OWEN
,
THOMAS ELLIS
(
1764
-
1814
),
cleric
;
b. at
Conway
5 Dec. 1764
, but not christened till
25 March 1765
; son of
William
Owen
,
draper
and
tax-collector
, and his wife
Elizabeth
Ellis
of
Glan-y-wern
,
Mochdre
, daughter of
John
Ellis
, a
lawyer
. He went up from
Westminster School
in
1785
to
Christ Church
,
Oxford
, graduating in
1789
. In
1790
he was given the college living of
South Stoke, Oxon.
, but on
10 Dec. 1794
became
rector
of
Llandyfrydog
with
Llanfihangel-tre'r-beirdd
,
Anglesey
; from the end of
1812
he was also
perpetual curate
of
Penmynydd
— he lived at
Beaumaris
. He d.
1 Dec. 1814
, and was buried at
Llanfair-is-gaer
, where there is a tablet in his memory. He is best known as the
author of two anti-Methodist pamphlets
,
Hints to Heads of Families
,
1801
(two ed., a 3rd in
1802
), and
Methodism Unmasked
(etc.),
1802
; the former drew a retort,
The Welsh Methodists Vindicated
,
1802
, from
Thomas
Charles
and
Thomas
Jones
, and a furious attack in verse, ‘
Can ar Berson Paris
’ (
Llandyfrydog
is near
Parys Montain
) from
Thomas
Edwards
(
Twm o'r Nant
, q.v.)
,
1802
.
Bibliography:
-
Bangor Manuscript at University College North
Wales Library, Bangor
6455 at U.C.N.W.;
-
D. E. Jenkins
,
Life of Thomas Charles
, 1908
, ii, 391, and chapter 38;
-
id., introduction to his 1905 reprint of the
Hints to Heads of Families
, Conwy, 1905
(3rd edition; originally published in 1801)
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
