The Reverend Benjamin Evans (1844 - 1900) was a Welsh
Baptist
Baptists form a major branch of Protestantism distinguished by baptizing professing Christian believers only ( believer's baptism), and doing so by complete immersion. Baptist churches also generally subscribe to the doctrines of soul compe ...
minister and author, who served as Secretary of the
Baptist Missionary Society in the late nineteenth century.
Born on 2 May 1844 in
Dowlais
Dowlais () is a village and community of the county borough of Merthyr Tydfil, in Wales. At the 2011 census the electoral ward had a population of 6,926, The population of the Community being 4,270 at the 2011 census having excluded Pant. Dowlai ...
in
Glamorganshire
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto ...
, Evans worked as a coal miner from the age of eight.
He joined the Baptist congregation at Moriah in Dowlais in 1856, and in 1868 was accepted as a student at Haverfordwest Baptist College.
Ordained in 1871, his first ministry was in the city of
St Davids,
Pembrokeshire, relocating in 1876 to
Aberdare where he became minister of
Gadlys Chapel. Evans was one of several Baptist ministers serving a working-class and largely Welsh speaking population. His personal ministry was to the community living immediately adjacent to the Gadlys ironworks which had been established in 1827.
Evans quickly established himself in Gadlys as a popular preacher and Eisteddfodwr.
He was known, without apparent irony, as the 'Bishop of Gadlys'.During his Gadlys ministry he was selected by the Baptist Missionary Society as its agent for Wales, and was later named Secretary of the Society as a whole.
In 1891 he wrote a biography of fellow minister and missionary Thomas Price. In 1896 he was appointed as inaugural clerk to the Governors of
Aberdare Boys' Grammar School
Aberdare ( ; cy, Aberdâr) is a town in the Cynon Valley area of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, at the confluence of the Rivers Dare (Dâr) and Cynon. Aberdare has a population of 39,550 (mid-2017 estimate). Aberdare is south-west of Merthyr Tydfi ...
, and was elected two years later to the Aberdare School Board.
Soon after his arrival in Aberdare, Evans became involved in public life and this often brought him into conflict with other leading figures such as the local miners' agent, David Morgan, with whom Evans had a feud over several years. In 1894 he became one of the first members of the
Aberdare Urban District Council
Aberdare Urban District Council was a local authority in Aberdare, Wales.
History
It was created in 1894 as a result of the 1894 Local Government of England and Wales Act and the 1894 Aberdare Urban District Council election saw the election of ...
, and remained a member until his death. When Morgan was elevated to the aldermanic bench in 1895, Evans staked a claim to succeed him as county councillor but the Liberal nomination went to another minister, Richard Morgan.
Evans died in 1900, leaving a widow and six children.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Benjamin
19th-century Welsh Baptist ministers
People from Aberdare
1844 births
1900 deaths