File 935A. - Church-Rates,

A composite volume lettered on the spine 'Church-Rates' and bearing the name of 'Wm Thomas, Bwlchnewydd 1860' [i.e. the Reverend William Thomas (1823-99), Congregational minister first at Capel Isaac then at Bwlchnewydd and Elim, Carmarthenshire, afterwards living at Parc-glas near Carmarthen]. It contains a number of printed items, viz. four tracts of the British Anti-state-church Association, New Series, Nos. 1, 5, 4 and 6 (1850-51); three publications of the Society for the Liberation of Religion from State-Patronage and Control (The New Burial Acts, as they affect Dissenters ..., fourth edition, enlarged [1857], Practical Directions to the Opponents of Church-Rates, Part I, third edition [?1857], and Illegal Church-Rates: being practical directions to the opponents of church rates, Part II [1856]); 'Y Dreth Eglwys yn mhlwyf Cynwyl Gaio' by 'Ap Gryphydh', i.e. W[illia]m Thomas, Bwlchnewydd, reprinted from Y Diwygiwr, 1857, pp. 377-80, with some marginal notes by William Thomas; Y Bugail; neu flaidd yn rhith dafad ... gan awdwr y "Whigs a'r Tories", &c. Y trydydd argraffiad (Caernarfon, Josiah Thomas Jones, 1835); Y Parchedig Gecryn Penchwiban; neu ddrych y bugail drwg ...gan awdwr y 'Whigs a'r Tories', y 'Bugail', &c. (Caernarfon, argraffwyd dros yr awdwr, gan Josiah Thomas Jones); Mihangel's Valentine for the 'Old Mother' in Carmarthen; or Carmarthen brought to tune [1854]; and three items of verse ('Cwyn yr Offeiriad', 'Hanes y Tories' by 'Clochydd Glas', and 'Cyffes yr Offeiriad'), all three described by William Thomas as having been composed by the Reverend W. Davies, PhD, Froodvale, the original manuscript of each being in the possession of William Thomas. At the beginning of the volume, in manuscript, are a note of 'The position of the Church Rate Question in the H. Cns. from 1853 to 1861 inclusive' and 'A List of the Pamphlets the volume contains ...', and at the end of the volume, also in manuscript, by William Thomas, are 'Extracts & Notes. Braintree Church Rate Case' and 'Notes & correspondence on the Church Rate in the Parish of Cayo'. Loose in the volume is an incomplete copy of Y Parchedig Gecryn Penchwiban.