LUMLEY
,
RICHARD
(
1810
-
1884
),
Calvinistic Methodist minister
;
b.
23 Oct. 1810
, at
Aberystwyth
, eldest of the eleven children of
Edward
Lumley
,
builder
. He was educated in the well-known school kept by
John
Evans
(
1796
-
1861
) (q.v.)
in that town, and afterwards in the little grammar school at
Llanfihangel-genau'r-glyn
— in both,
Lewis
Edwards
(q.v.)
was his fellow-pupil and the two became intimate friends. He began to
preach
in
1829
and
opened a (not too successful) school
in
1829
; in
1831
he had rather better luck with a school at
Llandeilo, Carms.
; but in
1833
he followed his friend
Lewis
Edwards
as
pastor
at
Laugharne
and was ordained in
1836
. In
1839
he removed to
Builth
, where he m. his first wife (they had six children), he took on her
draper's shop
, and throve there, at
Llandovery
(
1846-8
), and especially at
Swansea
(
1848-61
), despite his constant
preaching
-journeys. But a move (
1861
) to
Cardiff
brought him heavy losses. In
Sept. 1866
he took charge of the
C.M. church
at
Seacombe
, and remained there till his death
23 July 1884
; he was buried at
Swansea
. He was regarded as one of his connexion's most brilliant
preachers
, though he had none of the
Welsh
‘
hwyl
,’ and paid scant heed to systematic theology. Outside the pulpit he was not popular. He could not suffer fools; he was regarded as haughty and short-tempered; he kept people at arm's length; and his wit was scathing. As
moderator
(
1874-5
) of the
C.M. General Assembly
he was not happy, and it is significant that he never reached the chair (at that time regarded as of higher prestige) of either of the two
C.M. Associations
.
Bibliography:
-
Griffith Ellis
in
Y Geninen
,
March 1898, 1-9
;
-
Bywyd a Llythyrau y Diweddar Barch. Lewis
Edwards, M.A., D.D.
, Liverpool, 1901
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
