Thomas Charles
Encyclopedia
Thomas Charles was a Welsh
Nonconformist clergyman of considerable importance in the history of modern Wales.
, Carmarthenshire
. He was educated for the Anglican ministry at Llanddowror
and Carmarthen
, and at Jesus College, Oxford
(1775-1778). In 1777 he studied theology under the evangelical John Newton
at Olney. He was ordained deacon in 1778 on the title of the curacies of Shepton Beauchamp
and Sparkford
, Somerset
; and took priests orders in 1780. He afterwards added to his charge at Sparkford
, Lovington
, South Barrow
and North Barrow
, and in September 1782 was presented to the perpetual curacy of South Barrow by the Rev. John Hughes, Coln St Denys. Charles did not leave Sparkford until he resigned all his curacies in June 1783, and returned to Wales, marrying (on August 20) Sarah Jones of Bala
, the orphan of a flourishing shopkeeper.
. This was enough to make him unpopular with many of the Welsh clergy, and being denied the privilege of preaching for nothing at two churches, he helped his old Oxford friend John Mayor, now vicar of Shawbury
, Shropshire, from October until January 11, 1784. On January 25, he took charge of Llanymawddwy
(14 miles from Bala), but was forced to leave after three months, because three influential people, including the rector of Bala, had persuaded his rector to dismiss him. His preaching, his catechizing of the children after evensong, and his connection with the Bala 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 Carnarfonshire. In December,he was preaching at the Bont Uchel Association; and he joined the Methodists in 1784.
(d. 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.
He had learned of Robert Raikes
's Sunday Schools before he left the Establishment, but he preferred his own system. He gave six days tuition for every one given by them, and many people not only objected to working as teachers on Sunday, but thought that the children forgot in the six days what they learnt on the one. Sunday Schools were first adopted by Charles in the case of young people in service who could not attend during the week, and even in that form much opposition was shown to them because teaching was thought to be a form of Sabbath breaking. His first Sunday School was in 1787. William Wilberforce
, Charles Grant
, John Thornton
and his son Henry, were among the philanthropists who contributed to his funds; in 1798 the Sunday School Society (established 1785) extended its operations to Wales, making him its agent, and Sunday Schools grew rapidly in number and favour. A powerful revival broke out at Bala in the autumn of 1791, and his account of it in letters to correspondents, sent without his knowledge to magazines, kindled a similar fire at Huntly
. The scarcity of Welsh bibles was Charles's greatest difficulty in his work. John Thornton and Thomas Scott
helped him to secure supplies from the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge from 1787 to 1789, when the stock became all but exhausted. In 1799 a new edition was brought out by the Society, and he managed to secure 700 copies of the 10,000 issued; the Sunday School Society got 3000 testaments printed, and most of them passed into his hands in 1801. It was in 1800 that a 16-year-old girl, 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.
; 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 December 7, he sat at a committee meeting of the Religious Tract Society
, as a country member, when his friend, Joseph Tarna, 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. In 1800 he had met a poor young Welsh girl, named Mary Jones
, who walked 25 miles to purchase a Bible from him at Bala. 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 January 30, 1804, and the British and Foreign Bible Society
was formally and publicly inaugurated on March 7. 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.
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 catechism
were published for the use of his schools (1789, 1791 and 1794); an English catechism for the use of schools in 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.
, the Rev. Joseph Hughes, and Samuel Mills to Ireland
in August 1807, to report on the state of Protestant religion in the country. Their report is still extant, and among the movements initiated as a result of their visit was the Circulating School system. In 1810, owing to the growth of Methodism and the lack of ordained ministers, he led the Connection in the movement for connectionally ordained ministers, and his influence was the chief factor in the success of that important step. From 1811 to 1814 his energy was mainly devoted to establishing auxiliary Bible Societies. By correspondence he stimulated some friends in Edinburgh to establish charity schools in the Highlands, and the Gaelic School Society (1811) was his idea. His last work was a corrected edition of the Welsh Bible
issued in small pica by the Bible Society. 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.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
Nonconformist clergyman of considerable importance in the history of modern Wales.
Early life
He was born of humble parentage at Longmoor, in the parish of Llanfihangel Abercywyn, near St ClearsSt Clears
St Clears is a small town on the River Tâf in Carmarthenshire, Wales. According to the 2001 UK census, it has a population of 2,820 people, most of whom are Welsh-speaking, although there is a marked difference between the southern and northern ends of the town in percentage terms.-History:The...
, Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire
Carmarthenshire is a unitary authority in the south west of Wales and one of thirteen historic counties. It is the 3rd largest in Wales. Its three largest towns are Llanelli, Carmarthen and Ammanford...
. He was educated for the Anglican ministry at Llanddowror
Llanddowror
Llanddowror is a small, historic, relatively unspoilt village 2 miles from the town of St. Clears in Carmarthenshire in West Wales.- History & Amenities :...
and Carmarthen
Carmarthen
Carmarthen is a community in, and the county town of, Carmarthenshire, Wales. It is sited on the River Towy north of its mouth at Carmarthen Bay. In 2001, the population was 14,648....
, and at Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College, Oxford
Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...
(1775-1778). In 1777 he studied theology under the evangelical John Newton
John Newton
John Henry Newton was a British sailor and Anglican clergyman. Starting his career on the sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of...
at Olney. He was ordained deacon in 1778 on the title of the curacies of Shepton Beauchamp
Shepton Beauchamp
Shepton Beauchamp is a village and civil parish, from Barrington and north east of Ilminster between the Blackdown Hills and the Somerset Levels in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England.-History:...
and Sparkford
Sparkford
Sparkford is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Weston Bampfylde....
, Somerset
Somerset
The ceremonial and non-metropolitan county of Somerset in South West England borders Bristol and Gloucestershire to the north, Wiltshire to the east, Dorset to the south-east, and Devon to the south-west. It is partly bounded to the north and west by the Bristol Channel and the estuary of the...
; and took priests orders in 1780. He afterwards added to his charge at Sparkford
Sparkford
Sparkford is a village and civil parish in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England. The parish includes the village of Weston Bampfylde....
, Lovington
Lovington, Somerset
Lovington is a village and civil parish in Somerset, England, situated south west of Castle Cary, between the River Brue and River Cary, in the South Somerset district...
, South Barrow
South Barrow
South Barrow is a village and civil parish approximately north of Sparkford and north-east of Ilchester in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England.-History:...
and North Barrow
North Barrow
North Barrow is a village and civil parish to the north-east of Ilchester in the South Somerset district of Somerset, England.-History:The parish was part of the hundred of Catsash.-Governance:...
, and in September 1782 was presented to the perpetual curacy of South Barrow by the Rev. John Hughes, Coln St Denys. Charles did not leave Sparkford until he resigned all his curacies in June 1783, and returned to Wales, marrying (on August 20) Sarah Jones of Bala
Bala, Gwynedd
Bala is a market town and community in Gwynedd, Wales, and formerly an urban district of the historic county of Merionethshire. It lies at the north end of Bala Lake , 17 miles north-east of Dolgellau, with a population of 1,980...
, the orphan of a flourishing shopkeeper.
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 Daniel RowlandDaniel Rowland
Daniel Rowland —sometimes spelt as Rowlands—was one of the foremost leaders of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodist revival along with Howell Harris and William Williams. For most of his life he served as curate in the parishes of Nantcwnlle and Llangeitho, Ceredigion...
. This was enough to make him unpopular with many of the Welsh clergy, and being denied the privilege of preaching for nothing at two churches, he helped his old Oxford friend John Mayor, now vicar of Shawbury
Shawbury
Shawbury is a village and civil parish in the English county of Shropshire. The village is north east of the town of Shrewsbury, north west of Telford and north west of London. The village straddles the A53 between Shrewsbury and Market Drayton...
, Shropshire, from October until January 11, 1784. On January 25, he took charge of Llanymawddwy
Llanymawddwy
Llanymawddwy is a village in Gwynedd, Wales, which is to the north of the larger village of Dinas Mawddwy, on the minor road which connects Dinas Mawddwy to Llanuwchllyn over Bwlch y Groes. The most notable building is St...
(14 miles from Bala), but was forced to leave after three months, because three influential people, including the rector of Bala, had persuaded his rector to dismiss him. His preaching, his catechizing of the children after evensong, and his connection with the Bala 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
Church of England
The Church of England is the officially established Christian church in England and the Mother Church of the worldwide Anglican Communion. The church considers itself within the tradition of Western Christianity and dates its formal establishment principally to the mission to England by St...
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 Carnarfonshire. In December,he was preaching at the Bont Uchel Association; and he joined the Methodists in 1784.
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 JonesGriffith Jones (Llanddowror)
Griffith Jones was a minister of the Church of England famous for his work in organising circulating schools in Wales. His name is usually associated with that of Llanddowror, Carmarthenshire....
(d. 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.
He had learned of Robert Raikes
Robert Raikes
Robert Raikes was an English philanthropist and Anglican layman, noted for his promotion of Sunday schools...
's Sunday Schools before he left the Establishment, but he preferred his own system. He gave six days tuition for every one given by them, and many people not only objected to working as teachers on Sunday, but thought that the children forgot in the six days what they learnt on the one. Sunday Schools were first adopted by Charles in the case of young people in service who could not attend during the week, and even in that form much opposition was shown to them because teaching was thought to be a form of Sabbath breaking. His first Sunday School was in 1787. William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce
William Wilberforce was a British politician, a philanthropist and a leader of the movement to abolish the slave trade. A native of Kingston upon Hull, Yorkshire, he began his political career in 1780, eventually becoming the independent Member of Parliament for Yorkshire...
, Charles Grant
Charles Grant (British East India Company)
Charles Grant was a British politician influential in Indian and domestic affairs who, motivated by his evangelical Christianity, championed the causes of social reform and Christian mission, particularly in India...
, John Thornton
John Thornton (philanthropist)
John Thornton was a merchant and Christian philanthropist.Thornton was the son of Robert Thornton of Clapham, Surrey, a merchant who became a director of the Bank of England....
and his son Henry, were among the philanthropists who contributed to his funds; in 1798 the Sunday School Society (established 1785) extended its operations to Wales, making him its agent, and Sunday Schools grew rapidly in number and favour. A powerful revival broke out at Bala in the autumn of 1791, and his account of it in letters to correspondents, sent without his knowledge to magazines, kindled a similar fire at Huntly
Huntly
-Places:* Huntly, Aberdeenshire, a small town in Scotland, UK* Huntly, New Zealand, a small town south of Auckland** Huntly power station, a major coal-fired electricity plant in the same town, often referred to simply as 'Huntly'* Huntly, Victoria, Australia...
. The scarcity of Welsh bibles was Charles's greatest difficulty in his work. John Thornton and Thomas Scott
Thomas Scott (commentator)
The Rev. Thomas Scott was an influential preacher and author who is principally known for his best-selling work A Commentary On The Whole Bible and The Force of Truth, and as one of the founders of the Church Missionary Society.- Life :...
helped him to secure supplies from the Society for the Promotion of Christian Knowledge from 1787 to 1789, when the stock became all but exhausted. In 1799 a new edition was brought out by the Society, and he managed to secure 700 copies of the 10,000 issued; the Sunday School Society got 3000 testaments printed, and most of them passed into his hands in 1801. It was in 1800 that a 16-year-old girl, Mary Jones
Mary Jones (Bible)
The story of Mary Jones and her Bible inspired the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Mary Jones was a Welsh Protestant Christian girl who, at age fifteen, walked twenty-five miles across the countryside to buy a copy of the Welsh Bible from Thomas Charles because she did not have...
, 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.
Welsh Bibles project
In 1800, when a frost-bitten thumb gave him great pain and much fear for his life, his friend, Rev. Philip Oliver of Chester, died, leaving him director and one of three trustees over his chapel at BoughtonBoughton, Cheshire
Boughton is a neighbourhood to the east of Chester city centre, part of the unitary authority of Cheshire West and Chester and the ceremonial county of Cheshire, England...
; 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 December 7, he sat at a committee meeting of the Religious Tract Society
Religious Tract Society
The Religious Tract Society, founded 1799, 56 Paternoster Row and 65 St. Paul's Chuchyard, was the original name of a major British publisher of Christian literature intended initially for evangelism, and including literature aimed at children, women, and the poor.The RTS is also notable for being...
, as a country member, when his friend, Joseph Tarna, 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. In 1800 he had met a poor young Welsh girl, named Mary Jones
Mary Jones (Bible)
The story of Mary Jones and her Bible inspired the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society. Mary Jones was a Welsh Protestant Christian girl who, at age fifteen, walked twenty-five miles across the countryside to buy a copy of the Welsh Bible from Thomas Charles because she did not have...
, who walked 25 miles to purchase a Bible from him at Bala. 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 January 30, 1804, and the British and Foreign Bible Society
British and Foreign Bible Society
The British and Foreign Bible Society, often known in England and Wales as simply as Bible Society, is a non-denominational Christian Bible society with charity status whose purpose is to make the Bible available throughout the world....
was formally and publicly inaugurated on March 7. 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.
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 catechism
Catechism
A catechism , i.e. to indoctrinate) is a summary or exposition of doctrine, traditionally used in Christian religious teaching from New Testament times to the present...
were published for the use of his schools (1789, 1791 and 1794); an English catechism for the use of schools in 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
Thomas Jones of Denbigh
Thomas Jones , called "Thomas Jones of Denbigh" to differentiate him from namesakes, was a Welsh minister and author.-Life history:...
of Mold and himself; in March 1809 the first number of the second volume appeared, and the twelfth and last in November 1813.
Later life
The London Hibernian Society asked him to accompany Dr David BogueDavid Bogue
David Bogue was a British nonconformist leader.-Life:He was born in the parish of Coldingham, Berwickshire, Scotland. After a course of study in Edinburgh, he was licensed to preach by the Church of Scotland, but made his way to London in 1771, to teach in schools at Edmonton, Hampstead and...
, the Rev. Joseph Hughes, and Samuel Mills to Ireland
Ireland
Ireland is an island to the northwest of continental Europe. It is the third-largest island in Europe and the twentieth-largest island on Earth...
in August 1807, to report on the state of Protestant religion in the country. Their report is still extant, and among the movements initiated as a result of their visit was the Circulating School system. In 1810, owing to the growth of Methodism and the lack of ordained ministers, he led the Connection in the movement for connectionally ordained ministers, and his influence was the chief factor in the success of that important step. From 1811 to 1814 his energy was mainly devoted to establishing auxiliary Bible Societies. By correspondence he stimulated some friends in Edinburgh to establish charity schools in the Highlands, and the Gaelic School Society (1811) was his idea. His last work was a corrected edition of the Welsh Bible
Welsh Bible
Bible translations into Welsh have existed since at least the 15th century, but the most widely used translation of the Bible into Welsh for several centuries was the 1588 translation by William Morgan, as revised in 1620...
issued in small pica by the Bible Society. 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.