ROBERTS
,
ROBERT DAVID
(
1820
-
1893
),
Baptist minister
;
b.
3 Nov. 1820
in a house near the
old Sardis chapel
,
Dinorwic, Caerns.
He and
John
Jones
(
1821
-
1879
; see
Spinther
, iv, 327-9)
were cousins. He received very little education as a child nor was he given any college training after he had started to
preach
. He was baptised at the age of 12 and began to preach in
1839
. He spent a short time as a
missionary
for the
Caernarvonshire
monthly meeting in
Christmas
Evans
's old territory in
Llyn
, but returned to
Sardis
where he and his cousin were ordained in
1844
. The two ministered jointly to the churches in the neighbourhood for some years. Early in
1848
R. D.
Roberts
went to
Pontlyfni
and
Llanaelhaearn
but, before the end of the year, had moved on to
Llanfachraeth
and
Llanddeusant
,
Anglesey
. He moved again, to
Tabernacle
,
Merthyr Tydfil
, in
1854
, and to
Soar
,
Llwynhendy
,
Carms.
, in
1862
. It was as ‘
Roberts
of
Llwynhendy
’ that he became celebrated, for he remained there until his retirement in
1887
. He d.
15 May 1893
. The year before his death he was
president
of the
Union of Welsh Baptists
. He was the
author
of a life of
H. W.
Jones
(q.v.)
of
Carmarthen
, and wrote his own memoirs in the
Greal
,
1889-92
. But it is as one of the country's most eloquent preachers that he will best be remembered. His name was a household word throughout
Wales
, and he was regarded as one of the nation's finest
orators
.
Bibliography:
-
J. Rhys Morgan (Lleurwg)
,
Cofiant y diweddar Barch. R. D. Roberts,
Llwynhendy : gyda darlun a dwy o'i brif bregethau
,
Llanelli, 1893
;
-
D. Hopkin
,
Cofiant y Parchedig Robert David
Roberts
;
-
‘Atgofion yr Hen Gloddiwr,’ in
Y Greal sef Cylchgrawn Misol at wasanaeth y
Bedyddwyr
,
1879
;
-
‘Atgofion R. D. Roberts,’ in
Y Greal sef Cylchgrawn Misol at wasanaeth y
Bedyddwyr
,
1889-92
;
-
Seren Gomer
,
July, 1893
;
-
Y Geninen
,
Oct. 1893
;
-
Cymru
, vii, 141;
-
Baptist Handbook
,
1894
;
-
Hanes y Bedyddwyr yn Nghymru
,
1893–1907
iv, 327.
Author:
Rev. Principal Tom Ellis Jones, M.A., B.D., (1900-75), Bangor
