Ammanford, to which he returned as head after graduating from Oxford. The school closed during the First World War. In 1917, Gwili was appointed as Lecturer in Welsh in the Department of Celtic Studies at Cardiff University, spending some months as acting professor whilst Professor W. J. Gruffydd was on active service in the Royal Navy. In 1919 he became Librarian of the Salisbury Library at Cardiff University. In 1923 he was appointed Professor of New Testament Exegesis at the Baptist College and University of North Wales Bangor, where he remained until his retirement. Gwili spent two periods as editor of the Baptist periodical Seren Cymru. His first stint was in 1914–1927, when he used the paper to promote the works of the Fabian Society and the Independent Labour Party, giving the paper "an importance that no other denominational publication attained in later times". The paper went into decline after Gwili's departure. He was invited back as editor in an attempt to revive its fortunes in 1933 and remained such until his death. He was also the editor of the Baptist periodical Seren Gomer in 1930–1933. The poet Gwili had a poem published in the Llanelly and County Guardian in 1887, when he was 14 years old. He competed in regional and local bardic competitions throughout Wales with a fair degree of success, winning competitions in Llanelli and Cwrt Henri and in places as far as Dolgellau, Corwen and Caernarfon. He was not so successful on a national level, trying but failing to win a major prize on at least seven occasions before gaining the Crown at the Merthyr Tydfil National Eisteddfod in 1901 for his poem "Tywysog Tangnefedd" (Prince of Peace). Gwili had a knowledge of cynghanedd the strict metre of Welsh poetry, but never had much success in it. All his provincial eisteddfod honours were for poems in free metre. However, he adjudicated a competition for the chair (offered for a poem in Cynghanedd) on at least two occasions. He was elected Archdruid in 1931 and served a term from 1932 until his death in 1936. Personal life In 1910 Gwili married Mary E Lewis of Ammanford, by whom he had two daughters: Nest born in 1912 and Gwen born in 1914. Gwili died on 16 May 1936. The children of Hendy were given a half-day holiday to line the streets before his funeral at Hen Gapel, Llanedi,