LEWIS
,
JOSHUA
(
1816
-
1879
),
Independent minister
;
b. at
Neuadd-fach
,
Llanybydder, Carms.
, son of
Timothy
Lewis
, a
tailor
who was a
Baptist
of
Aberduar church
—
Joshua
Lewis
was thus uncle to
Timothy
Richard
(q.v.)
. He went to a school kept at
Rhyd-y-bont chapel
by
William
Jones
(later of
Swansea
), and there became attached to the
Independents
. At 16 he
opened a school
at
Gwernogle
, but soon became
assistant in a school
at
Tre-lech
, kept by the
pastor
Evan
Jones
; at
Tre-lech
he began
preaching
. He entered
Carmarthen Academy
in
1834
, and the reports on him there were exceptionally laudatory. In
1838
he was ordained as
co-pastor
of
Henllan Amgoed
— the
senior pastor
,
John
Lloyd
(
1775
-
1850
) had been
pastor
of
Henllan
and its numerous ‘branches’ since
1805
; but after
Lloyd
's death
Lewis
persuaded most of these to become separate churches, and at the end of his life he had charge only of
Henllan
itself and of
Llanboidy
. He was not at first regarded as an eloquent
preacher
, but eventually developed a power which made him sought after in all parts of
Wales
. But he was above all a student; and his diaries (extending from
1838 till 1872
) testify to an unusual breadth of study —
Hebrew
,
Greek
,
Latin
, philosophy, and higher mathematics; he was more than once sounded for tutorial appointments at Independent colleges. Politically, he was a stubborn
Radical
, with a
special interest in popular education
; he was a
prominent advocate of Voluntaryism in education
, and was pretty nearly the last man to surrender to state aid. He
wrote much in the periodicals
— he was a good-tempered
debater
. In
1874
he had a
seizure
, which ended his
preaching
, and he d., suddenly,
8 Oct. 1879
, unmarried. There is a biography (
1881
) of him, by
Lewis
James
, on which the present note is chiefly founded — it is an interesting book, not least so for its copious extracts from
Lewis
's diaries.
Bibliography:
-
L. James
,
Cofiant y diweddar Barch. Joshua Lewis,
Henllan gyda dyfyniadau helaeth o'i ddyddlyfr
,
Rhymney, 1881
;
-
A History of Carmarthenshire
, 2 vols.,
1935–9
, ii 245, 257, 258.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
