Thomas Charles Edwards

Thomas Charles Edwards (22 September 183722 March 1900) was a Welsh minister, writer and academic who was the first Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth.

Life Thomas Charles Edwards was born at Llanycil, Bala, Merionethshire, on 22 September 1837. Edwards was the son of Lewis Edwards, founder of the Bala Theological College. His mother was a granddaughter of Thomas Charles, the organiser of Welsh Calvinistic Methodism.

He was educated at his father's college in Bala, at St Alban Hall, Oxford and at Lincoln College, Oxford. At Oxford he was deeply influenced by Mark Pattison and Benjamin Jowett, and kept in touch with them for the rest of their lives.

He began preaching with the Presbyterian Church of Wales in 1856, and his resolve to become a minister was deepened by the revival of 1858–1859. In 1867 he became minister of the Windsor Street chapel in Liverpool, and later of the Catherine Street chapel in the same city. He was accounted one of the leading preachers of his generation.

In 1872 the new university at Aberystwyth was founded, and Edwards was appointed as the first principal. The college was opened with a staff of three professors and twenty-five students in October 1872, and for some years its career was chequered enough. Edwards, however, proved a skilful manager, and his hold on the affection of the Welsh people enabled him to raise the college to a high level of efficiency. When it was destroyed by fire in 1885 he collected £25,000 to rebuild it; the remainder of the necessary £40,000 being given by the government (£10,000) and by the people of Aberystwyth (£5,000).

Edwards resigned from the university post in 1891, partly for health reasons and partly to follow his father as head of the Bala Theological College. He was also Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1887.

He married Mary Roberts in 1876; they had four children.

Awards Honorary Doctor of Divinity, University of Edinburgh (1887) Honorary Doctor of Divinity, University of Wales (1898)