JONES, WILLIAM TUDOR (1865 - 1946), minister (U) and philosopher

Born 8 September 1865 at Pontrhydfendigaid, Cardiganshire. Educated at the village school, he served there as teacher and at Goginan, Cardiganshire, for a few years. He decided to enter the Calvinistic Methodist ministry, and studied at Aberystwyth and Cardiff university colleges. Later he became minister of the Unitarian churches at Swansea (1899-1906), Wellington, N.Z. (1906-10), Islington (1910-15), and Bristol (1915-33). During his ministry at Swansea he studied for a period at Jena and came under the dominating influence of Rudolf Eucken. He afterwards became recognised as the foremost exponent and advocate of Eucken's philosophy of life, which seeks to disprove all materialistic interpretations of history, and stresses the reality of universal spiritual life as the only key to man's 'divine discontent' and ethical development. His own philosophy was an attempt at a further clarification and amplification of the idealistic trend of thought revealed in Eucken's Activism. He held the degrees of M.A. (Bristol) and Ph.D. (Jena). His publications include: translations of some of Eucken's main works and several expositions of Eucken's general philosophy; Nature, Thought and Personal Experience (1926); The Reality of the Idea of God (1929); Contemporary Thought of Germany (2 vols. 1930). He was also Editor of the Library of Philosophy and Religion and of the Library of Contemporary Thought.

His wife whom he had married in 1892, was Helen Clarke, of Northampton. He died 12 June 1946 and was buried at Torquay, where he retired in 1933.

Author

• Daniel Davies, (1893 - 1961)

Sources

• The Inquirer, July 1946
• Who's who?, 1946
• Annual Report of the National Library of Wales, 1946-47

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20748912

Published date: 2001

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