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Eccentric: The Life of Dr. William Price
Chartist, surgeon, heretic, Archdruid and pioneer in the legalisation of cremation in the British Isles, Dr William Price was undoubtedly one of the most flamboyant, romantic and eccentric characters in Welsh history.
He was a famed healer, crusader of reform, exiled political activist and a sparkling, dynamic, eloquent man who blazed progress and controversy by outraging a conventional society. However, there was much more to Price than his radical attitudes to cremation.
Poverty-stricken in his youth, his father was an insane priest, although Price, remarkably, became a surgeon by the age of just 21. He created an embryonic national health service, masterminded the first Museum of Welsh Life, launched Britain's first co-operative society, had visions of a new, massed Druidic rising and was exiled to France as a Chartist leader. He fathered illegitimate children with a housekeeper sixty years his junior and died sipping a glass of champagne at the age of 93.
This is the first authoritative biography of Dr Price, capturing not only his life's history but also the thoughts and ideals of the man himself. It includes a vast collection of more than ninety photographs, private letters and family papers never used in any previous publications.
He was a famed healer, crusader of reform, exiled political activist and a sparkling, dynamic, eloquent man who blazed progress and controversy by outraging a conventional society. However, there was much more to Price than his radical attitudes to cremation.
Poverty-stricken in his youth, his father was an insane priest, although Price, remarkably, became a surgeon by the age of just 21. He created an embryonic national health service, masterminded the first Museum of Welsh Life, launched Britain's first co-operative society, had visions of a new, massed Druidic rising and was exiled to France as a Chartist leader. He fathered illegitimate children with a housekeeper sixty years his junior and died sipping a glass of champagne at the age of 93.
This is the first authoritative biography of Dr Price, capturing not only his life's history but also the thoughts and ideals of the man himself. It includes a vast collection of more than ninety photographs, private letters and family papers never used in any previous publications.
140 pages, Paperback
First published July 7, 2005
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