David Jenkins (librarian)
David Jenkins CBE (29 May 1912 – 6 March 2002) was a Welsh librarian who led the National Library of Wales from 1969 to 1979 and wrote its official history. He was born in Blaenclydach, Rhondda, and spent much of his childhood with relatives in Penrhyn-coch, Aberystwyth, due to illness. He studied Welsh literature at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, earning a BA in 1936 and an MA in 1948, and was later awarded an honorary DLitt Wales in 1979.
He joined the National Library of Wales in 1939 as an assistant in Manuscripts. After serving in World War II as a major in north-western Europe, he returned to the library and rose through the ranks: Assistant Keeper (1949–1957), Keeper (1957–1962), Senior Keeper (1962–1969), and Librarian (1969–1979). He edited the Journal of the Welsh Bibliographical Society (1964–1979) and the National Library of Wales Journal (1968–1979). He also served as General Commissioner of Income Tax (1968–1987) and chaired the Welsh Books Council (1974–1980). He received the CBE in 1977. His history of the National Library, A Refuge in Peace and War, was written over twenty years. He married Menna Rhys in 1948, and they had one son and one daughter. He died in Aberystwyth in 2002 at the age of 89.
This page was last edited on 2 February 2026, at 16:25 (CET).