Philip Pugh (1679 – 12 July 1760) was a
Welsh minister.
Biography
Pugh was a dissenting minister, was born at Hendref, Blaenpenal,
Cardiganshire, in 1679, and inherited a good estate. He was trained for the independent ministry at the nonconformist college at Brynllŵarch, near
Bridgend
Bridgend (; cy, Pen-y-bont ar Ogwr or just , meaning "the end of the bridge on the Ogmore") is a town in Bridgend County Borough in Wales, west of Cardiff and east of Swansea. The town is named after the medieval bridge over the River Og ...
,
Glamorganshire
, HQ = Cardiff
, Government = Glamorgan County Council (1889–1974)
, Origin=
, Code = GLA
, CodeName = Chapman code
, Replace =
* West Glamorgan
* Mid Glamorgan
* South Glamorgan
, Motto ...
. This college, the earliest institution of the kind in Wales, and the parent of the existing
presbyterian
Presbyterianism is a part of the Reformed tradition within Protestantism that broke from the Roman Catholic Church in Scotland by John Knox, who was a priest at St. Giles Cathedral (Church of Scotland). Presbyterian churches derive their nam ...
college at
Carmarthen
Carmarthen (, RP: ; cy, Caerfyrddin , "Merlin's fort" or "Sea-town fort") is the county town of Carmarthenshire and a community in Wales, lying on the River Towy. north of its estuary in Carmarthen Bay. The population was 14,185 in 2011, ...
, was founded by Samuel Jones after he was ejected from the living of
Llangynwyd in 1662, and on Jones's death in 1697 was transferred to
Abergavenny, whither Pugh accompanied it. He was received as church member at Cilgwyn in 1704, and in October 1709 was ordained co-pastor with David Edwards and
Jenkin Jones. His social position as a landed proprietor in the county was improved by his marriage with an heiress of the neighbourhood, while his power as a preacher and his piety gave him widespread influence. He and his colleagues were in charge of six or eight churches, with a united membership of about one thousand. Between 1709 and 1760 he baptised 680 children.
Pugh avoided controversy, but he regarded with abhorrence the
Arminian doctrines introduced by Jenkin Jones and the
Arian doctrines propagated by David Lloyd (1725–1779). He sympathised, however, with the
Calvinistic Methodist movement under
Daniel Rowlands, and induced Rowlands to modify the ferocity of his early manner of preaching. Of the churches with which Pugh was more or less connected, three continue to be
congregationalist, three have gone over to the Methodists, and three are
Unitarian.
Pugh died on 12 July 1760, aged 81, and was buried in the parish churchyard of
Llanddewi Brevi, where the effigy of one Philip Pugh, probably an ancestor, once figured in the chancel. His unpublished diary and the Cilgwyn church-book contain much information about the Welsh nonconformity of the period, and have been utilised by Dr. Thomas Rees and other Welsh historians.
References
{{DEFAULTSORT:Pugh, Philip
1679 births
1760 deaths
17th-century Welsh clergy
18th-century Welsh clergy
Welsh Protestant ministers and clergy