Alban Thomas (1686–1771) was a Welsh doctor, librarian and

antiquarian An antiquarian or antiquary () is an fan (person), aficionado or student of antiquities or things of the past. More specifically, the term is used for those who study history with particular attention to ancient artifact (archaeology), artifac ...

, who followed in his father's footsteps in supporting Welsh literature, being particularly associated with efforts by Moses Williams to publish Welsh-language manuscripts.

Life

Thomas was the son of a Welsh cleric, poet and translator, also called Alban Thomas, who was involved in a literary renaissance in the

Newcastle Emlyn Newcastle Emlyn ( cy, Castellnewydd Emlyn) is a town on the River Teifi, straddling the counties of Ceredigion and Carmarthenshire in West Wales. It is also a community entirely within Carmarthenshire, bordered by those of Llangeler and Cenarth ...

area at the end of the 17th century / beginning of the 18th century. Thomas (the son) was born in 1686 and matriculated at

Jesus College, Oxford Jesus College (in full: Jesus College in the University of Oxford of Queen Elizabeth's Foundation) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship St ...

. By 1708 he was librarian of the

Ashmolean Museum The Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology () on Beaumont Street, Oxford, England, is Britain's first public museum. Its first building was erected in 1678–1683 to house the cabinet of curiosities that Elias Ashmole gave to the University of ...

in Oxford, and he was the assistant secretary of the

Royal Society The Royal Society, formally The Royal Society of London for Improving Natural Knowledge, is a learned society and the United Kingdom's national academy of sciences. The society fulfils a number of roles: promoting science and its benefits, re ...

in London in 1713. He graduated with a

Doctor of Medicine Doctor of Medicine (abbreviated M.D., from the Latin language, Latin ''Medicinae Doctor'') is a medical degree, the meaning of which varies between different jurisdictions. In the United States, and some other countries, the M.D. denotes a profes ...

degree from the

University of Aberdeen The University of Aberdeen ( sco, University o' 'Aiberdeen; abbreviated as ''Aberd.'' in List of post-nominal letters (United Kingdom), post-nominals; gd, Oilthigh Obar Dheathain) is a public university, public research university in Aberdeen, Sc ...

in 1719. His Aberdeen links led to suspicions in Government circles that Thomas was a Jacobite sympathiser, and Thomas had to stay away from London, where he practised, for some time after March 1722. Unable to resume his medical career in London on his return, he moved back to Wales and practised there until his death in 1771. He was associated with the attempts of the antiquarian Moses Williams to collect and publish material contained in manuscripts in the Welsh language, taking subscriptions in 1719 towards publication of ''Collection of Writings in the Welsh Tongue, to the beginning of the Sixteenth Century, to be printed in several Volumes in Octavo''. Thomas himself published a ''List of Fellows of the Royal Society of London'' in 1718.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Thomas, Alban 1686 births 1771 deaths 17th-century Welsh medical doctors 18th-century Welsh medical doctors Welsh librarians Welsh antiquarians Alumni of Jesus College, Oxford Alumni of the University of Aberdeen