GRIFFITHS
,
VAVASOR
(d.
1741
),
Independent minister and tutor
.
We possess very few verifiable details of his life. The earliest definite date is
1711
, when he was at the academy kept by
Samuel
Jones
(d.
1719
) (q.v.)
at
Tewkesbury
; a letter by the future
archbishop
Secker
(
Gibbons
,
Memoirs of Isaac Watts
, 346), speaks highly of
Griffiths
's linguistic attainments, adding ‘he seems to be not much under 40.
Secker
may well have over-estimated
Griffiths
's age; but on the other hand the ‘
1698 or 1699
’ often given as his year of birth raises considerable difficulties — making him, e.g. an ordained
minister
when he was only sixteen or seventeen. Everything points to his having been a native of
Bugeildy parish, Rads.
; indeed,
Maesgwyn
may have been the family home. In
John
Evans
's lists,
c.
1715
,
Griffiths
's name comes third of the three
ministers
of the (substantial) congregation at
Maesgwyn
; but he may not have been formally ordained before
1726
, for it was in that year (after a refusal in
1725
) that the
Presbyterian fund board
started paying him an annual £6 as
pastor
of
Maesgwyn
. In the meantime (
1722
at latest), he was
keeping school
at his house; it was an endowed school, whose master got £10 a year (perhaps more), charged upon the rent of the farm — the farm itself, of course, also contributed to
Griffiths
's subsistence. In
Feb. 1733 or 1734
the
Presbyterian board
invited
Griffiths
to succeed
Thomas
Perrott
(q.v.)
at
Carmarthen Academy
, but he declined on the score of ill-health. It is however clear that he was already taking older pupils preparing for the ministry — we know, e.g. that
Lewis
Rees
(q.v.)
studied with him in
1734
. In
1735
,
Griffiths
fell in with the board's wishes, on condition that the academy should be removed, not indeed to
Maesgwyn
, but to
Llwyn-llwyd
, near
Hay
, and amalgamated with the school already kept there by
David
Price
,
minister
of
Maesyronnen
, near
Glasbury
. The
Congregational fund board
joined in this scheme, paying
Griffiths
an extra £5 a year as
pastor
of
Maesgwyn
, over and above the £10 each which the two boards paid him as
tutor
. In
1736 or 1737
,
Griffiths
moved his home to
Chancefield
, on the outskirts of
Talgarth
,
Brecknock
, still retaining his pastorate, and
teaching
at
Llwyn-llwyd
as well as at
Chancefield
. His best-known pupils are
Jenkin
Jenkins
and
Richard
Price
(qq.v.), for it is very doubtful whether he ever taught
Howel
Harris
and
Williams
of
Pantycelyn
, who were more probably pupils of
David
Price
's.
Griffiths
must not be held responsible for the
Arianism
of
Jenkins
and
Price
; he was a strict
Calvinist
, otherwise
Edmund
Jones
(q.v.)
of
Pontypool
would hardly have been so lyrical in his praises of him. He d. in
1741
, according to the
Cilgwyn
church book (
Y Cofiadur
, i, 29). We have a letter of his to
Howel
Harris
(
T.L. 267
,
18 Aug. 1740
), and
Harris
's diaries contain several laudatory references to him. It is most probable that he was the ‘
Vavasor
Griffiths
,
Esq.
,’ who in his will (
1741
) left £20 to the
vicar
and
wardens
of
Bugeildy
; but here again we cannot be absolutely certain.
Bibliography:
-
Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru
, ii, 529, 531;
-
Cylchgrawn Cymdeithas Hanes y Methodistiaid
Calfinaidd
, xxviii, nos. 3 and 4;
-
G. D. Owen
,
Ysgolion a Cholegau yr Annibynwyr
,
1939
, 25-8;
-
Jonathan Williams
,
A General History of the County of
Radnor
, Brecknock, 1905
(2nd ed.), 210-11;
- and the references above.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
