Identity area
Reference code
Title
Date(s)
- 1866, 1886 / (Creation)
Level of description
Item
Extent and medium
3 ff.
Context area
Name of creator
Biographical history
Henry Richard (1812-1888) politician and 'Apostle of Peace', was born in Tregaron, Cardiganshire, on 3 April 1812. His father Ebenezer Richard (1781-1837), a prominent Calvinistic Methodist minister, was one of the principal organisers of his denomination and the chief supporter of the Sunday school movement in South Wales. Henry Richard received his early schooling at Llangeitho then, in 1826, was apprenticed as a draper in Carmarthen. He decided to enter the ministry and from September 1830 attended Highbury College, London. From November 1935 until June 1850 he was minister of Marlborough Congregational chapel, Old Kent Road, London. He was appointed chairman of the Congregational Union in 1877. Richard was a pacifist and was appointed secretary of the Peace Society in 1848. He organized a succession of international conferences and travelled widely throughout Europe in an effort to bring peace between nations. He was also a leading member of the Liberation Society, which opposed state interference in religion, and this led to his career in politics. In 1868 he was elected to Parliament as the Liberal MP for Merthyr Tydfil. At Westminster he defended the rights of the Welsh and of Nonconformists, becoming known as the 'Member for Wales'. He published a number of letters on the social and political condition of Wales, for the benefit of English readers. He married Matilda Augusta Farley of Kennington on 20 August 1866; there were no children from the marriage. Henry Richard died while visiting friends in Treborth, Bangor, on 20 August 1888 and was buried in London. A statue of Richard was unveiled in Tregaron in 1893.
Archival history
Immediate source of acquisition or transfer
Emeritus Professor R. M. Jones; Aberystwyth; Donation; 1997; A1997/175.
Content and structure area
Scope and content
A letter, 1866, from the pacifist Henry Richard ('Apostle of Peace') to the Rev. Roger Edwards, Mold, editor of Y Drysorfa (ff. 23-24); and a letter in Welsh, 1886, from the novelist Daniel Owen, probably addressed to the Rev. Ellis Edwards, Bala, concerning obituaries of the latter's father, the Rev. Roger Edwards (f. 25).
Appraisal, destruction and scheduling
Accruals
System of arrangement
Arranged chronologically at NLW.
Conditions of access and use area
Conditions governing access
Conditions governing reproduction
Language of material
Script of material
Language and script notes
English, Welsh.
Physical characteristics and technical requirements
Finding aids
Allied materials area
Existence and location of originals
Existence and location of copies
Related units of description
Notes area
Note
Title based on contents.
Note
Preferred citation: NLW MS 23699E, ff. 23-25.
Alternative identifier(s)
Virtua system control number
CAIRS System Control Number
GEAC system control number
Access points
Subject access points
Place access points
Name access points
- Edwards, Roger, 1811-1886. (Subject)
- Owen, Daniel, 1836-1895. (Subject)
- Edwards, Roger, 1811-1886. (Subject)
- Edwards, Ellis, 1844-1915 (Subject)