WROTH
,
WILLIAM
(
1576
-
1641
),
Puritan cleric, and founder of the first Independent church in Wales
.
He was b. in
1576
; it is not yet known for certain whether he was a
Wroth
of
Maindiff
in
Llandeilo Bertholau
or one of the family of that name who had settled at
Llangattock-juxta-Usk
. He went to
Oxford
— his name is connected with three of the colleges — and graduated
M.A.
from
Jesus
,
1605
. When exactly he became
rector
of
Llanfaches
is somewhat of a mystery, as there is much in documents at the
Public Record Office
in favour of
1611
, and a good deal for
1617
. Romantic stories are told about his transition from an indolent apathetic
cleric
to a
Puritan
of industry and zeal; it is possible that
1630
was the year of transformation, but there is no proof. It is said that he was a
conscientious objector
to the
Book of Sports
; whatever the exact reason was, he was summoned before the
Court of High Commission
in
Oct. 1635
, and after much procedure of adjourning, charging, and rebutting,
Wroth
submitted to discipline in
1638
; the most likely theory is that he surrendered the rectory in that year, as he describes himself in his last will (
17 Sept. 1638
) as ‘
Preacher of God's Word
’ and not ‘
rector
of
Llanfaches
.’ That will is a most interesting document, with the name of
Henry
Walter
(q.v.)
as
chief executor
, the signatures of the five witnesses and the bequest of three acres of land as an endowed charity to the poor of the parish for ever. It is open to no doubt that at this penultimate stage of his life he was busy
gathering a dissident congregation
outside the parish church, ‘
leading away many simple people
,’ for in
Nov. 1639
Henry
Jessey
, a prominent
Puritan preacher
, came down from
London
to form
Wroth
's followers into a regular church in the ‘
New England Way
,’ words used to describe a moderate quasi-
Presbyterian
mode of separation from the
Church of England
. Thus a church was formed, but no chapel was built (as was incorrectly held by
Sir
Joseph
Bradney
), a hybrid church at first, very probably of
Baptists
as well as
Independents
. It is no wonder when one remembers his irreproachable character, his simple evangelical preaching, his unique position as the
first minister of the first Independent church in Wales
, that some of his contemporaries called him an ‘apostle’ and
looked upon
Llanfaches
as an
Antioch
amidst a gentile country. The
Broadmead Records
testify that he often came over to
Bristol
to
preach
, and add that it was
Wroth
's desire to leave this world before the trump of war sounded in the land. He had his desire; his will was proved at
Llandaff
in
April 1641
.
Bibliography:
-
Bradney
,
A History of Monmouthshire
, I, 201, 340; IV, ii, 189; iii, 343;
-
Foster
,
Alumni Oxonienses
;
-
Cardiff Naturalists' Society. Report and
Transactions
, 1867–1937
, XXV, ii, 6-7;
-
Life and Death of Mr. Henry Jessey
,
1671
,
1671
, 9-10;
-
Calendar of State Papers, Domestic
Series
, Record Publication
,
Chas. I
, 261, 268, 270, 274, 280, 287;
-
Reference is made to two editions, by E. B.
Underhill, 1847, and Nathaniel Haycroft, 1865. Reference is
also made to Addenda B (pp. 511–9 in 1847 ed)
, 9, 27, 29, 515;
-
T. Richards
,
Cymru a'r Uchel Gomisiwn, 1633-1640
,
Liverpool, 1930
, 38-9;
-
The Transactions of the Honourable Society
of Cymmrodorion
,
1941
, 157-68, 182-4.
Author:
Thomas Richards, D.Litt., (1878-1962), Bangor
