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Glamorgan - The Ministers

A resume of the careers of the Nonconformist Ministers

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Information Sources

All information must come from somewhere. So on this page I will detail the sources of the information I have relied upon to prepare this site.

General

The following priority has been adopted:-

1. Annual Reports of localised Associations etc.

2. The 'Year Books' of the denominations which also include the obituaries.

3. Individual Church histories and similar volumes dedicated to a specific area or location. This includes the published guides for both Baptist and Independents who held their annual meetings at different places each year and the host Church prepared a volume charting the history etc. of the neighbouring Churches as well as its own.

4. Biographical 'Dictionaries' as detailed lower.

Baptist Sources

1. 'Circular Letters of the Ministers and Messengers...' or 'Llythyr oddiwrth Weinidogion A Chenhadau'. The Glamorgan Particular Baptist Association was formed appr. 1832 and I have collected copies of the 'Letters' for most years up to 1883 when the Association split in to two viz East Glamorgan and West Glamorgan. (The English-speaking Churches had formed their own Association in the late 1850's)

2a. 'BD' = 'Welsh Baptist Diary and Year Book'. This has been published annually without break since 1867. Prior to this a similar format but private publication existed but not for all years (There is a gap between 1852 and 1857 with publication resuming in 1858). For simplicity, all biographical references are titled 'BD' even for the earlier years.

2b. 'BHB' = 'Baptist HandBook'. This was the official publication of The Baptist Union and was issued annually from 1860. Prior to this date the Union issued 'BM' = 'Baptist Manual'.

3. Numerous volumes exist for individual Churches but I want to give specific note of two books. Firstly 'Cardiff Baptist Churches' by the late John I. Howells and published in 2016 postumously. The present writer made a small contribution to that. The second 'A History of the Baptist Churches of Barry' by Philip Trollope in 2013. This writer met the author over a coffee and cake and was gifted the printer's proof to this private publication which was already O.O.P. Thank you again, Sir.

Independent (Annibynwyr) Sources

1. Whilst 'Letters' etc. no doubt exist, this writer has not seen any.

2a. The 'Undeb' i.e.The Union of Welsh Independents does publish a Year Book. However it does not include any detail of English-speaking Churches so it has not as yet been consulted. In time I hope to do so should there be obituaries not in the English publication.

2b. 'CYB' = 'Congregational YearBook'. This was the official publication of the Congregational Union and published annually since the 1840's. Mention is also due to 'The Surman Index' which is also available online and details the information extracted from the YearBooks and other sources.

3. One volume of note is 'History of Congregationalism in Cardiff and District' edited by John Williamson in 1920.

Calvinistic Methodist Sources

1. The 'Monthly Meetings' or 'Presbyteries' do publish annual reports and the writer has seen odd volumes from the 1930's with ministerial information.

2a. 'MD' = Calvinistic Methodist Diary. Published annually since the 1840's with details of Pastors and their Churches since 1870. Obituaries were published in these volumes up to 1897.

2b. 'Bl' = The 'Year Book' or 'Y Blwyddiadur'. This is the offical publication of the body known today as The Presbyterian Church of Wales. Commenced in 1897 and inherited the obituaries from 'The Diary'. The volumes for the period under review contain no other Ministerial information whereas today both volumes are combined.

3. Volumes of note are 'Hanes Methodistiaeth Gorllewin Morgannwg' (History of The Methodists in West Glamorgan) by W. Samlet Williams in 1916. Intended as a muti-volume work, only the first one was published (The second exists in manuscript form at The National Library of Wales - not seen) This writer owns an English translation in addition to the original Welsh. The second volume of note is 'Y Darundiadur'. Published in 1900 but concentrates on The Methodists of East Glamorgan and is most valuable since it has Ministerial information earlier than that published above.

4. See below.

Wesleyan etc. Methodist Sources

Since all the various fractions of the 'Wesleyans' unified in 1932 it seems logical, and convenient since all worked to similar lines, to deal with them together.

1. Everything is done at 'National' level.

2a. The Welsh-speaking Wesleyan districts did (maybe still do) publish a Year Book/Diary. In time the writer hopes to consult these specifically for the obituaries should they not be duplicated below.

2b. 'WM' = 'Minutes of Several Conversations...'(Wesleyan) 'PM' = Annual YearBook/Minutes of the Primitive Methodists

'BCM' = Annual YearBook/Minutes of the Bible Christians.'FM' = Annual YearBook/Minutes of the United Free Methodists. In 1907 these two unified as 'UM' = United Methodist Church Minutes/YearBook.

'MCM' = Minutes of the Methodist Conference being the unified Church.

3. The 'Minutes' of the Primitive Methodists and the United Methodists are quite rare and require consultation in specialist libraries such as John Rylands in Manchester. However several books have been published to eleviate this viz. 'Primitive Methodist Ministers and their circuits' by William Leary, 'United Methodist Ministers and their circuits' by Oliver A. Beckerlegge and 'The Story of The United Methodist Church' by Henry Smith anor. These volunes are now themselves exceedingly rare but the writer has been fortunate, and patient, in obtaining them.

Note that some of the early obituaries for the Wesleyans are marked '*'. Whilst Minutes are published annually, the early years are more generally available as compendium volumes of three or more years and it is the pages from these that are quoted.

4. See below.

Unitarian / General Baptist Sources

1. Nothing consulted (if they do actually exist)

2. 'EHYB' = 'Essex Hall Year Book' succeeded by 'GA' = 'Year Book of the General Assembly of Unitarian and Free Christian Churches'. These are the official annual publications. Obituaries also appear in 'I' = 'The Inquirer' a regular publication for the denomination.

3. Volumes of note are 'Vestiges of Protestant Dissent' by George Eyre Evans 1897 and 'They Thought for Themselves' by D. Elwyn Davies 1982.

Strict Baptist Sources

1. I have no knowledge of how the denomination is organised.

2. Apart from the book mentioned below, there is an online resource about ministers.

3. The only book I am aware of is 'The Strict Baptist Chapels of England - Volume Five Wiltshire and The West ' by Robert W. Oliver 1968. I am not certain but I believe the online resource was created from these volumes plus manuscript for other planned volumes.

General Resources

Mention must be given to 'The Chapels of Merthyr Tydfil' by Stephen Brewer c2010 (There is a section in the volume that discusses the origin of chapel names. This looks rather alike my own :). One more of note is 'The History of Nonconformity in Cardiff' by J. Austin Jenkins and R. Edwards James 1901.

Biographical 'Dictionaries'

At the start of the 20thC there was a relative 'deluge' of these due in no small part to a monetary prize at The National Eisteddfod. Whilst The Rev. T. Mardy Rees, the author of 'NW' = 'Notable Welshmen (1700-1900)', does not state this these dates are precisely those for the competition.

But the most notable book is 'DWB' = 'The Dictionary of Welsh Biography Down to 1940'. A subsequent volume (1941 - 1970) includes a supplement of corrections to the original plus other persons omitted from that book. Entries in the supplement are indicated as 'DWB(sup)'. This priceless resource is now available online but all references here are to the printed volumes.