Peter Williams

WILLIAMS, Peter. b. West Marsh, near Laugharne, Carmarthenshire, 7 January 1723; d. Llandyfaelog, Carmarthenshire, 8 August 1796. He was educated at Carmarthen Grammar School. He was converted in 1743 by the preaching of George Whitefield*. He became a schoolmaster, and then decided to take Holy Orders: although he was ordained deacon, the Bishop of St David’s refused to ordain him to the priesthood because of his Methodist sympathies. He was licensed as a curate, but his Methodism brought him into conflict with his parish priest, and he was dismissed. The same thing happened in two other parishes. In 1747 he joined the Calvinistic Methodists, and became an itinerant preacher, later...