EVANS
,
WALTER JENKIN
(
1856
-
1927
),
principal of Carmarthen Presbyterian College
;
b.
1 April 1856
at
Carmarthen
, son of
Titus
Evans
(q.v.)
and grandson of
John
Jeremy
(q.v.)
. He was educated at
Parc-y-felfed school
, at
Carmarthen grammar school
where he gained the
principal scholarship
, at
Carmarthen Presbyterian College
(
1870-3
),
Jesus College
,
Oxford
(
B.A.
1878
,
M.A.
1880
) and
Manchester College
,
Oxford
(
1876-8
), under
James
Martineau
. He discovered that nature had not intended him to be a
preacher
, and in
1879-84
was a
teacher
in
Brighton
and
London
. In
1884
he was appointed
tutor
in
Latin
and
Greek
at his old college,
Carmarthen
, and in
1888
became
principal
there [an appointment which, on theological grounds, aroused considerable controversy among
Welsh
Unitarians
— see
Yr Ymofynydd
during
1888
]. He was a
scholar
and a gentleman, and during his long term of office as
principal
established close relations between the college and the
University of Wales
, [and was
dean of divinity
in the
University
,
1910-13
]. His careful researches into
Latin
poetry were published [
Alliteratio Latina, or Alliteration in Latin Verse …
(
London
,
1921
) ], but he will be probably chiefly remembered as the meticulous
historian of his denomination
. He published articles dealing with the history of
Carmarthen Academy
in
Yr Ymofynnydd
[
1930
] and in
G. Eyre
Evans
's ed. of
The Lloyd Letters
, biographies of
Carmarthen
Unitarian students
in
E. Pan
Jones
's
Oriel Coleg Caerfyrddin
, and essays on the history of
Unitarianism
in the town of
Carmarthen
in
Christian Life
,
1916
. In the
N.L.W.
there are six substantial manuscript volumes (
N.L.W. MSS. 10325-10330
), containing the biographies by him, of students of the college, with notes on the history of the denomination. He was a placid
scholar
, and
above all, a
teacher
; and all his work is distinguished by a teacher's painstaking care. He d.
10 Feb. 1927
.
Bibliography:
-
Report of ‘Manchester College, Oxford’
;
-
W. D. Jeremy
,
The Presbyterian Fund and Dr. Williams'
Trust
, 1885
;
-
Yr Ymofynnydd
,
1927
, 93-7;
-
The Unitarian Students at the Presbyterian
College, Carmarthen…1796–1901
, 1901
, 92;
-
Oriel Coleg Caerfyrddin
, 1909
, 130-2.
Author:
Rev. Thomas Oswald Williams, M.A., (1888-1965), Lampeter
