In this sparsely populated parish, the man managed to father 43 children (Image: Chris Andrews/Wiki)
He savoured life’s modest joys and discovered satisfaction in angling and cultivating his vegetable garden. Dairy products formed the backbone of his meals, whilst his leisure hours were spent enjoying a spot of fowling.
Church records show he reached the extraordinary age of 105, maintaining keen mental faculties and recollection throughout an existence that was, by conventional standards, rather unremarkable. He could easily have slipped into historical anonymity but for one astounding accomplishment: across 81 years, he fathered 43 children.
This achievement, if it can be described as such, brought considerable fame to the tiny parish of Tregaian on Anglesey. The memory of William Ap Howel lives on in the churchyard of the village’s 14th-century church, devoted to a saint considerably less recorded than its most famous parishioner.
When travel author Thomas Pennant traversed Anglesey during the late 18th century, carefully chronicling the copper workings of Parys Mountain, he deemed it necessary to reference the island’s most productive father in his 1778 publication A Tour in Wales, reports WalesOnline.
He noted that, against expectations, the “great patriarch of Tregaian” was not an imposing character with a ravenous appetite, but instead “small of stature, of a cheerful, convivial temper; but spare in his diet, living mostly on milk”. Pennant added: “He passed his time in rural employments, and at his leisure in fishing and fowling.”
Large families were typical when he died in March 1581. Yet William’s family size was remarkable even by the standards of that era: the average household size across England and Wales during the 16th century was just 4.75 – a figure that stayed relatively consistent until the First World War.
A memorial plaque at St Caian’s Church recognises William’s extraordinary legacy (Image: Stephen Elwyn Roddick/Wiki)
From 21 years old, William established a routine of fathering a child every two years, continuing this pattern well into his later years. When he died aged 105, his youngest child was a son, Griffith, who was merely two-and-a-half years old.
Supporting such an enormous family required five women. His first wife, Elen Williams, gave birth to 22 children; his second wife, Katherine Richards, produced another 10.
His third wife, Ellen Williams, apparently more conscious of his proclivities, contributed just four. His three marriages produced a combined total of 36 children.
Yet William’s family didn’t end there. He also maintained two ‘concubines’: Jonet ferch William delivered two more offspring, whilst Lecky Lloyd brought another five into the world.
Their combined reproductive output triggered an extraordinary demographic boom in this remote corner of Anglesey. For context, throughout William’s life, the broader parish of Llanfairpwll had a population of approximately 80.
At the time of his passing, 80 of William’s descendants were living in Tregaian parish. Moreover, some appeared determined to uphold the family tradition: his eldest daughter Alice, then 72, had been married twice and, according to parish records, she “hath numerous offspring” of her own.
The record went on to say: “At his funeral there was computed to be about 300 persons descended from him. He has children’s children to the fourth generation in abundance.”
Morocco monarch Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif is said to have fathered between 1,042 and 1,171 children (Image: undefined)
Caring for such a large family may have presented challenges, although many of his children would likely have left home before the arrival of the next Ap Howel baby. However, local rumours suggested he utilised his hunting skills as a poacher to supplement the family’s food provisions.
Baptisms at the humble medieval St Caian’s church could have posed their own issues. In 1847, vicar Harry Longueville Jones noted that the font was “hardly large enough for immersion”.
Parish records suggest that William maintained excellent health throughout his life. “The old man was of a midle stature, of good complexion, never troubled with cholick, gout or stones, seldom sick,” they recorded.
“Of moderate diet, lived by tillage, exercised himself much in fishing and fowling and had his senses perfect to the end.”
William’s astonishing tally of 43 children was remarkable by any standard. Yet, in the history of human reproduction, he is merely a minor footnote.
Moulay Ismail Ibn Sharif, an 18th-century Moroccan ruler, would have dismissed such figures. With a harem of 500 women, he is said to have fathered 525 sons and 342 daughters. In fact, Guinness World Records estimated a total of 1,042 children.
Researchers at Vienna University suggested an even higher figure, proposing 1,171. Excluding sperm donors (Viennese physiologist Bertold Paul Wiesner is thought to have fathered up to 1,000 children through artificial insemination), royalty have historically been the most prolific.
Noteworthy examples include 18th-century Polish King Augustus II the Strong (approximately 370 children), and 20th-century Swazi King Sobhuza II, who reportedly had 70 wives and 210 children.
Other examples include Sultan Ibrahim Njoya, Cameroon’s King of Bamum (around 600 wives, 177 children), Emperor Minh Mạng (142) and Saudi Arabia’s King Saud (approximately 110).
Mohammed Bello Abubakar, who died in 2017, was another contender, having married 86 women in Nigeria and fathered 170 children. In 2008, he faced arrest for polygamy after exceeding the four-wife limit.
Even within Wales, William ap Gruffydd might not hold the record. That alleged distinction belongs to Augustus John, whose artistic fame was matched by his notorious promiscuity.
He’s reported to have fathered “up to 100 children”, mainly outside of marriage – although some argue this number is greatly exaggerated.
At present, William’s accomplishments are marked by a simple plaque and an inscribed slate at the Grade II*-listed St Caian’s Church. These record his passing on March 11, 1581, having “begat 43 children”.