PRICE, CHRISTOPHER (died 1697), apothecary, preacher, free-communion Baptist

He lived at Abergavenny in the High Street, one of the chief officials of the corporation, and, according to Sir Joseph Bradney, of the family of the Prices of Llanffoist. He supported John Tombes in the great Baptism debate at Abergavenny, 1653; after the Restoration he is reported as preaching in 'conventicles,' 1668-9, and in 1672 he secured a licence to preach in his own house under the Indulgence of Charles II. He believed in the sincerity of James II when he published his Declaration for religious freedom in 1687; and when the king arrived at Gloucester on his journey to the Borders, Dr. Price presented to him an address of welcome and congratulation. It was on behalf of the ' Congregational Persuasion ' that the apothecary spoke, but it must be borne in mind that ' Congregational ' in the records of those days was often meant to include 'free' Baptists. This indiscretion does not seem to have injured the good name of Dr. Price : in 1689 he was present at the Baptist Assembly in London, and corresponding with the leaders; it was he who gave the land on which the chapel at Llanwenarth was built, the first Baptist chapel in Wales, 1695; and it was through him that many gifts, from the Independents and Baptists of London more especially, were shared out among needy ministers in Wales. He died in 1697, and was buried in Abergavenny parish church in the chancel, before the Communion table.

Author

• Thomas Richards, (1878 - 1962)

Sources

• Bradney, A History of Monmouthshire, i, 355, 361
• Rawlinson Manuscript at the Bodlean Library, Oxford A.151a, and The London Gazette, 2272
• Trafodion Cymdeithas Hanes Bedyddwyr Cymru, 1924, 19-22
• Joshua Thomas, Hanes y Bedyddwyr ymhlith y Cymry: o amser yr Apostolion, hyd y flwyddyn hon: yn ddwy ran (Caerfyrddin 1778) (Pontypridd ed.), 246-8

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20804664

Published date: 1959

Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/