EDWARDS, HENRY THOMAS Welsh divine, was born on Sept. 6, 1837, at Llan ym Mawddwy, Merion eth, where his father was vicar. He became vicar of Aberdare in 1866 and of Carnarvon in 1869, where he began his lifelong con troversy with the Welsh Nonconformists. In 1870 he fought in vain for the principle of all-round denominationalism in the national education system, and in the same year addressed a letter to Gladstone on "The Church of the Cymry," pointing out that the success of Nonconformity in Wales was largely due to "the withering effect of an alien episcopate." One result of this was the appointment of the Welshman Joshua Hughes (1807-89) to the vacant see of St. Asaph. Edwards became dean of Bangor in 1876 and promoted a clerical education society for supplying the diocese with educated Welsh-speaking clergy. He died by his own hand on May 24, 1884 at Ruabon.
See V. Morgan, Welsh Religious Leaders in the Victorian Era