page_title: Charles Wilkins (writer)
section_title: Historian, writer, editor
hierarchical_section_title: Charles Wilkins (writer) / Historian, writer, editor
caption_attribution_description: English: Cover page of the Welsh periodical The Red Dragon, Vol. IV No. 1 July 1883, edited by Charles Wilkins (1830-1913).
context_page_description: Charles Wilkins 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.
context_section_description: 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 equivalent to £2,100 in 2019) 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 PhD, though he "never permitted the title to be made any use of".
  From 1882 to 1885, Wilkins was editor and writer for the monthly periodical The Red Dragon: The National Magazine of Wales. This English language magazine published articles on Welsh history, biography, and poetry, and was a "calculated attempt to reach out to a new public literate in English but unschooled in a knowledge of Wales". Though traditional and conservative, it included women writers and displayed a "sense of admiration and affection for working people in Wales".
caption: The Red Dragon cover page, July 1883
   Motto: Y Ddraig Goch a ddyry gychwyn – "The Red Dragon will lead the way"
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