Welsh Journals

Edward Phillips, Maesmynys By Rev. GRIFFITH T. ROBERTS, M.A., B.D, Talsamau THE name of Edward Phillips, rector of Maesmynys near Builth Wells in Brecknockshire, occurs frequently in the Journals of both John and Charles Wesley from 1743 to 1753. We do not know much about his early life, but we gather that he was the Edward Phillips, "s[on of] Edward, of Llanvareth, co. Radnor, pleb. who matriculated at Jesus College, Oxford, on November 8, 1734, at the age of 18, obtaining the degree of B.A., in 1738.1 He was ordained as a priest on 7 April, 1740 and was instituted to the benefice of Maesmynys the next day;2 he held the living until 1776. His name first appears in the Parish Registers in 1754 (Register of Banns of Marriages), but "the entries in the Burials and Baptisms Register from 1740 to 1776, although they do not bear his signature, are without doubt in his handwriting".3 From the meagre evidence at our disposal, we gather that he was not at first favourably disposed towards the Methodist Movement. Writing to Howell Harries in October 1742, Daniel Rowland stated: "I heard since that I have been put into the Ecclesiastical Court by Mr. Phillips of Builth, for discoursing at an ale-house there".4 Amongst the charges brought against William Williams of Pantycelyn in the following June was "that you neglected and refused to attend and do duty incumbent on you as a Deacon at one or more Sacraments of the Lords Supper appointed and administred in the Churches aforesaid or one of them tho have had notice and been desired to attend on that account bv Edward Phillips, Clerk Rector of Maesmynis in the County aforesaid on the twenty fifth day of January last past."5 In those days Phillips evidently took the side of the enemies*- and persecutors of Methodism. It is therefore rather difficult to explain why he should have invited John Wesley to the Builth district, but there can be no doubt that it was at his invitation that Wesley first came to Builth in May 1743.6 We do not know when the invitation was sent, but in the previous June, Howell 'Foster: Alumni Oxon., ii, 1106. 2Journal of Hist. Soc. of Presbyterian Church of Wales, xxxvi. 25. 3information kindly supplied by the Rector, the Rev. W. E. Probert, B.A., in a letter dated Sept. 25, 1948. "D. J. Odwyn Jones; Daniel Rowland, 46. 5Journal Hist. Soc. P.Ch.W., xxxiii, 8. See also Gomer M. Roberts, Y Pêr Ganiedydd, I, 59-63. 6A similar problem arises in the case of Nathaniel Wells, who invited Charles Wesley to the Cardiff district in November 1740; see Bathafarn, i, 30.