Davies, Owen
1752-1830; e.m. 1789

WM itinerant, born with his twin brother in Wrexham, and baptized there on 28 March 1752. He went to work in London as a youth and eventually joined the WM society at Brentford. John Wesley observed his gifts as a preacher and brought him into the ministry. He becameChairman of the Redruth District, but when the Welsh Mission was formed in 1800 he agreed to become its superintendent and set out for Ruthin with John Hughes of Brecon as his colleague. He served the mission for 16 years, becoming Chairman of the Welsh District formed in 1804. In the financial crisis of 1816, he was transferred back with others in the Welsh work to an English circuit. Ill-health soon caused him to retire from the active work. Though limited in his ability to preach and write in Welsh, his strong personality and gifts of leadership and administration were largely responsible for the success of early Welsh WM. He wrote much in defence of Arminianism against Calvinist attacks, notably his Defence of Wesleyan Methodism (1806) and The Dialogues (1807). He died in Liverpool on 12 January 1830.

Sources
  • WM Magazine, 1832 pp.389-99, 469-81, 541-47
  • A.H. Williams, Welsh Wesleyan Methodism (Cardiff, 1935) pp.85-146
  • Dictionary of Welsh Biography
  • Oxford DNB