Thomas William

WILLIAM, Thomas. b. Pendeulwyn, Glamorgan 1 Mar 1761; d. Llantwit Major, Glamorgan, 23 Nov 1844. Thomas William joined the Methodists as a young man but was later ordained as an Independent (Congregationalist) minister. He built Bethesda chapel at Llantwit Major in 1806 and ministered there until his death. His hymns were published in volumes and collected together in Dyfroedd Bethesda (‘The Waters of Bethesda’), in 1824, with a second edition in 1841. Strongly biblical and full of scriptural expressions and allusions, Thomas William’s hymns tend to be intense and melancholy, but are also moving and honest. Several are well known to Welsh-speaking congregations, but few if any appear to...