Charles Wilkins (bardic name: Catwg, 16 August 1830 – 2 August 1913) of Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire, was a prolific writer of historical accounts of Wales and its industries. He produced pioneering reference works on the histories of Merthyr Tydfil and Newport; the coal, iron, and steel trades of South Wales; and Welsh literature. He was also founding editor of The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales. Background Charles Wilkins was born on 16 August 1830 in Stonehouse, Gloucestershire, the second of nine children of William Wilkins, a Chartist bookseller then postmaster, and Anna Maria Wilkins (née Jeens). From 1840 the family lived in Merthyr Tydfil, Glamorganshire. Leaving school at the age of fourteen, Wilkins worked first as postmaster's clerk to his father, then as postmaster from 1871 until his retirement in 1898. From 1846 to 1866 he was also librarian of the Merthyr Tydfil Subscription Library of which Thomas Stephens was secretary. Wilkins married Lydia Jeens in Stonehouse in 1859. She died giving birth to their third child in 1867. The following year, Wilkins married Mary Skipp in Topsley, Hereford; they had two children. Wilkins was Glamorganshire secretary of the Cambrian Archaeological Association, a fellow of the Geological Society of London, and a member of the Aberystwyth College committee. He was also a member of the Loyal Cambrian Lodge, No. 110, of Freemasons, Merthyr Tydfil, from 1872 to 1885. Historian, writer, editor Wilkins' major works included the first histories of Merthyr Tydfil and Newport, a history of Wales, a history of Welsh literature, and histories of the coal, iron, and steel trades of South Wales. From age fourteen, Wilkins wrote extensively over many years for the Merthyr Tydfil, Cardiff, and Swansea newspapers, including serialized versions of his books. In 1877, Wilkins was "initiated into the mysteries of the Druidic lore", and at the 1881 National Eisteddfod, held in Merthyr Tydfil, he won a £21 prize (approximately ) and gold medal for the best "History of the Literature of Monmouthshire and Glamorganshire from the earliest period to the present time." His bardic name was Catwg. In 1882, it was reported that, "after careful examination of the various works written by Mr. Wilkins", he was "unanimously elected to the super graduate Degree of Literature (Lit. D.)" by the Druidic University of America and its affiliate in Maine. However, at the time of his retirement in 1898 the degree was described as