Dr William Price (1800 – 23 January 1893) of Pontypridd, South Wales, was a physician and a famous eccentric, best known for introducing cremation to the UK.

He was a prominent Welsh Chartist and was forced to flee to Paris after his part in the Newport Rising of 1839. He was an equally prominent Druid and exponent of 19th century Druidic traditions.

As a child, Price caused consternation by walking the hills naked. In later life his list of eccentric behaviours included, wearing a fox-skin headress, never wearing socks (which he thought were unhygienic), refusing to treat smokers, only accepting payment from patients he failed to cure, and washing every coin he received. He was also a vegetarian.

He is remembered chiefly as the performer of the first legal cremation in the United Kingdom on 18 January 1884, when he attempted to burn the body of his five month old son, Jesus Christ Price — or more correctly in Welsh, Iesu Grist Price. The infant was the illegitimate son of the 83 year old Price and his housekeeper. As part of his druid faith, William Price believed that burial was a sin against the earth and felt that cremation was a much better option, even though this was widely thought to be illegal in Britain at the time.

Price made no attempt to disguise his actions and publicly declared that he would burn the body on a pyre of coal on a hillside overlooking Llantrisant. So when he started to perform the Druidic lamentations, he was watched by a crowd who were largely opposed to him. On lighting the pyre, the body was snatched from the flames and Price was arrested for illegal disposal of a body.

Price was prosecuted, but successfully defended the case. The judge at the Cardiff Assizes agreed that under English law, an action isn't illegal unless it is specifically proscribed. As the law made no explicit reference to cremation, it was therefore legal. Nevertheless, the case set a precedent that led to the Cremation Act 1902.

Price did not believe in marriage which he saw as the enslavement of women. However shortly before his death at the age of 92 he fathered a second son and daughter with his then partner, Gwenllian Llywelyn.

Following his death in 1893, he was of course cremated on a pyre of coal in accordance with his will.

References

• TheAge article on the life of William Price.
• BBC Wales article on William Price