Thomas Price (Baptist minister)

Thomas Price (17 April 1820 – 29 February 1888) was a leading figure in the political and religious life of Victorian Wales and minister of Calfaria Baptist Chapel, Aberdare.

Thomas Price was born on 17 April 1820, one of six children born to John and Mary Price of Maesycwper, near Ysgethrog, in the Parish of Llenhamlwch, about three miles below the town of Brecon. He began to earn his living at an early age by assisting a local farmer.

In early life, he became a page boy for Clifton family of Tŷ Mawr, Llanfrynach. The Clifton daughters taught him to read English. He saved £21 to pay for his own apprenticeship to Thomas Watkins, The Struet, Brecon, a painter, glazier and plumber. His parents had been members of the Established Church, but Thomas broke with family tradition and joined the Baptist church at Watergate during his time at Brecon and was baptised in the River Usk. At the end of his apprenticeship he left for London, walking all the way, a distance of 160 miles. During his four years' stay in London, he continued his studies.

In 1842, Price became a student at Pontypool Baptist College. After three and a half years, he accepted a call to the Aberdare Welsh Baptist chapel at Carmel, Monk Street, better known as Capel Pen-pound. He began his ministry there at the end of 1845, was ordained on 1 January 1846, and remained there, his only pastorate, for 42 years until his death on 29 February 1888. On 16 March 1847, he married Anne Gilbert, a widow and youngest daughter of Thomas David of Abernant-y-groes, Cwm-bach. They had a son, who died in infancy, and a daughter, Emily. Anne Price died on 1 September 1849.

Price arrived at Aberdare at a time when the fortunes of the town were being transformed by the development of industry, and specifically the growth of the coal trade. The existing building having become too small, a new chapel was erected nearby for the Welsh-speaking congregation, to be known as Calfaria. In 1856, 91 members from Calfaria were transferred to form an English Baptist Church at the former building, Carmel.

Through Price's skill as an organiser, he was able to further the Baptist cause, not only within his own church, but throughout the Aberdare valley, by opening Sunday schools and later erecting chapels to cater for the rapidly increasing population. During the mid-century years, Price was instrumental in the formation of additional Welsh Baptist causes. In 1855, the Heolyfelin Baptist Church was formed as a branch of the Hirwaun Baptist Church. Bethel, Abernant, was opened in 1857. In 1849 121 members were transferred to form Gwawr, Aberaman (see below); in 1855, 89 were released to start a cause at Mountain Ash, and in 1862, 163 were released to strengthen Bethel, Abernant; in the same year 131 were released to form a church in Ynyslwyd; in 1865, 49 were transferred to form Gadlys Church. In total, it is estimated that 927 members were released from Calfaria to form churches in various parts of the district. As these various chapels were established, Price maintained a connection between them and the mother church at Calfaria and he established, as a result, an overarching influence over the various Baptist congregations in the valley 'and provided the basis for a wider authority within the body of nonconformity as a whole in Aberdare'. This was underpinned by decisions such as that made at the monthly meeting of the Aberdare Valley Baptists on 22 July 1878 that the individual churches be encouraged to maintain joint meetings. The close interconnection and cohesion between the different Baptist congregations in the locality, allied with Price's leadership qualities, created a powerful influence upon the social and political life of the Aberdare Valley from the late 1840s, when Price figured prominently in the Blue Books controversy (see below), until the 1868 General Election and beyond.

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