TIBBOTT family, Llanbryn-mair, Montgomeryshire
TIBBOTT, RICHARD (1719 - 1798), Calvinistic Methodist exhorter and Congregational minister,
Born 18 January 1719 at Hafod-y-pant, Llanbryn-mair. In 1738 he began to preach occasionally with the Congregationalists, but in 1740 he came under the influence of Howel Harris. Soon afterwards he went to Griffith Jones's school at Llanddowror and joined the Calvinistic Methodists. He himself kept a school in the neighbourhood of Llanddowror for a time and exhorted the Methodist societies in south Carmarthenshire and north Pembrokeshire. At the Watford Association, 5-6 January 1742/3, it was resolved that he was 'to be the General Visitor of the Bands,' whilst later in the same year he was appointed to superintend the small societies which had been formed in Montgomeryshire. At an Association at Nantmel, 18 April 1744, it was resolved that he was to devote himself entirely to the task of visiting all the Montgomeryshire societies once a week. Several of his reports on them are available among the Trevecka records in the National Library of Wales. Although it was only natural that he should continue to feel some attachment towards the Congregationalists, this caused some Methodists to be prejudiced against him, which resulted in his writing a lengthy letter to the Association held in October 1745, making clear his standpoint on religious matters. As far as is known, Tibbott, through the medium of this letter, was the first to suggest the advisability of printing a confession of faith and of founding a college for the training of ministers. Shortly afterwards all the societies in North Wales were placed in his charge, and he superintended the societies in the counties of Montgomery, Denbigh, Merioneth, and Caernarvon. On these journeys he encountered considerable opposition and persecution.
When the dissension between Howel Harris and Daniel Rowland occurred, Richard Tibbott at first adhered to the Harris faction, but later, owing to the catholicity of spirit which enabled him to perceive redeeming features in both parties, he was expelled, whereupon he joined Rowland's followers. He continued to labour among the Methodist, until 1762, when he accepted an invitation to be minister of the Congregational church at Llanbryn-mair. He was ordained in November of that year, and there he laboured for the remainder of his life, although he still travelled much, preaching frequently among the Methodists and occasionally among the Baptists. He died 18 March 1798. His brother,
JOHN TIBBOTT (died 1785), was also a Congregational minister.
For some years before his brother's ordination he assisted Lewis Rees, Richard's predecessor as minister at Llanbryn-mair. In 1763 he moved to Carmarthenshire to take charge of the churches of Ffaldybrenin and Esgairdawe. He died suddenly at Esgairdawe, 6 February 1785, and was buried at Pencarreg. His son was
ABRAHAM TIBBOTT (1752 - 1808),
who also was born at Llanbryn-mair. He was educated at Abergavenny and, c. 1775, became minister at Rhos-y-meirch, the oldest Nonconformist cause in Anglesey. He moved c. 1783 to Llanuwchllyn, and in 1792 to Cymer Glyncorrwg and Llangynwyd, Glamorgan, where he ministered for two years and also kept a school at Llangynwyd. In 1794 he returned to Anglesey and there spent the rest of his days. He, too, died suddenly, 19 June 1808, and was buried in the chapel at Rhos-y-meirch.
JOHN TIBBOT (c. 1757 - 1820), clock-maker,
was also connected with this family. It is believed that he was a son of Richard Tibbot, Ty-croes, Pennarth, Llanfair-caereinion. About 1777 he settled at Newtown as a maker of clocks and watches and remained there for thirty years. He then moved to Y Cawg, Llanbrynmair, where he farmed, at the same time maintaining his interest in his original craft, until his death in 1820. He was buried in Llanbryn-mair churchyard on 24 March. He is notable as the inventor of particular types of clocks and watches. Evidence exists that in 1816 he brought some of his inventions to the notice of the Royal Society of Arts and that he suffered an injustice because the committee which examined them refused, either intentionally or through ignorance, to admit that they possessed any special characteristics. There are strong grounds for the belief, however, that the free pendulum was his invention. Several of his clocks are still in existence.
Author
- Gildas Tibbott, (1900 - 1979)
Sources
- Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Hanes y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd, i-iv
- J. Morgan Jones and W. Morgan, Y Tadau Methodistaidd (1895-1897), i, 213-8
- Richard Bennett, Methodistiaeth Trefaldwyn Uchaf, 1738–1852 (1929)
- I. C. Peate (ed.), Hen Gapel Llanbrynmair, 1739–1939 (1939), 43-5
- R. T. Jenkins, Hanes Cynulleidfa Hen Gapel Llanuwchllyn (1937), 100-5
- The Evangelical Magazine and Missionary Chonicle, 1802, 161-9
- Josiah Thomas Jones, Geiriadur Bywgraffyddol o Enwogion Cymru (Aberdâr 1867-70), ii, 596, 597, 599
- Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, under the churches named
- M. H. Jones, The Trevecka Letters, or the unpublished MSS. correspondence of Howell Harris and his contemporaries (1932)
- Trevecka records in N.L.W.
- NLW Archives: NLW MS 1122B
- Iorwerth C. Peate, John Tibbot, Clock and Watch Maker, Montgomeryshire collections: relating to Montgomeryshire and its borders, Vol. xlviii, pp.176-85
- Iorwerth C. Peate, John Tibbot's Inventions, Montgomeryshire collections: relating to Montgomeryshire and its borders, Vol. li, pp.38-40
Published date: 1959
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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