QUARRELL, THOMAS (d. 1709), Puritan preacher, free-communion Baptist.
He was probably of the same family as the first husband of the first wife of Vavasor Powell (Paul Quarrell), as James Quarrell of Shrewsbury (q.v.), and as the two Quarrells who appear in the records of the Llanfyllin congregation. At first he was usher of the Puritan school at Montgomery and remained there until the Restoration. In 1669 he was living at Whitchurch, near Cardiff, and breaking the penal laws by preaching in secret conventicles at Eglwysilan, Llanedern, Marshfield, and Bedwas. In 1670 he (and two others) received a letter from Vavasor Powell a little before his death enclosing a small gift of money. In 1672, on 25 July, he received a licence to preach in the house of John Maurice at Shirenewton; in 1675 Henry Maurice assigns an important place to Quarrell amongst the Dissenters of Monmouthshire. It is clear from Maurice's account that he was a Baptist, a free-communionist, pastor of the flock, once attended by William Thomas (d. 1671) (q.v.) before his death in 1671, with its headquarters at Llantrisant. Quarrell represented this extensive church in the London Assembly of 1689, an assembly open to all Baptists, ‘free’ as well as ‘close.’ He d. in 1709.
Bibliography:
- Lambeth MSS. 639 (187-8), 972 (67-8);
- Cal. S.P. Dom., Chas. II, E.B. 38A, 209;
- Broadmead Records, Add. B, 516;
- Spinther, ii, 399, 445-6;
- H.E.A.C., i, 260;
- Jenkins, Hen Gapel Llanuwchllyn, 70-2.
Author:
Thomas Richards, D.Litt., (1878-1962), Bangor
