NICHOLAS
,
THOMAS
; (
DWB
, 684).
Read
Hereford
(not ‘Herefords.’) in l.8.
Corrections and additions:
NICHOLAS
,
THOMAS
(
1816
-
1879
),
Congregational minister, theological college tutor, and historian
;
b.
17 Feb. 1816
at
Troed-y-rhiw
, near
Trefgarn Chapel
,
Solva, Pembs.
, and educated at the
Lancashire College
,
Manchester
, and in
Germany
(
M.A.
,
Ph.D.
,
Gottingen
). He was
Congregational minister
at
Stroud, Glos.
(
1847
), and, later, at
Eignbrook, Herefords.
before he was appointed (
1856
)
tutor in Biblical literature and mental and moral sciences
at the
Presbyterian College
,
Carmarthen
. In
1863
he settled in
London
, and thereafter, with the aid of
Sir
Hugh
Owen
, the
first lord Aberdare
, the
Rev.
David
Thomas
,
Stockwell
, and others (qq.v.), he
promoted a scheme for the furtherance of higher education in Wales
,
Nicholas
becoming
secretary of the movement which led eventually to the founding of the first University College in Wales
at
Aberystwyth
in
1872
; before that came about, however,
Nicholas
had disagreed with some of the promoters and had resigned (for details see
Iwan
Morgan
in
The College by the Sea
,
Aberystwyth
,
1928
, particularly 257-66). In the meantime he had been busy writing and publishing (a)
Middle and High Class Schools, and University Education for Wales
,
1863
, a work which exerted considerable influence in
Wales
at the time; (
b
)
Pedigree of the English People
,
1868
, and other editions — for particulars of the lawsuit which followed on the publication of this work see
Iwan
Morgan
, op. cit., and
N.L.W. MS. 3097
; (
c
)
Annals and Antiquities of the Counties and County Families of Wales
, two vols. — the
1872
edition is still a useful source book; (
d
)
History and Antiquities of the County of Glamorgan and its Families
,
1874
— this is the
Glamorgan
portion of (
c
), separately published. He also produced, in
1860
, an edition of
Mathias
Maurice
(q.v.)
,
Social
Religion Exemplify'd
, whilst, in the autumn of
1878
, he was
editing for the press
the
English
edition of
Baedeker's London
. Futher details of his career can be learnt from the
Nicholas MSS.
(now
N.L.W. MSS. 3091-3106
); note, e.g. a journal (
N.L.W. MS. 3091
) kept by him in
1838
which includes notes on a preaching tour from
Trefgarn
to
Liverpool
and back undertaken by
Nicholas
and
James
Evan(s)
(
Caereinion
,
1814
-
1842
) (q.v.)
, and legal letters and papers,
1876-77
(
N.L.W. MS. 3106
) relating to
Lonsdale House School
,
Bridgwater
, in which
Nicholas
was co-partner. He d., unmarried, at
156 Cromwell Road
,
London
,
14 May, 1879
, and was buried in
Hammersmith cemetery
(
E.
Poole
,
Hist. of Brecknockshire
, 308).
Bibliography:
-
Oxford Dictionary of National
Biography
;
-
Eminent Welshmen
, 1908
;
-
Y Geninen
,
1901
, 129;
-
Handlist of Manuscripts in the National
Library of Wales
, 1940 ff
, i, 266-7;
-
The Congregational Year Book
, 1846
ff
,
1881
;
-
The Homilist
, London
,
1877
, 456 ff.;
- and the sources mentioned in the article.
Author:
Sir William Llewelyn Davies, M.A., LL.D., F.S.A. (1887-1952),
Aberystwyth
