PHILLIPS, THOMAS (1868-1936), Baptist minister;
b. 5 Jan. 1868 at Lan, in the parish of Llan-y-cefn, Pembs., the son of Levi and Phoebe Phillips. A member of the historic Baptist church of Rhydwilym, he became first of all a pupil-teacher at Whitland, but in 1886 entered Llangollen Baptist College as a candidate for the ministry. Two years later he won a scholarship at University College, Bangor. There he became a student of Henry Jones's (q.v.), and graduated with honours in philosophy in the University of London in 1890. He was successively minister at Kettering and Norwich, until he took charge of the Baptist Institutional church at Bloomsbury, in London, in 1905. Here his social work attracted wide attention, and he proved to be a preacher of outstanding gifts. The acme of his preaching career was his sermon to the Baptist World Congress at Philadelphia in 1911. He became principal of the Baptist College, Cardiff, in 1928, and remained there until his death on 21 April 1936. In 1916 he was made president of the Baptist Union, and in 1928, the McMaster University (Toronto) bestowed on him the degree of doctor of divinity.
He m. (1) 1892, Martha John of Whitland (d. 1932), by whom he had seven children, and (2) 1934, Anne Mary Saunders.
Bibliography:
- Anon., Thomas Phillips (Kingsgate Press, n.d., a brochure by his daughter, Margaret Phillips, published in 1937);
- E. Ll. Williams, Thomas Phillips (Undeb Bedyddwyr Ieuanc Cymru, n.d.);
- private information; personal knowledge.
Author:
Emeritus Professor David Williams, D.Litt., (1900-78), Aberystwyth
