the workhouse, he tried to repair the shattered bones with a section of calf bone. The miner later died, although it's not known whether this was related to this treatment.

He was loathe to treat smokers and advised people to avoid exposure to smoky environments and advocated homeopathy. Bear in mind that he lived into his 90's as a relatively healthy man and obviously continued with an active sex life, this in a time when most men were lucky if they reached 40!

Consensus is that Dr Price thrived on causing mischief, and his naming both his sons Iesu Grist was almost certainly intended to inflame the local chapels. He was often in Court as the litigant or the defendant and this became something of a hobby for him. Again, it is now widely believed that he was probably suffering from some form of mental illness which was present to varying degrees at different times of his life, most probably a form of schizophrenia. His father had died a lunatic and Price had exhumed the body later to perform a post-mortem to prove that the brain was abnormal - in an attempt to prove that an unfavourable land sale actioned by his father was executed whilst he was of unsound mind and therefore null and void, (he lost that particular case).

Why was this man tolerated within his Community if the Church regarded him as a heretic and his behaviour and habits were so offensive and outlandish? He was an Arch-Druid who had been very involved with the development of the Gorsedd of Bards and attended or presided at various ceremonies and Eisteddfodau where he was certainly very conspicuous. He claimed descent from Welsh nobility, which went a long way with the populace, he was regarded as a very learned man, speaking several languages including Latin, (in a time when illiteracy was the norm), he was a very good physician and played an active part in the community, helping to stage operettas, etc. He stood by the workers and took sides against the Pit-owners and other employers when they needed support.

Contrary to the assertion on the main page that he hated all the mine owners and those within the ruling strata, he was extremely friendly with Francis Crawshay of the Merthyr Iron Crawshays of Cyfarthfa castle. Francis Crawshay lived at Forest House in Treforest, now the University Administration building, and they spent a lot of time in discussion about contemporary social issues. Crawshay had, rather uniquely,learned to speak Welsh so that he could converse with his workers in their own tongue. Price was involved to a greater or lesser extent in the Chartist uprising and had to leave the area rather hurriedly when the uprising was brutally supressed, fleeing to France. One story has him dressed as a woman to avoid capture, even being helped at one point by the Detective sent to search for him.

Records that I have seen indicate that his initial attempt at cremation of his infant son was a pretty sloppy effort, he placed the childs body on a griddle on an old metal drum then soaked everything in paraffin.

The statue of Dr William Price is on the Bullring in the centre of old Llantrisant town. Although it is nice to have this enigmatic man remembered by having a statue of him, most people I know feel the statue is of pretty poor quality.

William Price was known to have 4 children, Gwenlliolen, born several decades before the others, (also known as Llarlles Morgannwg which is Welsh for the Countess of Glamorgan), Penelopen, Iesu Grist 1 and Iesu Grist 2, (better known as Nicholas), these were the 2 that he fathered with his young house-keeper when he was a very elderly man. I'm told that these 2 lived into old age, Penelopen & Nicholas died childless although Nicholas was briefly married. I'm not sure if there were any children from Gwenlliolen, who married and moved to a farm near Cardiff, but Penelopen & Nicholas did not have children, although Nicholas was married, albeit briefly.

There are a couple of publications on Price, the most recent is 'Eccentric' by Dean Powell. It is a particularly detailed account of a full and intriguing life. Dean is a local historian who's written a few books on the areas history, he was Editor of the Pontypridd & Llantrisant Observer but has been more recently working with the BBC.

There are various Price artefacts at the Welsh Folk Museum, St Fagans, including clothes and possibly his fox head-dress, although these are said to have suffered badly from beetle infestation.

C Williams - Llantrisant 217.134.245.9 (talk) 10:31, 5 December 2007 (UTC)

Price and Cremation

Regarding the entry in the article that Price was "best known for reintroducing cremation to the United Kingdom" and the later entry that he "is remembered chiefly as the performer of the first legal cremation in the United Kingdom in modern times ... on 18 January 1884". The Wiki article Cremation describes the history of cremation in the United Kingdom in some detail; it is also the subject of a web page of the Cremation Society of Gt Britain which provides details of several actions by others including itself prior to 1884. Therefore, in the interest of accuracy, it's fair to mention that Price was not solely responsible for its reintroduction, although he was certainly highly instrumental in the eventual legal recognition of cremation. I have rewritten the lead paragraph and the 'Cremation' section of the article accordingly.--Twistlethrop (talk) 08:05, 12 March 2010 (UTC)

References

Cremation of son

"The once-angry mob paid their respects in a peaceful manner and to commemorate the event Price had 3,000 bronze oval coins minted, which he sold at 3d each." www.llantrisant.net The face and obverse of these tokens are pictured here http://www.londoncoins.co.uk/?page=Pastresults&auc=153&searchlot=799&searchtype=2 --Brenont (talk) 15:13, 23 May 2017 (UTC)

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