EDWARDS, JOHN (fl. second half of 17th cent.), preacher and ‘strict’ Baptist of Abergavenny, and by trade a shoemaker.
He was baptized at Abergavenny 16 June 1653, elected deacon on probation on the following 29 Dec., and a preacher during the same month. He took a prominent part at Abergavenny in a controversy on the question of baptism in the same year, and signed the humble representation and address to Oliver Cromwell from the South Wales churches in 1656. He was appointed by authority of the Triers to preach at Llan-gors, Brecknock (Cathedine according to Calamy), but was superseded by the Anglican incumbent Thomas Morgan, 9 Dec. 1660. He withstood the hardship of the period of religious persecution which followed, and on 10 Aug. 1672, under the Declaration of Indulgence, his home at Abergavenny was licensed as a meeting house. The date of his death is not known, but there is a reference to him as late as 1689-90 as a deacon at Llangwm, Mon., ‘faithful in office though in low circumstances.’
Bibliography:
- J. Walker, Sufferings of the Clergy, i, 160, ii, 258;
- Calamy, Account, ii, 733;
- Hanes y Bed., 1885, 212, 216-8, 245; ibid., 1778, Atodiad, 6;
- T. Richards, Religious Developments, 45, 51, 386;
- T. Richards, Wales under the Penal Code, 99;
- T. Richards, Wales under the Indulgence, 37, 98, 159-60, 198;
- Joshua Thomas, Hist. Bapt. Assoc., 20;
- T. Rees, H.P.N., 140-1;
- N.L.W. Civil War Tract, no. 141;
- Spinther, ii, 465-6, iii, 12;
- J.T.J., i, 232.
Author:
Benjamin George Owens, M.A., Aberystwyth
