WILLIAM, THOMAS (1717 - 1765), Methodist exhorter and later Independent minister

Born 1717, son of the miller of Corrwg mill, Eglwysilan, Glamorganshire. He came to religion under the ministry of Howel Harris, c. 1738. He was a schoolmaster in the circulating schools, began to exhort among the Methodists, and in 1743 was appointed superintendent of the societies in Glamorgan. He was one of those who, in 1745, conveyed the message concerning the ordination of exhorters to the Association; he and his friend, William Edwards (1719 - 1789), were given some kind of ordination by the Groes-wen society. He kept up his connection with Methodism, and was Howel Harris's right hand man in the early years of the split between him and Daniel Rowland. In 1752 he was expelled from Harris's party and he and the Groes-wen society seceded and joined the Independents. He died while he was on a preaching tour in the Rhondda valley, 16 December 1765, and was buried in Cymer churchyard.

Author

• Reverend Gomer Morgan Roberts, (1904 - 1993)

Sources

• J. Morgan Jones and W. Morgan, Y Tadau Methodistaidd (1895-1897), i, 228
• Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, ii, 375-80
• T. Thomas, Hanes Ymneilltuaeth Gynnar yn y Watford, 12
• Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Hanes y Methodistiaid Calfinaidd, iv, 41; vi, 14; xxi, 109
• R. Bennett, Methodistiaeth Trefaldwyn Uchaf, 1738–1852 (1929), 217
• Cardiff Manuscripts 4877

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20821451

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/