Commission on Land Tenure in Wales 1891 – Royal Commission on University Education in Ireland 1907 – Sir Thomas Raleigh's commission on the Welsh university and its constituent colleges 1908 – Chief Baron Palles's commission for a national university of Ireland 1908 – First chairman of the Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales, a post that he held until his death. Awards Rhŷs gained his knighthood in 1907, and in 1911 was appointed to the Privy Council. Rhŷs was one of the founding Fellows of The British Academy when it was given its royal charter in 1902, and after his death the academy established an annual lecture in his name, the Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture. The Oxford Dictionary of National Biography declares him to be "foremost among the scholars of his time" in his published fields, noting that "his pioneering studies provided a firm foundation for future Celtic scholarship and research for many decades." Works Lectures on Welsh Philology (1877) Celtic Britain (1882, last edition 1908) Lectures on the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic Heathendom (1888, based on lectures delivered in 1886) Studies in the Arthurian Legend (1891) Celtic Folklore, Welsh and Manx (1901) The Welsh People (with D. B. Jones, 1900) John Morris-Jones and Rhŷs prepared an edition of The Elucidarium and other tracts in Welsh from Llyvyr agkyr Llandewivrevi A.D. 1346 (The Book of the Anchorite of Llanddewi Brefi), a collection of Medieval Welsh manuscripts in the library of Jesus College Oxford, which they published in 1894. In the 1890s, Rhŷs and his daughter Olwen decoded a Greek and Latin cryptogram in the Juvencus Manuscript. References External links Sir John Rhys Memorial Lectures Sir John Rhys at the National Portrait Gallery Sir John Rhys Papers 1840 births 1915 deaths Knights Bachelor Celtic studies scholars Fellows of Jesus College, Oxford Principals of Jesus College, Oxford Fellows of Merton College, Oxford Fellows of the British Academy Members of the Privy Council of the United Kingdom Linguists from Wales Members of the Cambrian Archaeological Association Welsh non-fiction writers Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Jesus Professors of Celtic Arthurian scholars Burials at Holywell Cemetery