Edward Williams (minister)

Edward Williams (1750–1813) was a Welsh nonconformist minister, theological writer, and tutor.

He was born at Glan Clwyd in Aberwheeler, near Denbigh, on 14 November 1750. His father, a farmer of good position, sent him to St. Asaph grammar school, and he was intended for the Church of England. But while still young he came under the influence of the Methodists of the district; and, while studying with a curate at Derwen (David Ellis, who translated several books into Welsh), attended their meetings. He joined the Independent church at Denbigh, began to preach, and in 1771 entered the dissenting academy at Abergavenny.

His first pastoral charge was at Ross-on-Wye, where he was minister from 1775 to 1777, when he moved on to Oswestry.

Williams married Mary Llewellyin on 28 July 1777. In 1781, he was invited by Lady Glenorchy to train two students in her house at her expense. He began to do this. When Dr. Benjamin Davies left Abergavenny for Homerton College, it was suggested that Williams come to Abergavenny as his successor. Williams chose not to leave Oswestry, and so the academy was moved in May 1782 to Oswestry, and placed under Williams's care.

At the end of 1791 he gave up both church and academy, and, with the new year, commenced his ministry at Carr's Lane, Birmingham. In 1792 he was appointed first editor of the Evangelical Magazine and received the degree of D.D. from the University of Edinburgh.

As early as 1793, Williams wrote a letter to the Midlands churches expressing the need for world evangelization and foreign missions. It was an effective letter. Williams became involved in plans to form a missionary society. The society was formed in 1795 and subsequently took the name London Missionary Society. In July 1796, it was Edwards who preached the charge when the society sent out its first missionaries.

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