Three centuries of the Bible in Welsh

William Morgan was born about 1545 at Tŷ Mawr Wybrnant, in the parish of Penmachno near Betws-y-Coed — the son of John ap Morgan ap Llywelyn, a copyholder on the Gwydir estate, and Lowri. He entered St John’s College, Cambridge, in 1565, graduating BA in 1568, MA in 1571, BD in 1578 and DD in 1583, and was ordained deacon and priest in 1568.

William Salesbury had published his Welsh New Testament in 1567. Morgan believed just as firmly in a Welsh Old Testament, and while rector of Llanrhaeadr-ym-Mochnant he completed his own translation, published in London in 1588 as the complete Welsh Bible — his Old Testament with a revision of Salesbury’s New Testament. The poet Edmwnd Prys, born only twelve miles from Morgan’s birthplace and his contemporary at Cambridge, assisted with the translation. Morgan was consecrated Bishop of Llandaff in 1595, became Bishop of St Asaph in 1601 and died on 10 September 1604.Records differ on his birth year: the Dictionary of Welsh Biography gives about 1545, from evidence in his 1568 ordination application; his Cambridge memorial gives 1541.

His father was a tenant of the Gwydir estate, and William was probably educated at Gwydir Castle near Llanrwst. He then attended St John’s College, Cambridge, where among other subjects he studied philosophy, mathematics and Greek, taking his Bachelor of Arts in 1568 and his Master’s in 1571. Seven years of Biblical study followed, including the Bible in Greek, Hebrew and Aramaic; he graduated Bachelor of Divinity in 1578 and Doctor of Divinity in 1583. His memorial at Cambridge gives his birth year as 1541 rather than about 1545.

At Cambridge he was a contemporary of the Welsh clergyman and poet Edmwnd Prys, born only twelve miles from Morgan’s birthplace, who later assisted him with the translation. In 1567, while Morgan was still at Cambridge, William Salesbury published his Welsh New Testament. Morgan firmly believed the Old Testament should be in Welsh too. He began his own translation in the early 1580s and published it in 1588, together with a revision of Salesbury’s New Testament.

In 1698 the Rev. Thomas Bray and a small group of associates founded the Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge. Continuing the work of Thomas Gouge, the Society distributed devotional books in Welsh and English and resolved to set up Welsh schools — “that being the language which the parents best understood.” Between 1699 and 1740, twelve charity schools were established in Montgomeryshire alone; in 1690 Bishop William Lloyd had promoted a Welsh folio edition of 10,000 copies, Beibl yr Esgob Llwyd, and from 1777 to 1789 the Society published about 100,000 People’s Bibles in Welsh.

Griffith Jones, rector of Llanddowror, carried the work on with the Circulating Welsh Charity Schools of 1738–1761 — winter schools that moved from place to place every three months, teaching children to read the Welsh Bible. Eighty-seven such schools were held in twenty Montgomeryshire places, including Aberhafesp, Llanbrynmair, Llanwrin and Penegoes. The ground was well prepared for a religious and national revival.

On 8 March 1698, the Rev. Thomas Bray met a small group of friends at Lincoln’s Inn — Sir Humphrey Mackworth, Colonel Maynard Colchester, Lord Guilford and John Hooke. These men were concerned by what they saw as the “growth in vice and immorality” in England at the time, which they believed was owing to the “gross ignorance of the principles of the Christian religion”. They were also committed to promoting “religion and learning in the plantations abroad”. They resolved to meet regularly, and decided their aims could best be achieved by publishing and distributing Christian literature and encouraging Christian education at all levels.

The Society continued the work of Thomas Gouge in distributing devotional books and pamphlets in Welsh and English. Clergy societies were set up in Wales, including in Montgomeryshire, and it was decided to establish Welsh schools — “that being the language which the parents best understood”. Between 1699 and 1740, twelve charity schools were established in Montgomeryshire. In 1690 Bishop William Lloyd promoted a Welsh folio edition of 10,000 copies known as Beibl yr Esgob Llwyd, and from 1777 to 1789 the Society published about 100,000 People’s Bibles in the Welsh language.

The work of the SPCK was continued by the Circulating Welsh Charity Schools, from 1738 to 1761, under the organisation and guidance of Griffith Jones, rector of Llanddowror, Carmarthenshire. The object was to teach the children to read the Welsh Bible, to learn the church catechism, to sing psalms, to pray at home and to attend public worship on the sabbath. The schools moved from place to place, usually held in the winter and moving on after about three months. Eighty-seven such schools were known to have been held in twenty places in Montgomeryshire, including Aberhafesp, Llanbrynmair, Llanwrin and Penegoes.

Thus the ground was well prepared for a religious and national revival. Many of the Welsh nation’s clergymen were moved upon to produce or translate worthy texts for their unenlightened flocks.

Mary Jones was born at Llanfihangel-y-Pennant on 16 December 1784. She learned to read at the village school, and wanted a Bible in her own language. Having saved for several years, in 1800 she walked to Bala, where the Calvinistic Methodist minister Thomas Charles supplied her with one. She died on 28 December 1864.

Her experience became closely associated with the movement that led to the founding of the British and Foreign Bible Society by Thomas Charles and others in 1804.

The episode is often retold with dialogue and scene-by-scene detail. The reliably documented core is set out above; the dramatised versions are later retellings.

The crossing of 1849 shows both faces of the road to Zion. On the ocean, the Hartley’s fifty-four days were “more like a pleasure excursion than a long journey” — one death, one birth, gentle winds the whole way from Liverpool to New Orleans.

Then came the river. The Mameluke left New Orleans on 29 April and cholera raged fearfully aboard — about sixty died. The survivors waited four days at St Louis, boarded the Lightford for Council Bluffs, and lost eight or ten more before the current forced them ashore at Savannah landing to fend for themselves. The Mameluke herself was later destroyed at St Louis when the burning steamboat Edward Bates drifted into her.