VAUGHAN, JOHN (1663-1722), social and religious reformer Derllys Court, Carmarthenshire

Born 1663, the son of John Vaughan of Derllys (1624 - 1684), barrister, and Rachel, daughter of Sir Henry Vaughan, Derwydd, Carmarthenshire. His paternal grandfather was a brother of John Vaughan, Golden Grove, the first earl of Carbery. He was (probably) educated at Carmarthen grammar school. On 6 October 1692 he married Elizabeth, daughter of Thomas and Elizabeth Thomas (née Protheroe), Meidrym, the latter being a first cousin to Lucy Walter, mother of the duke of Monmouth.

During the last twenty years of his life John Vaughan was the leader of religious and educational life in Carmarthenshire. He and his friend Sir John Philipps, of Picton castle, Pembrokeshire, succeeded with the aid of the S.P.C.K. in making their respective counties the most progressive in Wales. John Vaughan paid special attention to the founding of charity schools and libraries and to the distribution of Welsh religious literature. He was the pioneer of free libraries and children's libraries, advocated county grants for the education of poor children, and took special interest in workhouse and prison reform. He emphasised, too, the importance of family devotion in every home. He was mayor of Carmarthen borough, 1710-11, and a member of the borough council, 1707-22. His daughter, Bridget Bevan, was the chief patron of the Welsh circulating schools. His wife died in 1721, and was buried in Merthyr church; he himself died on 16 November 1722, and was buried in Llan-llwch church, Carmarthenshire.

His elder brother, RICHARD VAUGHAN (1653 - 1724), followed his father at the Bar, became bencher and treasurer of Gray's Inn, Member of Parliament for Carmarthen borough (1685-1724), recorder (1683-6, 1688-1722), and chief justice of Carmarthenshire, Cardiganshire, and Pembrokeshire. He married Arabella Philipps of Picton Castle, and was thus a brother-in-law to Griffith Jones, Llanddowror.

Author

• Dr Mary Clement

Sources

• S.P.C.K. records (London)
• Carmarthen borough council records (Carmarthen and N.L.W.)
• NLW Archives: NLW MS 2B: Charity of John Vaughan of Derllys
• Mary Clement, 'Hanes yr S.P.C.K. yn Sir Gaerfyrddin o 1700 hyd 1750: gyda chyfeiriad arbennig at John Vaughan, Cwrt Derllys, a'i waith (M.A. thesis, 1940)
• Robert Harrison, Some Notices on the Stepney Family. MS. notes (London 1870)
• William Spurrell, Carmarthen and its neighbourhood (Carmarthen 1860) (2nd ed.), 1879
• D. Lleufer Thomas, 'The Vaughans of Golden Grove,' in Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
• Thomas Shankland, 'Sir John Philipps,' The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1904-5
• Francis Jones, 'The Squires of Hawksbrook,' The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1937
• W. Moses Williams, 'The Friends of Griffith Jones', Y Cymmrodor, 1939
• Mary Clement, 'John Vaughan, Derllys, a'i Waith,' The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion, 1942
• Lord George Scott, Lucy Walter wife or mistress (London 1947)
• T. Kelly, Griffith Jones, Llanddowror pioneer in adult education (Cardiff 1950)
• Mary Clement, Correspondence and minutes of the S.P.C.K. relating to Wales 1699-1740 (University of Wales Press 1952)
• Mary Clement, The S.P.C.K. and Wales, 1699-1740 (S.P.C.K. 1954)

Published date: 1959

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