SAUNDERS, THOMAS (1732 - 1790), Independent minister

nothing is known of his origins, but he seems to have been a native of Pontypool - even when an ordained minister, he kept on living at Pontypool and acting as an overseer at Hanbury's works. It seems certain that he came to religion through the Methodist revival; Philip David accuses him of 'preaching like the Methodists, observing no order, but rambling' - and of inviting other quasi-Methodists 'to give a rant' in his pulpit at Newport (Cofiadur, 1935, 37) - naturally, on the other hand, Edmund Jones speaks of him in the highest terms (Trevecka Letter 2724). At the end of 1769, Saunders was appointed pastor of Llanfaches and of its branch in Mill-street, Newport; he had a congregation at Machen also. He died 9 January 1790, 'aged 58,' and was buried near Mill-street chapel at Newport.

Author

• Emeritus Professor Robert Thomas Jenkins, (1881 - 1969)

Sources

• Hanes Eglwysi Annibynnol Cymru, i, 56, 60
• and other references given above

Additional Links

• Wikidata: Q20734528

Published date: 1959

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