The growth of the church in the United Kingdom started in the vicinity of Preston, Lancaster, England in 1837 and spread in different directions from there. The introduction of the gospel in Wales first took place in the fall of 1840 on two fronts: in Northeastern Wales (Flintshire) and in Southeastern Wales (Glamorgan and Monmouthshire). The members of the church in Wales were listed as part of the Liverpool conference although there were many Welsh members in the south that were part of the Garway Conference and later Merthyr Tydvil (Glamorgan) and Monmouth Conferences.

Mission/District Presidents

Following are the known representatives of the Welsh Mission. The Welsh Mission was not officially born until Dec 1845 previous to which time the representative missionaries were part of the Liverpool and Garway Conferences. After 1873 the Welsh Mission was reduced to a conference/district within the British Mission:

The work continues, 1849-56

On 15 May 1849 John Davis wrote that about 800 members had been baptized since Dan Jones left and that the officers were determined to do a mighty work with William Phillips at the head. ...

Statistics 1849-1876

When Dan Jones left the Welsh mission in Dec 1848 there were 3010 members listed in the mission. The highest number of members in the Welsh Mission during these early years was reported at 5304 in June 1851. Many of the members began leaving for America at this time, however the number of baptisms compensated for the attrition of members due to emigration until Dec 1856: 

After 1856 the number of members in the Welsh Mission dropped to a new level which was sustained until about Dec 1865. The drop in numbers was mostly due to the large number of emigrants who left for Utah with Dan Jones in 1857.

After 1866 the number of members in the Welsh Mission again began to drop due to emigration and slower numbers of new members joining the church. In 1873 the last of the conferences of the Welsh Mission were dissolved and thereafter this became known as the Welsh Conference (or District) within the British Mission:

---

Share this page