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Balliol College (University of Oxford)
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General letters to O. M. Edwards

The series comprises letters, 1880-1920, addressed to O. M. Edwards, from his first arrival at the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, until the time of his death. Many of the letters are from prominent Welsh public figures. The early letters relate to Edwards's career as a student at the UCW, Aberystwyth, the University of Glasgow and Balliol College, Oxford. Some concern his preaching engagements, his plans and ambitions, while others give local news from the Llanuwchllyn area. Following his appointment as Fellow of Lincoln College, Oxford, in 1889, many of the letters concern his academic work and university responsibilities, and there are numerous requests for references and testimonials from students and former students. Some correspondents write in relation to educational matters in Wales, notably the passage and operation of the Welsh Intermediate Education Act, 1889, and the affairs of the University of Wales. -- From the 1890s onwards many letters concern O. M. Edwards's editing of Cymru and Cymru'r Plant, and later Wales, Heddyw and Y Llenor. Intermingled with these letters are some which refer to personal events in Edwards's life: his marriage in 1891, the death of his father in 1895, and the death of the eldest son Owen ab Owen in 1897. In 1899 many letters concern the death of Thomas Edward Ellis MP, the selection of Edwards as his successor as Liberal MP for Merionethshire, and his brief sojourn in the House of Commons until July 1900. -- Throughout these years the letters abound with references to educational matters, notably within the Universities of Wales and Oxford. Others relate to Welsh literary and cultural matters, the publication of Cyfres y Fil and the organization of Urdd y Delyn. A few letters concern Edwards's researches, writings and academic publications. -- From 1907 onwards many of the letters relate to O. M. Edwards's duties as Chief Inspector of Schools in Wales. Throughout the remaining years there are numerous communications from Edwards's former students at Oxford, invitations to deliver lectures and attend various functions and events, and letters relating to the editing of journals, notably Cymru and Cymru'r Plant. Others concern literary, cultural and publishing matters, and many relate to educational themes. These are interspersed with congratulatory messages on receipt of the Medal of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion in 1915 and a knighthood in January 1916. Many of the letters from the final years refer to O. M. Edwards's personal, health and family problems.

Urdd y Delyn

Letters from Arthur Penrhyn Stanley,

  • NLW MS 12877C.
  • File
  • 1838-1840 /

Twenty-two holograph letters, some incomplete, 1838-1840, from A[rthur] P[enrhyn] Stanley [aft. dean of Westminster] from Alderley Park [co. Chester ], [London], Norwich, and Oxford, to C[harles] J[ohn] Vaughan [aft. dean of Llandaff] at Trin[ity] College, Cambridge, Leicester, [London], and Southend (the writer's health and general movements from place to place, his prospects of a fellowship at Oxford and his eventual election [at University College], the writing of [University prize] essays, a family visit to Alderley Park, a decision 'to put Newmanism on the shelf for a space', visits to the House of Lords and speeches heard there, an introduction in the House of Lords to [Henry Phillpotts], bishop of Exeter, an inclination to join the Athenaeum Club, attendance at lectures by [Thomas] Carlyle and [? the Reverend Thomas] Chalmers, references to [Thomas] Arnold [headmaster of Rugby school], comments on Sedgwick [? the Reverend Adam Sedgwick, canon of Norwich Cathedral, 1834-1873], Mr. Wodehouse [?the Reverend Charles Nourse Wodehouse, prebendary of Norwich Cathedral, 1817- ], 'Milne or Mills . . . the Apostle and M.P.' [? Richard Monckton Milnes, aft. 1st baron Houghton], '[Joseph] Wolff, the Missionary', and Lord Melbourne, an article on George IV and Queen Caroline in the Edinborough (sic) [Review, vol. LXVII, pp. 1-80] and an article on Plato in the Quarterly [Review, vol. LXI, pp. 462-506], views on the Whig ministry as opposed to the Tories and Radicals, the scene at the coronation [of Queen Victoria] in Westminster Abbey and impressions made by the ceremony, a comparison of the views held by [John Henry] Newman and [Thomas] Arnold with regard to certain Christian doctrines, the incident relating to the subscription by the writer's father [Edward Stanley, bishop of Norwich, 1837-1849] to a volume of sermons by [the Reverend William] Turner, Unitarian [minister of Newcastle upon Tyne], class lists and awards of scholarships at Oxford, the results of elections [to four fellowships at Balliol College, Oxford], Arnold's 'savage phrases about Newmanism . . . that it was mumbo jumbo buffoonery . . .', news that recipient was 10th Senior Optime, competition between recipient and [George William, 6th baron] Lyttleton [for University prizes] at Cambridge, references to colleagues (1838); the writer's ordination [as deacon] by the bishop of Oxford [December 1839], references to his doubts [concerning the damnatory clauses of the Athanasian creed] in connection with the subscription oath required at ordination and his dialogue with [Charles Carr Clerke], archdeacon [of Oxford], on the subject prior to ordination, his clerical activities at Norwich in the immediate post-ordination period, doubts as to his future attitudes 'whether I shall be . . . an obedient priest and so far happy follower in the train of Newmanism, or . . . a great agitator', the postponement of the presentation to the House of Lords by [Richard] Whately [archbishop of Dublin] of a petition for alterations in the liturgy, a draft petition to the Lords (copy enclosed), narrower in scope and relating to the subscription oath only, drawn up by the writer in the meantime, the writer's eventual signing of the Whately petition, the debate on the petition in the House of Lords (1840)).

Stanley, Arthur Penrhyn, 1815-1881

O.M. Edwards: letters to his parents

The series contains letters written by O.M. Edwards to his parents Owen and Elizabeth Edwards discussing in some detail his experiences as a student at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and at Balliol College, Oxford, his travels on the Continent, and his life as an Oxford don. Many of the letters contain references to events at Llanuwchllyn and to family life.