MEMOIR OF THE AUTHOR 



THOMAS ALFRED WESLEY REES, the 

 "Alfred Wellesley Rees " of lanto the 

 Fisherman and Creatures of the Night, was born 

 December 7th, 1872, at Pembroke Dock. His 

 father, Richard Rees, was in the employment of 

 the Admiralty as a Government Inspector of 

 Iron Contracts, and is described by his eldest 

 son as " a man of decided and admirable 

 character ; he was an unpaid preacher among 

 the Wesleyans, and one of the best preachers I 

 have had the good fortune to hear." His mother 

 was a Wilkins, belonging to a mid-Glamorgan 

 stock. While he was therefore of Welsh blood 

 on each side, he belonged both by ancestry and 

 upbringing to the English-speaking fringe of 

 South Wales, ruled in early days by Norman 

 families, and here and there colonised by 

 Flemings. 



Of his two brothers the eldest was a banker, 

 and the second a Wesleyan minister ; both were 

 of strong literary tastes, and acquired libraries 

 alike remarkable in extent and rich in rare books 



