Vavasor Powell

Background

Vavasor Powell was born in Knucklas, Wales in 1617.

Education

He was educated at Jesus College, Oxford.

Career

He returned to Wales as a schoolmaster (1638-9) during which time he was converted to the Puritan understanding of the Gospel of Jesus Christ under the preaching of the Puritan Walter Cradock and through the writings of Richard Sibbs (1577-1635) and William Perkins (1558-1602). In about 1639 he became an itinerant preacher and for preaching in various parts of Wales he was twice arrested. In 1640, however, he was not punished and during the Civil War he preached in and around London. In 1640 Powell was the first minister of Pendref Chapel, Llanfyllin.

On 26 December 1641 he was teaching the word of God in Llanyrne Parish Church in Ross when he was forcibly removed by Hugh Lloyd and twelve armed men and imprisoned. In 1646, when Parliament's victory was certain, Powell returned to Wales having received a "certificate of character" from the Westminster Assembly, although he had refused to be ordained by the Presbyterians. With a salary granted to him by parliament he resumed his itinerant preaching in Wales. In 1650 Parliament appointed a commission for the better propagation and preaching of the gospel in Wales with Powell acting as one of the principal advisers of this body. For three years he was actively employed in removing from their parishes those ministers whom he regarded as incompetent.

In 1653 Powell returned to London to preach at St Ann Blackfriars after the death of their pastor, William Gouge. Having denounced Cromwell for accepting the office of Lord Protector, he was imprisoned.

At the Restoration in 1660 he was arrested for preaching, and after a short period of freedom he was once again seized and incarcerated, remaining in prison for seven years. He was set free in 1667, but in the following year he was again imprisoned and was in custody until his death.

Powell wrote several treatises and also some hymns, but his chief gifts were those of a preacher.

Achievements

• Vavasor Powell has emerged as a leading case study for the right wing elements of Seventeenth Century English Non Conformity and their relationship to the larger Puritan movement.

Personality

Quotes from others about the person

• "Vavasor Powell deserves better of historians than to be dismissed as a millenarian enthusiast. In many ways, Powell was the most striking personality amongst the Welsh Puritans. " - R. Tudur Jones

References

• Vavasor Powell