Thomas Charles Edwards

Thomas Charles Edwards (22 September 1837 – 22 March 1900) was a Welsh minister, writer and academic who was the first Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Thomas Charles Edwards was born at Llanycil, Bala, Merionethshire, on 22 September 1837. Edwards was the son of Lewis Edwards, founder of the Bala Theological College. His mother was a granddaughter of Thomas Charles, the organiser of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism.

He was educated at his father's college in Bala, at St Alban Hall, Oxford and at Lincoln College, Oxford. At Oxford he was deeply influenced by Mark Pattison and Benjamin Jowett, and kept in touch with them for the rest of their lives.

He began preaching with the Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1856. He became minister of the Windsor Street chapel in Liverpool, and later of the Catherine Street chapel in the same city. He was accounted one of the leading preachers of his generation.

In 1872 the new university at Aberystwyth was founded, and Edwards was appointed as the first Principal. He resigned from this post in 1891, partly for health reasons and partly to follow his father as head of the Bala Theological College. He was Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1887.

He married Mary Roberts in 1876; they had four children.

He died at Bala on 22 March 1900.

He also published individual sermons.

A statue of Thomas Charles Edwards was unveiled in July 1922 in the forecourt of University College of Wales, Aberystwyth. The sculptor was Goscombe John.

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