PHILLIPS, DANIEL (fl. 1680-1722), Independent minister

a Carmarthenshire man, associated by tradition with the Philipps family of Picton. His sister Dorothy married Timothy Quarrell of Llanfyllin, Montgomeryshire, of a family prominent in the history of Merionethshire and Montgomeryshire Independency (see Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, i, 260, and Jenkins, Hanes … Hen Gapel Llanuwchllyn, 70-2); her daughter married John Kenrick of Wynne Hall, Denbighshire (see the article Kenrick), and was the mother of Timothy Kenrick of Exeter. According to Thomas Rees, Phillips was taught by Samuel Jones of Brynllywarch, but his name does not appear in Walter Wilson's list (copy in N.L.W. Add. MS. 373) of Jones's pupils; it is however certain that he was taught by Stephen Hughes. He kept school for a while at Ynysdderw, Llangyfelach. In 1684 he went up to preach in Llŷn, residing at Gwynfryn, Pwllheli, the heritage of Elin (Glyn), widow of Henry Maurice (1634 - 1682); he afterwards married her, and thus became owner of Gwynfryn. He was ordained, 3 July 1688, at Swansea, in the presence of James Owen - the certificate of ordination, preserved among the papers of Thomas Morgan (1720 - 1799) in N.L.W., is printed in Y Cofiadur , 1923, 19-20. Phillips received £4 per annum from the 'Common Fund' for itinerating during 1690-3; from 1711 till 1722 he received £6 per annum from the Presbyterian Fund, 'for Carnarvon' - probably the county. He is regarded as the founder of the Independent church at Pwllheli, and in a sense of the church at Caernarvon town as well, and he took out licences on houses in Anglesey. Robert Jones of Rhos-lan (Drych yr Amseroedd , 25-6), though he miscalls him ' W. Phillips ' tells us of his troubles at Pwllheli. His wife died and he married a certain ' Anne ' from near Carmarthen - Thomas Morgan tells us that Milbourn Bloom was a tenant of hers. Of this marriage, two sons and four daughters were born; the two eldest daughters married Independent ministers at Denbigh; the elder of these, wife of David Williams, was the mother-in-law of Rees Harries, who was minister at Pwllheli 1761-88. Daniel Phillips's third daughter, Dorothy, married Richard Thomas, minister at Pwllheli 1751-61, and the fourth was the first wife of Thomas Morgan (above). Phillips died in 1722, and his widow married his successor (1722-48) John Thomas. It will be seen, thus, that the house of Gwynfryn was inhabited by four successive Independent ministers of Pwllheli, covering between them a period of more than 100 years.

Author

• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Sources

• Family tree by Walter J. Evans inserted in NLW MS 5453C
• Manuscript (the property of the Presbyterian Board) published by Alexander Gordon under the title Freedom after Ejection. A Review (1690–1692) of Presbyterian and Congregational Nonconformity in England and Wales, 1917, (index)
• Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru iii, 165-6
• R. Tudur Jones, 'Gweinidogion Ymneilltuol Dinbych yn y Ddeunawfed Ganrif' Y Cofiadur, 27, tt. 41-8, for F. D. Maurice's Welsh pedigree

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20746765

Published date: 1959

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