NELSON
,
ROBERT
(
1656
-
1715
),
non-juror, supporter of the S.P.C.K., and philanthropist
;
b. in
London
22 June 1656
, son of
John
Nelson
, a wealthy
Turkey merchant
, and his wife
Delicia
, daughter of
Lewis
Roberts
(q.v.)
the
writer on commerce
.
Robert
Nelson
was, therefore half
Welsh
, and it was appropriate that one of his works,
A Companion for the Festivals and Fasts of the Church of England
(
1704
— reprinted at least thirty-six times), should have been translated into
Welsh
in
1712
by
Thomas
Williams
(
1658
-
1726
) (q.v.)
,
rector of Denbigh
, under the title
Cydymaith i Ddyddiau Gwylion ac Ymprydiau Eglwys Loegr
.
Nelson
's career is fully described by
Leslie
Stephen
in the
D.N.B.
Though his
wife was a
Roman Catholic
, he was a zealous
Protestant
, yet sufficiently
High-Church
to refuse the oath of loyalty to the
Revolution Settlement
. He was
prominent in the religious society movement
, in the
S.P.C.K.
, the
S.P.G. Dr. Bray's library scheme
, and the
charity-school movement
. He
wrote at least a dozen religious books and pamphlets
, including a life of
George
Bull
(
bishop of S. Davids
from
1705 till 1710
). He d.
16 Jan. 1714/5
in the house of his cousin, the daughter of
Sir
Gabriel
Roberts
(see under
Lewis
Roberts
), leaving large sums to various good causes.
Bibliography:
-
Based chiefly on the
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
