Biography
Griffith Jones was born in 1683 in Pen-boyr, Carmarthenshire, in Wales. His family was of modest means, and he was educated at the grammar school in Carmarthen. He was ordained in the Church of England in 1708 and served in several parishes before he was appointed rector of Llanddowror in 1716. He remained there for the rest of his life. It was a small and quiet village, far from the centers of power, and in it he did a work that changed a nation.
He was a man of deep piety who preached with great earnestness. He was drawn to the evangelical message and called his people to turn from sin and trust in Christ. He was known as a powerful preacher and drew crowds from the surrounding countryside. He often preached in the open air and on feast days, since the churches were too small to hold the people. Some church authorities were uneasy about his methods, but he held to his course.
He saw that most of the Welsh people could not read. They were poor, and they lived in remote hill country where there were few schools. They spoke Welsh, and the schools that existed taught in English, which they did not understand. He felt that a people who could not read the Scriptures could not know the faith as they should. In 1731, he began a plan of circulating schools. A teacher would come to a village and hold classes for three months, teaching adults and children to read the Bible in Welsh. When the term ended, the teacher moved on to another village. The classes were held in the evenings so that the workers could attend.
The schools were supported by gifts, the largest of which came from a wealthy widow, Bridget Bevan, who admired his work and gave him a large share of her fortune. He published an annual report, called Welch Piety, which told of the progress of the schools and appealed for funds. By the time of his death, it is reckoned that the schools had taught more than 150,000 people to read, in a country whose population was about 400,000. Some estimates are higher. The effect on the nation was great. The Welsh became a people of the Book, and the revivals that followed drew on this foundation.
He was a friend and mentor to the leaders of the Methodist revival in Wales, including Howell Harris, who found in him a wise counselor. He did not join the Methodists and stayed within the Church of England, though he supported their work. He was careful and moderate, and he sought to hold the evangelicals within the church. He also corresponded with George Whitefield and with other leaders.
He was not without his critics. Some charged that the schools were a cover for Methodist teaching, and he had to defend them. He was also a man who worked at a tremendous pace, and his health suffered. He was often in poor health in his later years. He spent his last years in the home of Mrs. Bevan, at Laugharne, where he died on April 8, 1761, at the age of seventy-seven.
His life shows what a single rector in a small village can do when he sees a need and acts. By teaching a people to read, he opened the way for the Word of God to reach every home in Wales.