File NLW MS 22010iB & iiE. - Lizzie Rowlands autograph album

Thomas Edward (Tom) Ellis (1859-1899), politician, was Liberal MP for Merioneth, 1886-1899, and chief Liberal whip, 1894-1895. He was born at Cynlas, Cefnddwysarn, Llanfor, Merionethshire, and educated in Llandderfel and Bala, before going to University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1875-1879. He joined New College, Oxford, in 1880, graduating in 1884 with a BA in Modern History, adding an MA in 1897. He became the private secretary of John Brunner, MP for Northwich, Cheshire, and in August 1886 he was elected as Liberal MP for Merioneth. By 1892, he was second whip in Gladstone's Liberal Government, and was chief Liberal whip, 1894-1895, under Lord Rosebery. He vigorously promoted Welsh interests in Parliament, advocating the disestablishment of the Church of England in Wales, the creation of a Welsh assembly and national library, and pushing through the establishment of a Royal Commission on land in Wales and Monmouthshire. At one time he was a prominent member of the Cymru Fydd movement. He had a great influence on educational administration in Wales. He contributed to the passing of the Welsh Intermediate and Technical Education Act 1889, and was a member the University of Wales Court and the Central Welsh Board. He was the founder of the University of Wales' Old Students' Association. He married Annie Jane Davies (1873-1942) of Cwrt-mawr, Llangeitho, Cardiganshire, in 1898. However, his health was fragile, and he died on 5 April 1899, while in Cannes, France, and was buried at Cefnddwysarn. His only son, T. I. Ellis, was born eight months later. A volume entitled Speeches and Addresses was published by Hughes and Son, Wrexham, in 1912. His widow subsequently married the Rev. Peter Hughes Griffiths (1871-1937).

The Rev. Thomas Charles Edwards (1837-1900), minister and academic, was the grandson of Thomas Charles (1755-1814), and son of Lewis Edwards, who had opened a religious academy in Bala (later Bala College) in Bala, Merionethshire, with his brother-in-law, David Charles, to train ministers of the Calvinistic Methodist denomination. Thomas Charles Edwards went to Bala College, and then to Oxford, graduating in 1862. He married Mary, née Roberts, and had four children. He became a minister in Liverpool, Lancashire, and in 1872 was appointed first Principal of the University College of Wales in Aberystwyth, Cardiganshire., a post he held until 1891. He became Moderator of the General Assembly of the Presbyterian Church in 1887. In 1891, he became Principal of Bala College, and he died in 1900.