Thomas Charles

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Thomas Charles
Portrait by William Roos (1808–1878)
Born14 October 1755
Llanfihangel Abercywyn, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Died5 October 1814
Bala, Wales
RelativesDavid Charles (brother)

Thomas Charles (14 October 1755 – 5 October 1814) was a

Calvinistic Methodist
clergyman of considerable importance in the history of modern Wales.

Early life

Charles was born in the parish of Llanfihangel Abercywyn, near

Coln St Denys. Charles did not leave Sparkford until he resigned all his curacies in June 1783, and returned to Wales, marrying (on 20 August) Sarah Jones of Bala, the orphan of a flourishing shopkeeper.[2]

Methodist sympathies

Charles had been influenced by the great revival movement in Wales, and at the age of seventeen had been converted by a sermon of

Methodists, his wife's stepfather being a Methodist preacher, gave great offence. After a fortnight more at Shawbury, he wrote to John Newton and another clergyman friend in London for advice. The Church of England denied him employment, and the Methodists desired his services. His friends advised him to return to England, but it was too late. In September, accompanied by Henry Newman (his rector at Shepton Beauchamp and Sparkford), he went on a tour in Caernarfonshire. In December, he was preaching at the Bont Uchel Association; and he joined the Methodists in 1784.[2]

Schools

Before taking this step, he had been in the habit of gathering the poor children of Bala into his house for instruction, and soon there were so many that he had to use the chapel. This was the origin of the Welsh Circulating Schools, which he developed on the lines adopted by

Griffith Jones (died 1761), formerly vicar of Llanddowror. First one man was trained for the work by Charles himself, then he was sent to a district for six months, where he taught the children and young people reading and Christian principles. Writing was added later. The expenses were met by collections made in the Calvinistic Methodist Societies, and as the funds increased masters multiplied, until in 1786 Charles had seven masters to whom he paid £10 per annum; in 1787, twelve; in 1789, fifteen; in 1794, twenty. By this time the salary had been increased to £12; in 1801 it was £14.[3]

He had learned of

Mary Jones, walked 26 miles from her home to obtain one of his Bibles, and she was seen as a shining example of religious devotion, an inspiration to Charles and his colleagues.[citation needed
]

Statue of Charles by William Davies (Mynorydd) outside Capel Tegid, Bala[5]

Welsh Bibles project

In 1800, when a frostbitten thumb gave him great pain and much fear for his life, his friend, Philip Oliver of Chester, died, leaving him director and one of three trustees over his chapel at Boughton; and this added much to his anxiety. The Welsh causes at Manchester and London, too, gave him much uneasiness, and burdened him with great responsibilities at this juncture. In November 1802 he went to London, and on 7 December he sat at a committee meeting of the Religious Tract Society, as a country member, when his friend, Joseph Tarn, a member of the Spa Fields and Religious Tract Society committees, introduced the subject of a regular supply of Bibles for Wales. Charles impressed the committee with his arguments in favour. When he visited London in 1803, his friends were ready to discuss the name of a new Society, whose sole object should be to supply Bibles. Charles returned to Wales on 30 January 1804 and the British and Foreign Bible Society was formally and publicly inaugurated on 7 March. The first Welsh testament issued by that Society appeared on the 6 May 1806, the Bible on the 7 May 1807, both being edited by Charles.[4]

Between 1805 and 1811 he issued his Biblical Dictionary in four volumes, which still remains the standard work of its kind in Welsh. Three editions of his Welsh

Lady Huntingdon's Connection was drawn up by him in 1797; his shorter catechism in Welsh appeared in 1799, and passed through several editions, in Welsh and English, before 1807, when his Instructor (still the Connectional catechism) appeared. From April 1799 to December 1801 six numbers of a Welsh magazine called Trysorfa Ysprydol (Spiritual Treasury) were edited by Thomas Jones of Mold and himself; in March 1809 the first number of the second volume appeared, and the twelfth and last in November 1813.[4]

Later life

The

Welsh Bible issued in small pica by the Bible Society.[4]

Charles died, "worn down by his activities" according to biographer Edwin Welch, in October 1814, nine days before his 59th birthday, and was buried at nearby Llanycil. His widow, who had retired from business in 1810, died two weeks later.[6]

As a preacher he was in great request, though possessing but few of the qualities of the popular preacher. All his work received very small remuneration; the family was maintained by the profits of a business managed by Mrs Charles a keen, active and good woman. His influence is still felt, and he is rightly claimed as one of the makers of modern Wales.[4]

His great-grandson was

University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.[7]

References

  1. ^ Roberts 1959.
  2. ^ a b Jenkins 1911, p. 937.
  3. ^ Jenkins 1911, pp. 937–938.
  4. ^ a b c d e Jenkins 1911, p. 938.
  5. ^ "Statue of the Rev. Thomas Charles (1755-1814), Bala". Peoples' Collection Wales. Retrieved 7 November 2014.
  6. ISBN 0-19-861361-X
    .Article by Edwin Welch.
  7. ^ Evans, Rev. Trebor Lloyd. "Edwards, Lewis (1809-1887)". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 6 November 2014.
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Further reading

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