DAVIDS, THOMAS WILLIAM (1816 - 1884), Independent minister and ecclesiastical historian

Born 11 June 1816 in Gower, where his father, a Ffald-y-brenin man and a kinsman of David Jones (1736 - 1810) of Llan-gan, was minister. His parents died when he was young and he was brought up by his uncle, Thomas Thomas of Lampeter Velfrey, Pembrokeshire. It was intended that he should be a doctor but he insisted on following in his father's footsteps and was therefore sent to Homerton College, London. In 1840 he was appointed minister of the Independent church at Colchester, Essex, where he remained until 1875. He was for many years secretary of the local Independent connexion, and on the occasion of the bicentenary of the ' Ejection of the Two Thousand ' wrote the history of those who had been extruded in the Colchester area. This work, which bore the marks of the most painstaking research, was published in 1863. He had collected a great deal of material for a larger work on the history of Nonconformity in Essex, but died 11 April 1884 before this was completed. THOMAS WILLIAM RHYS DAVIDS (1843 - 1922), professor of comparative religion and an authority on Buddhism, was his son.

Author

• Reverend Richard Griffith Owen, (1890 - 1973)

Sources

• Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, ii, 441
• Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Who was who?, 1916-28

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Thomas William Davids

Additional Links

• VIAF: 1588171
• Wikidata: Q18129502

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/