Thomas Charles Edwards

Sculpture by Goscombe John

Thomas Charles-Edwards (22 September 1837 – 22 March 1900) was a Welsh minister, writer and academic who was the first Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Life

He was born at Llanycil, Bala, Merionethshire, on 22 September 1837. His mother was a granddaughter of Thomas Charles, the organiser of Welsh calvinistic methodism. ^[1] Edwards was the son of Lewis Edwards, founder of the Bala Theological College. He was educated at Lincoln College, Oxford, and began preaching with the Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1856. He became minister of the Windsor Street chapel in Liverpool, and later of the Catherine Street chapel in the same city. He was accounted one of the leading preachers of his generation.

In 1872 the new university at Aberystwyth was founded, and Edwards was appointed as the first Principal. He resigned from this post in 1891, partly for health reasons and partly to follow his father as head of the Bala Theological College. ^[1] He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1887.

He died at Bala on 22 March 1900.^[1]

Works

He published, besides single sermons :

• A Commentary on the First Epistle to the Corinthians, 1885, 8vo ; 2nd edit, same year.
• "Commentary on Epistle to Hebrews," in Expositor's Bible, 1888, 8vo ; 3rd edit. 1889, 8vo ; also, 'Welsh Commentary on Hebrews,' 1890.
• The God-Man, 1895, 12mo (Davies Lecture).

A sermon of his is in Jones's Welsh Pulpit, 1885, 8vo. He published in Welsh a memoir of his father, 1887, 12mo.

Statue at Aberyswyth University

A statue of Thomas Charles Edwards was unveiled in July 1922 in the forecourt of University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. The sculptor was Goscombe John.^[2]

References

Attribution

 This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Gordon, Alexander (1901). "Edwards, Thomas Charles". In Sidney Lee. Dictionary of National Biography, 1901 supplement​. London: Smith, Elder & Co.