TREGELLES
,
SAMUEL PRIDEAUX
(
1813
-
1875
),
Biblical scholar and linguist
;
b. of
Quaker
parentage at ‘
Wodehouse Place
,’ near
Falmouth
,
30 Jan. 1813
. His father,
Samuel
, joined a
Cornish
company, which settled at the iron-works of
Cwm-y-felin
,
Neath Abbey
,
Glamorgan
, at the beginning of the
19th cent.
, and his name appears on a deed in
1818
.
Tregelles
came early under the influence of
J. N.
Darby
(
1800
-
1882
), one of the chief founders of the
Plymouth Brethren
. Although
Tregelles
left the
Plymouth Brethren
for the
Church of England
, he retained to the end some of their characteristic doctrines. Educated at the
Rev.
T.
Sheepshank
's grammar school,
Falmouth
(
1825-8
), he moved, when 15 years of age, to
Neath Abbey
, where he was
engaged in the iron-works
(
1829-35
), probably as a
clerk
, but according to
D. Rhys
Phillips
, he was there apprenticed as an
engineer
and
assisted in lighting the morning fires for the craftsmen
. He diligently applied himself to master
Hebrew
and
Greek
and also the
Welsh
language. In the vicinity of
Neath
he felt the urge to
preach
the Gospel, and doubtless did so in
Welsh
on several occasions. He was
secretary
of
Neath Cymmrodorion
c.
1833
. He moved to
Falmouth
in
1835
as
private tutor
, returned for a while to
Neath
,
30 July 1844
, when in a letter to
Eben Fardd
(q.v.)
he expressed his intention of visiting him at
Clynnog
during his preaching tour. They frequently corresponded with each other in
Welsh
, the
Welsh
poet
having taught him the rules of
cynghanedd
. For over thirty years he devoted himself to the
study and elucidation of Hebrew and Biblical Greek
, collating all manuscripts then known here and on the Continent. His chief work was on the
Greek
text of the
New Testament
; he deviated from the ‘
Textus Receptus
.’ He was known also as a
poet
, and the
Lyra Britannica
and
Schaff
's
Christ in Song
contain poems by him. In his last years he received a
civil pension
of £200 a year in recognition of his work. He d. of
paralysis
at
Plymouth
,
24 April 1875
.
He published:
Passages in the Old Testament connected with the Revelation
,
1836
; ‘
An account of English Versions
’ in the ‘Introduction’ to
English Hexapla
(
London
,
1841
);
Hebrew Reading Lessons
,
1845
;
Hebrew and Chaldee Lexicon to the Old Testament
,
1847
(trans. of
Gesenius
Lex
);
Heads of Hebrew Grammar
,
1852
;
Interlineary Hebrew & English Psalter
,
1852
. He had a large share in
The Englishman's Greek Concordance to the New Testament
, and
The Englishman's Hebrew and Chaldee Concordance to the Old Testament
,
1839-43
;
Account of the Printed Text of the New Testament
,
1854
;
An Introduction to the textual criticism of the New Testament
,
1856
;
The Ways of the Line
(anon.,
1858
);
New Testament Greek Text
(in parts,
1857-72
), besides several articles in
Smith
's
Dictionary of the Bible
.
Bibliography:
-
Y Traethodydd
,
Oct. 1883, April and July 1884
;
-
Y Dysgedydd
,
March 1933
;
-
D. Rhys Phillips
,
The Hist. of the Vale of Neath
,
Swansea, 1925
;
-
Schaff-Herzog
,
The New Schaff-Herzog Encyclopedia of
Religious Knowledge. Based on the third edition of the
Realencyklopadie founded by J. J. Herzog
, New York and
London, 1908-14
;
-
Die Religion in Geschichte und Gegenwart.
Handworterbuch in gemeinverstandlicher Darstellung
,
Tubingen, 1909-13
;
-
[see also
The National Library of Wales Journal
,
Winter 1952
, 344-6].
Author:
Rev. Emeritus Professor John Daniel Vernon Lewis, M.A., B.D., D.D.,
(1879-1970), Brecon / Aberllefenni / Machynlleth
