ROBERTS
,
ROBERT GRIFFITH
(
1866
-
1930
),
Baptist minister, and writer
;
b.
13 Dec. 1866
, at
Tyddyn Llidiart
,
Dyffryn Ardudwy
, younger son of
Morris
and
Catrin
Roberts
; the father, a ‘character,’ was a
Calvinistic Methodist
, but the mother (
née
Evans
, of a family hailing from
Llanystumdwy
— and a descendant of the
Lloyd
s
of
Cwmbychan
in
Ardudwy
, for whom see under
Lloyd
,
John
,
1733
-
1793
)
was a
Sandemanian Baptist
, and brought up her two sons in that connexion — the followers of
John Richard
Jones
(q.v.)
. Baptized
c. 1880
, and elected
deacon
when not quite 17,
R. G.
Roberts
soon felt chafed by the rigidity of the little connexion, and went over to the older
Baptist
denomination. His schooling (at
Dyffryn
, and at
Towyn, Mer.
) was interrupted; but in
1886
he went to the
Baptist College
at
Llangollen
, and thence to the
University College
at
Bangor
, where he fell under the spell of
(
Sir
)
Henry
Jones
(q.v.)
, and took eagerly to
philosophy
. He broke down during his final
B.A. (London)
examination (
1892
) and had to return home to regain health; he afterwards put in some terms at
Aberystwyth
, studying philosophy. In
June 1896
he became
pastor of the Baptist church
at
Dolgellau
; he moved in
June 1902
to the important church at
Cefnmawr, Denbs.
, and finally (
June 1907
) to that of
Caernarvon
. He was one of his denomination's leading
preachers
— not revivalistic or rhetorical,
but cogent and close-reasoning, as became his strongly philosophical cast of mind. It has been held that his period at
Cefn-mawr
was the apex of his career as a
preacher
; and certainly a serious
throat affliction
(
1910-11
), which compelled him for some months to desist from preaching, must have laid a restraint upon him in the subsequent years. A long illness in
1928-9
ended with his death on
3 Jan. 1930
. He was a man of unusually wide and modern reading, chiefly, of course, in
philosophy
(especially
psychology
) and
theology
. His
editorship
of
Seren Gomer
(
1909-11
) was cut short by the enforced retirement already mentioned, but later on he contributed much to the periodical press. A few of his addresses (notably a sketch of the history of liberty, and an essay on the influence of philosophy on modern theology) were reprinted in the memorial volume named below; his articles in
Y Geiriadur Beiblaidd
(
1924-6
) won much praise; and an essay on
John Philip
Davies
(q.v.)
was printed in
Traf. Cymd. Hanes Bed
. for
1927
.
Bibliography:
-
H. Rees
(ed.),
Cyfrol Goffa Robert Griffith Roberts
,
1933
, including a memoir (
1933
);
-
E. Morgan Humphreys
,
Gwyr Enwog Gynt argraffiadau ac atgofion
personol
, Aberystwyth, 1950
, ii (
1953), 90-9
.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
