Dilys Grace Edmunds (1879–1926), an early twentieth century teacher in

India India, officially the Republic of India (Hindi: ), is a country in South Asia. It is the seventh-largest country by area, the second-most populous country, and the most populous democracy in the world. Bounded by the Indian Ocean on the so ...

from a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist background, whose fund-raising work supported school building programmes in the Karimanj District of

. Dilys Edmunds was born in London in 1879. Her father was Mr Llewelyn Edmunds, the precentor at Bethel Chapel, Wilton Square, in

Islington Islington () is a district in the north of Greater London, England, and part of the London Borough of Islington. It is a mainly residential district of Inner London, extending from Islington's High Street to Highbury Fields, encompassing the ar ...

, London (a chapel built by Welsh Calvinistic Methodists in 1853, rebuilt 1884). Such Welsh Methodists had their origins in the religious revival of the eighteenth century, and had been influenced by George Whitfield and his patron, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon. After attending a school in London, Dilys Edmunds studied at the

University College of Wales , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

Aberystwyth Aberystwyth () is a university and seaside town as well as a community in Ceredigion, Wales. Located in the historic county of Cardiganshire, means "the mouth of the Ystwyth". Aberystwyth University has been a major educational location in ...

where she gained a bachelor of arts degree, followed by completion of a teachers' training course. Her teaching career began in London, but in 1914 as war broke out in Europe, she sailed to India, funded by of a Welsh missionary society, to teach at a secondary school in Silchar. Two years later she was offered a post in charge of the Girls' School at Karimganj. Whilst there she wrote numerous articles about the customs and culture of local people for the Welsh monthly periodical Y Cenhadwr Returning to Britain after the end of World War One, arriving towards the end of 1920 and staying for about a year, she raised funds in London and Wales for a building programme to provide residential hostels for Indian teachers, accommodation for school children in the Karimanj District, and to establish a 'School of Weaving' for the Girls' School at Karimganj. Coming back to London again in 1925, this time to care for her mother who was unwell, she herself was taken ill and died suddenly in a London hospital on 17 April 1926. Dilys Edmunds was buried at

Abney Park Cemetery Abney Park cemetery is one of the "Magnificent Seven" cemeteries in London, England. Abney Park in Stoke Newington in the London Borough of Hackney is a historic parkland originally laid out in the early 18th century by Lady Mary Abney, D ...

in Stoke Newington, London.

References

Sources

* Rees, D. (2002) ''Vehicles of Grace and Hope: Welsh Missionaries in India 1800-1970'' * Morris, John Hughes (1996) ''The History of the Welsh Calvinistic Methodists' Foreign Mission'' {{DEFAULTSORT:Edmunds, Dilys Grace 1879 births Burials at Abney Park Cemetery 1926 deaths Karimganj Calvinistic Methodists