William Williams, Pantycelyn (c. 11 February 1717 – 11 January 1791), also known as William Williams, Williams Pantycelyn, and Pantycelyn, is generally seen as Wales's premier hymnist. He is also rated among the great literary figures of Wales, as a writer of poetry and prose. In religion he was among the leaders of the 18th-century Welsh Methodist revival, along with the evangelists Howell Harris and Daniel Rowland.
Williams was born in 1717 at Cefn-coed farm in the parish of Llanfair-ar-y-bryn near Llandovery in Carmarthenshire, the son of John and Dorothy Williams. John died in 1742 and Dorothy later moved to the nearby farm of Pantycelyn ("Holly Hollow"). William Williams himself is often referred to as Pantycelyn.
The family were Nonconformists. He was educated locally and then at a nonconformist academy near Talgarth. He had intended to study medicine, but this changed in 1737–1738, when he was converted by the preaching of the evangelical Methodist revivalist Howell Harris in Talgarth.
For much of his life, Williams lived in the parish of Llanfair-ar-y-bryn. He died at Pantycelyn in January 1791 at the age of 74 and is buried in Llanfair-ar-y-bryn churchyard. He is also commemorated by a memorial chapel in Llandovery.
William Williams felt called to the priesthood; and in 1740, despite his family's links with the Nonconformist branch of Christianity, he took deacon's orders in the Established Anglican Church. (Since disestablishment in 1920, the Anglican church in Wales has been known as the Church in Wales.)
His first appointment was as curate to Theophilus Evans (1693–1767) in the parishes of Llanwrtyd, Llanfihangel Abergwesyn and Llanddewi Abergwesyn. Around this time he became involved in the Methodist movement and in June 1742 his disapproving parishioners reported his activities to the Archdeacon's Court in Brecon. Methodism was originally a reformist faction within the Church of England and was not intended to be a separatist movement or church.
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