Sir John Edward Lloyd (5 May 1861 – 20 June 1947) was born in Liverpool. He was educated in the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth (which later become the University of Wales, Aberystwyth), which he left in 1881, and Lincoln College, Oxford, from which he graduated in 1883 with a first class honours degree. Upon leaving Oxford in 1883, he obtained an academic position in his alma mater in Aberystwyth teaching history. In 1891 he applied for the post of College Principal. However, his application was unsuccessful, which prompted him to look for an academic post elsewhere, which he obtained shortly afterwards in Bangor University.^[1]

Lloyd married Clementina (Tina) Miller within a year of arriving in Bangor, and they had two children, Edmund and Eluned.^[2] He was knighted in 1934.

Lloyd became a much-published and famous Welsh historian. He wrote the first serious history of the country's formative years, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest (1911) and Owen Glendower/Owain Glyn Dŵr (1931). And he was the first editor of 'Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig', which was published posthumously in 1953. Its English counterpart, the Dictionary of Welsh Biography, was published in 1959 with Robert Thomas Jenkins as its sole editor.

Wikisource has original works by or about:
John Edward Lloyd

The following publications are a selection of Lloyd's published output. See Garmon (1948) below and Works by or about John Edward Lloyd at the Internet Archive for additional publications.

• Lloyd, John Edward (1892). "Welsh place-names: A study of some common name-elements". Y Cymmrodor. II: 15–60.
• —— (1928). "Hywel Dda: the historical setting". Aberystwyth Studies. 10: 1–4.
• —— (1928). "The Welsh chronicles [Sir John Rhŷs Memorial Lecture]". Proceedings of the British Academy. 14: 369–391.

• Lloyd, John Edward (1896). Ail Lyfr Hanes (Hanes Cymru o 400 Hyd 1066 O.C.). Caernarfon: Cwmni'r Wasg Genedlaethol Gymreig.
• Lloyd, John (1903). Historical Memoranda of Breconshire; a Collection of Papers from Various Sources Relating to the History of the County, Volume 1. Brecon: Ellis Owen, 'Brecon & Radnor Express Offices'.
• —— (1904). Historical Memoranda of Breconshire; a Collection of Papers from Various Sources Relating to the History of the County, Volume II. London: Bedford Press.
• —— (1906). The early history of the old South Wales iron works (1760 to 1840). London: Bedford Press.
• Lloyd, John Edward (1911). A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, Volume I. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
• —— (1912). A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, Volume II. London: Longmans, Green, and Co.
• Lloyd, J.E. (1914). Carnarvonshire. Cambridge: University Press.

• (With Hubert Lewis) Lloyd, J.E. (1889). The ancient laws of Wales. London: Elliot Stock.
• Lloyd, John Edward (1928). Hywel Dda: Penn a Molyant yr Holl Vrytanyeit (Brut y Tywysogion) 928-1928. Caerdydd: Gwasg Prifysgol Cymru.
• —— (1935). A History of Carmarthenshire. Vol. I (1st ed.). Cardiff: London Carmarthenshire Society.
• —— (1939). A History of Carmarthenshire. Vol. II (1st ed.). Cardiff: London Carmarthenshire Society.
• (With R.T. Jenkins) —— (1959). The Dictionary of Welsh Biography down to 1940. London: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion.

• Jenkins, R.T. (1947). "Syr John Edward Lloyd". Y Llenor. 25: 77–87.
• Jenkins, Robert Thomas (2001). "Lloyd, Sir John Edward (1861 - 1947), historian, and first editor of Y Bywgraffiadur Cymreig". In Johnston, Dafydd; Gruffydd Jones, Elin Haf (eds.). Dictionary of Welsh Biography. Aberystwyth: The National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 December 2024.
• Jones, Garmon (1948). "A list of the published writings of the late Sir John Edward Lloyd". Bulletin of the Board of Celtic Studies. XII (4): 96–105.

• Pryce, Huw (2004). "From medieval to modern Wales: the Wales of John Edward Lloyd". In Davies, R.R.; Jenkins, Geraint H. (eds.). From medieval to modern Wales: Historical essays in honour of Kenneth O. Morgan and Ralph A. Griffiths. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 0-7083-1881-9.
• Pryce, Huw (2011). J.E. Lloyd and the creation of Welsh history Renewing a nation’s past. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-2388-5.
• Pryce, Huw (2022). Writing Welsh history. Oxford: Oxford University Press. ISBN 978-0-19-874603-4.