| Description | Hugh Alfred Williams was born at Priskilly in Mathry parish on 25 June 1869. He was the son of the Reverend Thomas Williams, Baptist Minister of Llangolffan in Granston parish, and Rebecca Sophia Evans of Mabws, Mathry. Thomas Williams was born at Llangynidr in Breconshire on 6 May 1820 and was baptised at Nebo, Ebbw Vale in 1841. He entered Pontypool College in 1845 after several years lay preaching. He was ordained to the ministry in Llangloffan in 1848 in which year he married Mary Jenkins, also of Llangynidr, at Siloh Baptist Chapel, Tredegar. They had several children before Mary's death in the 1860's. In 1867 or 1868 Thomas married Rebecca Sophia Evans ('Rebecca Mabws'). She had been born in 1833 or 1834, the daughter of John and Anne Evans of Mabws. She had become a writer of both prose and poetry in English and Welsh and was one of the first women in Wales to give public lectures and addresses. She had two children by Thomas, of whom Hugh Alfred was the first before his death in 1870. Hugh Alfred went to Westminster College of Pharmacy to train as a chemist and druggist and he conducted his business from Crossways, Letterston, where he was also a sort of agent for Lloyd's Bank. In 1906 he married Martha Gwendoline Griffiths of Mathry. He became a Justice of the Peace and a member (later an alderman) of the Pembrokeshire County Council, on which he served for over 30 years. After his retirement he built a house called Bryn-y-Fran on the outskirts of Haverfordwest and lived there until his death in June 1937. He was a Baptist lay preacher and a Liberal in politics. |