WILLIAMS, DAVID (d. 1794), Welsh hymn-writer, son of William Rhys, was a native of Carmarthenshire. The year of his birth is variously given as 1712 (from his tombstone) and 1718 (from the second part of ‘Gorfoledd ym Mhebyll Seion’). On the rise of the methodists he became one of their ‘exhorters,’ and acted for a time as one of the superintendents of the Carmarthenshire societies. He was also sent on a mission to Bala (Methodistiaeth Cymru, i. 487). Leaving his home at Llan Fynydd and his employment as a tailor, he settled at Llan Deilo Tal y Bont, Glamorganshire, as master of one of Madam Bevan's schools, and subsequently kept school at Bassaleg, Monmouthshire, and Tre Witting, near Peterston super Ely (Llanbedr y Fro), Glamorganshire. At Peterston he joined in 1777 the baptists, being among the first members of the church formed at Croes y Parc. He died at Peterston on 1 Oct. 1794, and was buried there. His wife was the daughter of a prosperous farmer, and her want of sympathy with her husband's pursuits was the occasion of much bickering, which, tradition alleges, brought about his retirement from the methodist body. They had one son, Israel.
Williams, who usually called himself ‘Dafydd Wiliam,’ was a prolific writer of religious elegies; twelve are recorded under his name in ‘Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry’ between 1763 and 1792. But he is best known as a writer of hymns. Of these he published a first collection about 1762 (Carmarthen), under the title ‘Gorfoledd ym Mhebyll Seion’ (‘Joy in the Tents of Zion’); a second part was issued in 1777 (Carmarthen), a third and a fourth in 1778 (both at Brecon), while an English translation appeared at Brecon in 1779. The four parts were published as one at Brecon in 1782. Other collections of hymns written by him were ‘Diferion o Ffynon Iechydwriaeth’ (‘Droppings from the Fount of Salvation’), 1777; ‘Telynau i Blant yr Addewid’ (‘Harps for the Children of Promise’), Brecon, 1782; ‘Gwin i'r Diffygiol’ (‘Wine for the Fainting’), Carmarthen, 1787; and ‘Yr Udgorn Arian’ (‘The Silver Trumpet’), Carmarthen, 1789. Some of the most popular Welsh hymns are by this writer, including the so-called miners' hymn ‘Yn y dyfroedd mawr a'r tonnau’ (‘In the Billows of Great Waters’).
[Griffiths's Hanes Emynwyr Cymru; Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry; Elvet Lewis's Sweet Singers of Wales.]
WILLIAMS, DAVID (1738–1816), founder of the Royal Literary Fund, was born in 1738 in a house called Waen Waelod (site now occupied by the Carpenters' Arms) at Watford, parish of Eglwysilan, Glamorganshire (Morien in Cardiff Weekly Mail, 31 May 1890). His father, a Calvinist in religion and an unfortunate speculator in mines and miners' tools, died in 1752; the family consisted of one surviving son and two daughters (ib.) His early education had been partly under John Smith, vicar of Eglwysilan, partly under David Williams, dissenting minister of Watford. His father on his deathbed made him promise to enter Carmarthen Academy to qualify as a dissenting minister. He studied there, with an exhibition from the London presbyterian board (1753 to Christmas 1757), under Evan Davies, a pupil of John Eames [q. v.] The academy, hitherto Calvinist, had begun to acquire a heterodox repute. From February 1755 the London congregational board sent no students, owing to the alleged Arianism of Davies's assistant, Samuel Thomas. Davies himself resigned his chair in 1759 under suspicion of Arminianism (Jeremy, Presbyterian Fund, 1885, pp. 47, 49). Williams was ordained in 1758 to the charge of the dissenting congregation at Frome, Somerset, on a stipend of 45l. This was the congregation from which Thomas Morgan (d. 1743) [q. v.], the deist, had been dismissed in 1720. Williams's theological views did not prove satisfactory. In 1761 he removed to the Mint meeting, Exeter, founded by James Peirce [q. v.] Here he was reordained (Annual Biography, 1818, p. 18). He prepared ‘A Liturgy on the Principles of the Christian Religion,’ which is said to have been adopted by his congregation (ib.) He soon quarrelled with ‘elder members’ who objected to his opinions. He retorted by finding fault with their morals. By way of an ‘accommodation’ he left Exeter about 1769 to take charge of a waning congregation in Southwood Lane, Highgate, Middlesex. To this congregation the father of John Wilkes [q. v.] used to drive in a coach-and-six (Gent. Mag. 1798, i. 126). In this charge he appears to have remained till 1773. His withdrawal was ascribed by himself to ‘the intrigues of a lady,’ and to no rejection of revelation, ‘which he had taken for granted’ (Morris, p. 4). His successor, in 1774, was Joseph Towers [q. v.]
His first publication, ‘The Philosopher, in Three Conversations,’ 1771, 8vo (dedicated to Lord Mansfield and Bishop War-
