b. at
Wrexham
or nearby, but neither the date of his birth nor the names of his parents are known; he had, however, a sister,
Elizabeth
(d.
1728
), the wife of
Hugh
Roberts
, a
currier
and
landowner
. Nothing is known about his education, but he was a regular
preacher
before he was 19 years of age. The whole of his career was spent outside
Wales
— it is difficult to believe that he was the ‘
Daniel
Williams
’ who took out a
Presbyterian
licence in
Wrexham
in
1672
under the Indulgence of
Charles
II
; for one thing he was in
Ireland
at that time, and for another
Philip
Henry
(q.v.)
does not mention it. It is, of course, possible that
Williams
took out the licence when he was visiting the town. His biography is given in some detail by
Alexander
Gordon
in the
D.N.B.
, so that in this volume a brief outline is all that is necessary. His ministry in
Ireland
lasted from
1664 to 1687
, when he went to
London
as
minister
of
Hand Alley
,
Bishopsgate
, occasionally deputizing for
Richard
Baxter
as ‘
lecturer
’ (
preacher
) at
Pinners' Hall
. When
Baxter
d. (
1691
)
Williams
was appointed to succeed him, but was deprived of the post in the storm which followed his attacks on the
higher Calvinism
of
Crisp
and
Chauncy
. One of the results of this brawl (
Williams
having already established a collateral ‘lecture’ at
Salters' Hall
) was the dissolution of the ‘
Happy Union
’ formed in
1690-1
between the
Presbyterians
and the
Independents
.
Williams
was fiercely attacked because of his ‘
Arminianism
’ (which, in fact, was merely ‘
Baxterism
’), and in the heat of the battle an unsuccessful attempt was made to smear his moral character. He became the acknowledged (indeed, the official)
leader of the ‘Three Denominations’
in their dealings with government, and led their deputations to
Anne
and
George
I
respectively, on their succession to the throne. In
1709
, both
Edinburgh
and
Glasgow
conferred on him the degree of
D.D.
He d.
26 Jan. 1715/6
‘at the age of 72,’ and was buried in
Bunhill Fields
. His two marriages brought him considerable wealth. He was a
prolific writer
(a list of his works is given in the
D.N.B.
); one of his books,
The Vanity of Childhood and Youth
,
1691
, was translated into
Welsh
in [
Feb. 1728/9
] under the title,
Gwagedd Mebyd a Ieuenctid
[other eds.
1739
,
1759
]. The general impression left on one's mind is that he was not a particularly amiable man.
In his will he left nearly all his money (about £50,000) to charity. But, because of certain legal flaws, litigation followed, and it was not until
1721
that a decision was reached after some changes had been made in the dispositions. Three of the results may be noted here: (1) the
founding of seven charity schools in North Wales
, with a provision for the apprenticing of the pupils later on — these were converted into
British schools
about
1850
, but when the
Act of 1870
laid down that elementary education should be a charge on the rates, the endowments of the
Daniel Williams schools
were diverted to the
founding of a boarding school for girls
at
Dolgelley
, which is still known as ‘
Dr. Williams's School
’; (2) the
establishment of scholarships for candidates for the Nonconformist ministry
to enable them to go to
Glasgow University
, and lesser awards to enable them to go to
Carmarthen Academy
; (3) the founding of the wellknown
Dr. Williams Library
in
London
— but in this respect the trustees developed the institution on a much more comprehensive scale than
Daniel
Williams
had contemplated.
As his will indicates,
Daniel
Williams
had not forgotten
Wales
— but it was his sister,
Elizabeth
Roberts
, who insisted on setting aside part of the estate to pay small annuities (which are still paid) to some of the ministers of the oldest Nonconformist churches in
North Wales
. It was he who, in
1690
, was
responsible for drafting the report on Wales which was intended to secure grants for Welsh ministers from the ‘Common Fund’
(see
Gordon
,
Freedom after
Ejection
). Many
Welshmen
went to
Glasgow
on the
Daniel
Williams
endowment. It should be noted that one of the effects in
Wales
of his quarrel with the
higher Calvinism
was a split in the celebrated old congregation of
Wrexham
. Angered by the attacks of
Thomas
Edwards
of
Rhual
(q.v.)
on
Daniel
Williams
, the
Wrexham
Presbyterians
left the congregation, and founded the ‘
New Meeting
’;
Daniel
Williams
built them a chapel
in
Chester Street
, which he also endowed. And the
Henllan Amgoed
controversy (see under
Owen
,
Jeremy
) may be regarded as another consequence of the dispute.
Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, C.B.E., D.Litt., Ll.D.,
F.S.A., (1881-1969), Bangor
