Thomas Levi (12 October 1825 - 16 June 1916 ) was a Welsh, Calvinistic Methodist minister, and literary figure who also played a role in the political life of Wales. [1] Born in Ystradgynlais he spent his later life as minister of Tabernacl, Aberystwyth.
Levi was born at Penrhos, near Ystradgynlais in the Swansea Valley, Glamorgan, the son of John and Prudence Levi. [1] It was often stated that his father was of Jewish origin. [2] It is said that his father was a Jewish jeweller from Swansea. He received little formal education and worked as a boy at the Ynyscedwyn Ironworks. [1] When the ironworks closed for a time due to a depression in trade, Levi migrated fifty miles to Tredegar ironworks. [2] Following his mother's death, his father and brothers migrated to the United States. [3] He began to preach when around twenty years of age. [1]
Levi became minister of Capel yr Ynys, Ystradgynlais around 1855 and remained there until 1860 when he moved to Philadelphia, Morriston. [1] After sixteen years, Levi received a call in 1876 to minister at Tabernacl, Aberystwyth, one of the leading chapels in the denomination, and he remained there for the remainder of his career. [1]
Levi wrote many books but his most significant achievement was founding Trysorfa y Plant (A Children's Treasury), a journal for children and young people, Levi was responsible for every monthly edition from 1862 until 1911 and the journal had a circulation of 44,000. [1]
From his early days at Ystradgynlais, Levi was politically active, and he led a campaign against the efforts of the rector to levy a church rate in order to rebuild the parish church. [2]
Levi was a Liberal member of Cardiganshire County Council from 1889 until 1895. His son, Professor T.A. Levi established the Law department at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth.
Levi retired from the ministry in 1901. He died in 1916, aged 90. [1]
David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, PC, was a Welsh industrialist and Liberal politician. He was UK Member of Parliament (MP) for Merthyr Tydfil from 1888 until the January 1910 general election, then MP for Cardiff until the December 1910 general election, when he left politics to concentrate on his business interests. He was made a member of the Privy Council in 1916. He later held office, notably as "Food Controller" in Lloyd George's wartime coalition government.
Cynog Glyndwr Dafis is a Welsh politician and member of Plaid Cymru who served as the Member of Parliament for Ceredigion from 1992 to 2000, originally as a joint Plaid Cymru–Green Party MP until 1997 and then only as a Plaid Cymru MP until 2000. He also served as the Member of the Welsh Assembly for Mid and West Wales from 1999 to 2003. Born Cynog Glyndwr Davies at Treboeth in Swansea, Glamorganshire, Wales, he was initially a school teacher and researcher before entering politics.
Ystradgynlais in southwest Powys, Wales. It is located on the River Tawe, and was within the boundaries of the former county of Brecknockshire. The town has a high proportion of Welsh language-speakers. The community includes Cwmtwrch, Abercraf and Cwmgiedd, with a population of 8,092 in the 2011 census; it is the second-largest town in Powys. It forms part of the Swansea Urban Area where the Ystradgynlais subdivision has a population of 10,248.
Rhymney is a town and a community in the county borough of Caerphilly, South Wales. It is within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire. With the villages of Pontlottyn, Fochriw, Abertysswg, Deri and New Tredegar, Rhymney is designated as the 'Upper Rhymney Valley' by the local Unitary Authority, Caerphilly County Borough Council. As a community, Rhymney includes the town of Rhymney, Pontlottyn, Abertysswg, Butetown and Twyncarno.
Joseph Parry was a Welsh composer and musician. Born in Merthyr Tydfil, Wales, he is best known as the composer of "Myfanwy" and the hymn tune "Aberystwyth". Parry was also the first Welshman to compose an opera; his composition, Blodwen, was the first opera in the Welsh language.
Abercraf is a village in Powys, Wales, in the community of Ystradgynlais and within the historic boundaries of the county of Brecknockshire.
Josef Herman, was a highly regarded Polish-British painter who influenced contemporary art, particularly in the United Kingdom. He was part of a generation of central and eastern European Jewish refugee artists who emigrated to escape Nazi persecution. He saw himself as part of a tradition of European figurative artists who painted working people, a tradition that included Courbet, Millet and Van Gogh, Kathe Kollwitz and the Flemish Expressionist Constant Permeke. For eleven years he lived in Ystradgynlais, a mining community in South Wales.
David Lewis Prosser was a Welsh Anglican bishop and Archbishop of Wales from 1944 to 1949.
John Ellis Meredith (1904–1981) was a Welsh Presbyterian minister and writer. He was the first Welshman to become president of the National Union of Students.
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William Richard Williams was the Principal of the United Theological College, Aberystwyth from 1949 to 1962, the first Secretary of the Council of Churches of Wales, and later its president.
John Vyrnwy Morgan, usually known as J. Vyrnwy Morgan, was a Welsh Congregationalist minister and author.
Howell Elvet Lewis, widely known by his bardic name Elfed, was a Welsh Congregational minister, hymn-writer, and devotional poet, who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1924 to 1928.
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Robert Joseph Davies, of Cwrtmawr, Llangeitho was a leading figure in the political and religious life of Cardiganshire and in the Calvinistic Methodist denomination. He was the father of John Humphreys Davies.
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Thomas Thomas was a Welsh church minister and chapel architect, also known as Thomas Glandŵr. He is described as "the first national architect of Wales" and the "unchallenged master of chapel architecture in Wales in the 1860s".
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Evan Matthew Richards was a Welsh Liberal politician who represented Cardiganshire in the British House of Commons from 1868 until his defeat at the general election of 1874.
Geraint Huw Jenkins, FBA, FLSW is a historian of Wales and a retired academic. He was Professor of Welsh History at the Aberystwyth University from 1990 to 1993, when he became Director of the University of Wales Centre for Advanced Welsh and Celtic Studies. In 2009, he retired from academia and was appointed Professor Emeritus of Welsh History at the University of Wales.