THOMAS
,
THOMAS
(
1839
-
1888
),
Wesleyan minister, and miscellaneous writer
;
b. in
1839
at
Caernarvon
, one of the eight children of
Owen
and
Mary
Thomas
. He was apprenticed to the well-known
Caernarvon
printer
,
Hugh
Humphreys
(q.v.)
, and afterwards
worked in printing offices
at
Pwllheli
and in
South Wales
. At
Cardiff
, while working there, he offered himself for the
Wesleyan ministry
— at first, for the foreign mission-field, but was rejected on medical grounds; he was accepted for home service, and was stationed, in
1862
, at
Tre'rddôl
in the
Aberystwyth circuit
. He seems to have been but an indifferent
preacher
, but a hard-working
pastor
, and a most energetic
chapel builder
— when on the
Llanidloes circuit
, he set up as many as five new chapels. His last circuit was at
Ulverston
, where he d.
1 May 1888
. His claim to inclusion in the present work is his great activity — following the example of his former master,
Hugh
Humphreys
(to whose magazine,
Golud yr Oes
,
1862-4
, he was a contributor) — in the production of popular books. Three especially of these may be mentioned:
Llyfr Pawb ar Bob Peth
(n. d.);
Hynodion Hen Bregethwyr Cymru
(
1872
); and
Grammadeg Areithyddiaeth
(
1873
); these three had a wide sale.
Thomas
also contributed to the periodicals of his connexion,
Yr Eurgrawn
and
Y Winllan
, and served a term as
editor
of the latter.
Bibliography:
-
Y Gwyddoniadur Cymreig
, 1889-96
(2nd edn.), x, 916.
Author:
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
