ELLIS, GRIFFITH (1844 - 1913), Calvinistic Methodist minister

Born 24 September 1844 at Corris, Meironnydd. Affected by the revival of 1859, he began preaching in 1863, entered Bala College in 1865, and at the end of his course served as assistant-tutor there, 1870-1. He then entered Balliol College, Oxford, where he graduated in 1876 (M.A. 1879) with a third class in Lit. Hum.; the master (Jowett) showed him much kindness (see Abbott and Campbell's Life of Jowett, ii, 70). Before leaving Oxford, Ellis had been called to the pastorate of Stanley Road C.M. church, Bootle (he preached at the opening of the new chapel there in December 1876), which he occupied until his retirement. He worked very hard in the church, which became a very large one; he was a model pastor, who gave every opportunity of service to young people, and carefully tended the week-night activities of the church. In his presbytery, too, and in the affairs of his denomination, he acquired great influence, becoming moderator of the North Wales C.M. Association in 1900, and of the General Assembly in 1896; it was he who delivered the first ' Davies lecture ' in 1894 (published in 1895 under the title Y Syched am Dduw).

He had a most tenacious memory and a considerable capacity for research, with a meticulous care for exactitude in dating; but he overburdened his books with detail and was far too fond of quotations. His other books were Hanes Methodistiaeth Corris a'r Amgylchoedd, 1885, Welsh biographies of William Carey, 1897, W. E. Gladstone, 1898, and Edward Morgan (1817 - 1871) of Dyffryn, 1906 - he also wrote many articles in periodicals. Neither as preacher nor as writer was Ellis particularly original; but he was a man of notable courtesy and graciousness. He retired from his charge in 1911, suffering from deafness, and died 14 July 1913.

Author

• Thomas Richards, (1878 - 1962)

Sources

• Foster, Alumni Oxonienses: the members of the University of Oxford
• Blwyddiadur y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd, 1914
• Y Goleuad, 23 July 1913
• Camau'r Cysegr sef hanes Eglwys y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd Stanley Road Bootle (1926), 33-45
• personal acquaintance

Further Reading

• Biographical Sketch of the Rev. Griffith Ellis, M.A., Bootle, The Christian standard: the monthly magazine of the Cardiff Evangelistic movement, Vol. I, no.8, February 1892

Works

• Griffith Ellis, Cofiant y Parchedig Edward Morgan, Dyffryn (Denbigh 1906)
• Griffith Ellis, William Ewart Gladstone: ei fywyd a'i waith (Gwrecsam 1898)

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20733087

Published date: 1959

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