EVANS, WALTER JENKIN (1856 - 1927), principal of Carmarthen Presbyterian College

Born 1 April 1856 at Carmarthen, son of Titus Evans and grandson of John Jeremy. He was educated at Parc-y-felfed school, at Carmarthen grammar school where he gained the principal scholarship, at Carmarthen Presbyterian College (1870-3), Jesus College, Oxford (B.A. 1878, M.A. 1880) and Manchester College, Oxford (1876-8), under James Martineau. He discovered that nature had not intended him to be a preacher, and in 1879-84 was a teacher in Brighton and London. In 1884 he was appointed tutor in Latin and Greek at his old college, Carmarthen, and in 1888 became principal there [an appointment which, on theological grounds, aroused considerable controversy among Welsh Unitarians - see Yr Ymofynydd during 1888 ]. He was a scholar and a gentleman, and during his long term of office as principal established close relations between the college and the University of Wales, [and was dean of divinity in the University, 1910-13 ]. His careful researches into Latin poetry were published [ Alliteratio Latina, or Alliteration in Latin Verse … (London, 1921) ], but he will be probably chiefly remembered as the meticulous historian of his denomination. He published articles dealing with the history of Carmarthen Academy in Yr Ymofynnydd [ 1930 ] and in G. Eyre Evans's edition of The Lloyd Letters, biographies of Carmarthen Unitarian students in E. Pan Jones's Oriel Coleg Caerfyrddin, and essays on the history of Unitarianism in the town of Carmarthen in Christian Life, 1916. In the N.L.W. there are six substantial manuscript volumes (NLW MSS 10325-10330B ), containing the biographies by him, of students of the college, with notes on the history of the denomination. He was a placid scholar, and above all, a teacher; and all his work is distinguished by a teacher's painstaking care. He died 10 February 1927.

Author

• Reverend Thomas Oswald Williams, (1888 - 1965)

Sources

• Report of 'Manchester College, Oxford'
• W. D. Jeremy, The Presbyterian Fund and Dr. Williams' Trust (1885)
• Yr Ymofynnydd, 1927, 93-7
• The Unitarian Students at the Presbyterian College, Carmarthen … 1796–1901 (1901), 92
• E. Pan Jones, Oriel Coleg Presbyteraidd, Caerfyrddin: yn cynwys hanes yr holl fyfyrwyr fu yn y coleg o 1796 hyd 1899 (Merthyr Tydfil 1909), 130-2

Further Reading

• Wikipedia Article: Walter Jenkin Evans

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q7965269

Published date: 1959

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