William Price (doctor) - Definition and Overview

Dr William Price (1800–1893) of Pontypridd, South Wales, was a physician and a famous eccentric. He refused to treat smokers, and was a vegetarian.

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.

He is remembered chiefly as the performer of the first legal cremation in the United Kingdom in 1884, when he burned the body of his illegitimate son Iesu Grist Price on a pyre of coal. (The son was born of a liaison between the elderly Price and his housekeeper.) He was prosecuted, but successfully defended the case, setting an important legal precedent.