The story of the Arminian controversy in the old counties of Cardigan and Carmarthen would be incomplete without a reference to the possible influence of William Richards of Lynn (1749-1818), the Sabbelian Baptist who was among the first to subscribe to the Unitarian Society in Wales, founded in 1802. Richards, being a minister at King's Lynn, was convalescing at home in Meidrym during those vital, tempestuous years, and his influence over his Baptist colleagues, who embraced Arminianism, was considerable. |
Regarding the all-important Baptist Assembly held at Salem Meidrym (Richard's home church) in 1799, R. T. Jenkins, the Welsh historian comments, "Ten or more Baptist ministers went over to Arminianism (semi-Unitarianism) on the advice of Richards of Lynn." |
When the Assembly of Salem Meidrym decided to expel their rebelious heretics, one of the Baptist ministers who had to pay the price for being honest to his conscience was Evan Lloyd "from Blaenwaun". |
Evan Lloyd (1764-1847) had served with the Militia (and was actually on duty at Fishguard when the French landed there in 1797) before he was trained for the ministry, to be ordained as a Baptist minister in 1801. However, within five years, this "popular preacher" was "on the road", having refused to subscribe to the Baptist Confession of Faith and, consequently, was without the financial security offered by the movement. |
But "on the road" Evan Lloyd was a "free man" and he made his way towards mid-Glamorganshire where he was ordained as the first Unitarian minister of the General Baptist churches of Nottage (near Porthcawl) and Wick (between St. Brides arid Llantwit Major). These churches were already Arminian, possibly influenced by Lloyd's predecessor David Richards. |
It is observed that Unitarianism failed to take root in the "Fro" (Vale) and that many ministers, who were attracted there, flew away all too soon, like migrating birds. However, this was not the case in the "Blaenau" (Border of Glamorgan), for there the movement penetrated deeper and took root. Iolo Morganwg, surveying the situation on behalf of Theo-philus Lindsey in 1791, states that, "The Arian Societies of Coed Cymmer, near Merthyr Tydfil and of Aberdare, have more Socinians, very intelligent men, amongst them". And as to the ministers in that part of Glamorgan, he adds, "Mr. David Davies of Coed Cymmer, Mr. Edward Evans of Aber-dare, ministers of these Societies are professed Unitarians on Priestley's and your own (Lindsey's) ideas of the Divine Unity". |
Prominent among the names of the earlier dissenters is "Thomas Llywelyn of Regoes.. who translated the Bible to Welsh", and who also "read3 it and preaches in several places throughout the country". This Thomas Llywelyn is reputed to be the ancestor of "Morgan Llywelyn of Neath", a school-master and a highly cultured man who was closely related to a family that supported "the Presbyterian Cause at Blaengwr-ach". If it is true that there were a number of Priestley's works in the library of this Morgan Llywelyn, a fact confirmed by his proven will in 1775, then he could be regarded as the first Unitarian in Wales. |
Dr. Gwynfor Evans, in his book on the history of Wales, recognises the influence of the Unitarian body in the Merthyr Valley which, during the nineteenth century, was the "main centre of the cultural life of Wales". |
Unitarianism and radicalism during this period, according to the historian Gwyn Williams, were synonymous, for "whoever pronounced himself Unitarian pronounced himself radical". |
[I recall Gwynfor Evans and Gwyn Williams as television and historian rivals, the former an establishment figure and the latter representing the working class and supporters in history - Adrian Worsfold] |
Although the Arminian...Unitarian causes in Carmarthenshire did not appear to succeed, with the exception of Parc Velvet in the town, it is significant that the pioneers of the Priestley and Parker schools of Unitariarism emerged from within its borders. |
The Academy at Carmarthen produced a constant fiow of Unitarian leaders for well over two centuries and Gwilyn Marles, who attended that liberal college, hailed from Brechfa the remote little village in Carmarthenshire which also saw Salt Lake City of America so many Welshmen to become founder members of the Mormon movement. |
Brechfa also produced Thomas Evans (Tomos Glyn Cothi) who is regarded as the pioneer of Unitaniansim in Wales, and recognised as "one of the most significant leaders of Welsh radical political thought in the late eighteenth century". As a young lad he worked as a farm servant and a weaver and, despite his lack of formal education, soon developed a profound desire for learning and "thinking for himself". He made good use of the literature sent to him personally by Theophilus, Lindsey (c. 1792-6), and the occasional gifts of money from the Unitarian Duke of Grafton. |
There is evidence that he walked the long journey (around 20 miles) to hear David Davis and David Lloyd at Alltyblaca before he ever held services of his own "at his father's house" in Glyn Cothi (c. 1786), and eventually establish a church in the vale of Cwm Cothi, in 1792 ; it is interesting to note that his first Unitarian church in Wales was founded only months after the establishing of the Unitarian Society in England, and the savage mob attack made on Pniestley's Mansend laboratory in Birmingham. |
It was a troublesome time, marked by hardship and opp-ression. Peasants had revolted in France and there were real fears that a similar uprising could occur amongst the poor labourers and low paid craftsmen in London and England. No wonder the authorities were directed to keep a keen eye on the movements of leading Unitarians in the British Isles, especially in Wales where some of the liberal ministers declared their avowed sympathy with the spirit of the Revolution in France. |
In England, Joseph Priestley allegedly drank to the success of the Revolution and, as a result, his house, laboratory and library were destroyed in revenge by the mob ; in Scotland, Thomas Fysshe Palmer, another Unitarian minister, was trans-ported to Botany Bay for assisting a liberal society to edit a propaganda pamphlet. In Wales the authorities were equally nervous, and the landing of the French at Fishguard, so near the Black Spot, was too much of a coincidence. |
A close watch was kept on David Davis of Castell Hywel, and his correspondence was carefully censored. In 1801 Thomas Evans, the Unitarian minister of Cwm Cothi, and an agitator on behalf of the oppressed peasantry, was imprisoned for two years on a "trumped-up charge". (He was reported for singing a seditious song against the King at a 'merry-night', in aid of a poor neighbour). The minister was pilloried near St. Mary's Church in Carmarthen and imprisoned in the town's common goal, with the Bishop of St. David's complaining officially to the Home Secretary that the prisoner's treatment was too mild. The Bishop, in his letter to Lord Pelham, writes |
"The offence for which Thomas Evans was tried was directly against his Majesty, and therefore to stand in the Pillory... was part of his sentence... And that the manner in which he was pillonised was a farce ... I am sure your Lordship will be of the opinion when you are told that though his hands were indeed through two holes, the Pillory was a box in which he could either stand and look about him, or sit down perfectly out of sight - as he pleased ; one of his children, a little gin, in a white frock, being permitted to stand beside him in order to excite the compassion of the spectators." |
Iolo Morganwg, in consultation with Theophilus Lindsey, advised his friend Thomas Evans on how to conduct his de-fence, but to no avail. It would appear that nothing could convince the Judge of the prisoner's innocence, for in his "Summing-up" speech he tells the Unitarian minister: |
"You are of one opinion and I am of another; you are a man of very bad and dangerous disposition... If any in this court were to be at the mercy of your loyalty, I am afraid he would be badly off." |
It was obvious from these harsh words that it was not only Thomas Evans who was on trial but the movement he represented The little congregation at Cwm Cothi was con-scious of this prejudice against them, and they expressed their fears in an appeal they wrote to fellow Unitarians during the trial, saying: "...we believe that the whole of this persecution of our minister and thro' him, ourselves, has been instigated by those who are violently prejudised against our Doctrine, and are interested in their suppression..." |
No doubt that Iolo Morganwg had a hand in the writing of this appeal, for his name is added to the list of the seventeen members of the congregation, the majority indicated by a cross mark. |
During the trial Iolo Morganwg, who was already a member of' the West of England Unitarian Society, had certainly decided that establishing such a union of Unitarians in Wales would strengthen their ranks against any more such attacks on the movement, its ministers and members. He collected the names of a number of sympathetic ministers present at the trial, and these became the nucleus of the first meeting of the society, held officially for the first time at Gellionnen in late 1802. |
Thomas Evans spent his time in prison writing hymns (which he published in 1811), poems and one of the earliest English-Welsh grammar/ dictionary books. During his short ministry at Cwmcothi he had translated important Unitarian essays into Welsh, including works by Lindsey and Priestley, and in the year 1795 he founded and edited a Welsh, liberal magazine, The Miscellaneous Repository. In 1811 having served his full term of imprisonment and seven years ''security for your good conduct", he was invited to take charge of the Old Meeting House at Aberdare, where he served faithfully and with the same fervent radicalism until he died in 1833; his grave and tombstone can still be seen on the northern pine-end of the chapel. |
The ruins of the cottage where he was born and where he held his first services are preserved at Glyn Cothi, near the village of Gwernogle. However, the chapel of Cwmcothi, the first reputed Unitarian church of Wales has been reduced to a cairn. A commemorative plaque was placed on the gate leading to the remote site by the Young Unitarians of Wales, when D. Jacob Davies and D. Elwyn Davies addressed a gathering of pilgrims. |
An example of a church established by one man and his family was that of Aberpennar (Mountain Ash) whose minister, George Neighbour, a member of the I.L.P. [Independent Labour Party], had hoped that this "Brotherhood Church" would eventually develop into a Labour Church. However, when he died, the church, which he had served for thirty years, began to wane and lasted only another fifteen years. |
Davies, D. Elwyn (1982), "They Thought for Themselves": A Brief Look at the History of Unitarianism in Wales and the Tradition of Liberal Religion, Llandysul: Gomer Press, 34-36, 37-40, 68, 68-69, 74, 75, 105, 105-108, 119. [Occasional changes in punctuation]
Adrian Worsfold
Pluralist - Liberal and Thoughtful