David Walter Thomas was a Welsh clergyman who was instrumental in the founding of a Welsh church in the Welsh settlement in Argentina

Welsh settlement in Argentina

Y Wladfa refers to the Welsh settlement in Argentina, which began in 1865 and occurred mainly along the coast of Chubut Province in the far southern region of Patagonia...

.

Life

Thomas was the eldest son of Evan Thomas, from Lampeter

Lampeter

Lampeter is a town in Ceredigion, South West Wales, lying at the confluence of the River Teifi and the Afon Dulas.-Demographics:At the 2001 National Census, the population was 2894. Lampeter is therefore the smallest university town in both Wales and the United Kingdom...

, south Wales. After education in Mumbles

Mumbles

Mumbles or The Mumbles is an area and community in Swansea, Wales which takes its name from the adjacent headland stretching into Swansea Bay...

, Swansea

Swansea

Swansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...

 and at St David's College, Lampeter, Thomas went to Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College, Oxford

Jesus College is one of the colleges of the University of Oxford in England. It is in the centre of the city, on a site between Turl Street, Ship Street, Cornmarket Street and Market Street...

 in 1847, obtaining a third-class Bachelor of Arts

Bachelor of Arts

A Bachelor of Arts , from the Latin artium baccalaureus, is a bachelor's degree awarded for an undergraduate course or program in either the liberal arts, the sciences, or both...

 degree in Literae Humaniores

Literae Humaniores

Literae Humaniores is the name given to an undergraduate course focused on Classics at Oxford and some other universities.The Latin name means literally "more humane letters", but is perhaps better rendered as "Advanced Studies", since humaniores has the sense of "more refined" or "more learned",...

 in 1851. He was ordained deacon in 1852 by the Bishop of Oxford

Bishop of Oxford

The Bishop of Oxford is the diocesan bishop of the Church of England Diocese of Oxford in the Province of Canterbury; his seat is at Christ Church Cathedral, Oxford...

, Samuel Wilberforce

Samuel Wilberforce

Samuel Wilberforce was an English bishop in the Church of England, third son of William Wilberforce. Known as "Soapy Sam", Wilberforce was one of the greatest public speakers of his time and place...

, and ordained priest the following year by the Bishop of Bangor

Bishop of Bangor

The Bishop of Bangor is the Ordinary of the Church in Wales Diocese of Bangor.The diocese covers the counties of Anglesey, most of Caernarfonshire and Merionethshire and a small part of Montgomeryshire...

, Christopher Bethell

Christopher Bethell

Christopher Bethell was Bishop of Bangor.Bethell was the second son of the Reverend Richard Bethell, the rector of St Peter's Wallingford, Berkshire, who died 12 January 1806 having married his wife Ann in 1771...

. His first positions were as curate of Denio and Llanor near Pwllheli

Pwllheli

Pwllheli is a community and the main market town of the Llŷn Peninsula in Gwynedd, north-western Wales. It has a population of 3,861, of which a large proportion, 81 per cent, are Welsh speaking. Pwllheli is the place where Plaid Cymru was founded. It is the birthplace of Albert Evans-Jones -...

, Gwynedd

Gwynedd

Gwynedd is a county in north-west Wales, named after the old Kingdom of Gwynedd. Although the second biggest in terms of geographical area, it is also one of the most sparsely populated...

 (1853) and chaplain of Tremadog

Tremadog

Tremadog is a village on the outskirts of Porthmadog, in Gwynedd, north west Wales. It was a planned settlement, founded by William Madocks, who bought the land in 1798...

 near Porthmadog

Porthmadog

Porthmadog , known locally as "Port", and historically rendered into English as Portmadoc, is a small coastal town and community in the Eifionydd area of Gwynedd, in Wales. Prior to the Local Government Act 1972 it was in the administrative county of Caernarfonshire. The town lies east of...

 (1854–1855). He then became perpetual curate of Penmachno

Penmachno

Penmachno is a village in the isolated upland valley of Cwm Penmachno, 4 miles south of Betws-y-Coed in the county of Conwy, north Wales.It is renowned as the home of Bishop William Morgan , who lived at Tŷ Mawr, Y Wybrnant, near the village. He was one of the leading scholars of his day, having...

 before his appointment as vicar

Vicar

In the broadest sense, a vicar is a representative, deputy or substitute; anyone acting "in the person of" or agent for a superior . In this sense, the title is comparable to lieutenant...

 of Mynydd Llandegai

Mynydd Llandegai

Mynydd Llandygai is a small, partly forested hill in Gwynedd, North Wales. It forms the start of the Glyderau ridge....

, near Bangor

Bangor, Gwynedd

Bangor is a city in Gwynedd, north west Wales, and one of the smallest cities in Britain. It is a university city with a population of 13,725 at the 2001 census, not including around 10,000 students at Bangor University. Including nearby Menai Bridge on Anglesey, which does not however form part of...

 in 1860, where he remained for 34 years. During this time, he was an important figure in the foundation of the Welsh church in Patagonia

Patagonia

Patagonia is a region located in Argentina and Chile, integrating the southernmost section of the Andes mountains to the southwest towards the Pacific ocean and from the east of the cordillera to the valleys it follows south through Colorado River towards Carmen de Patagones in the Atlantic Ocean...

, where there was a Welsh settlement

Welsh settlement in Argentina

Y Wladfa refers to the Welsh settlement in Argentina, which began in 1865 and occurred mainly along the coast of Chubut Province in the far southern region of Patagonia...

, with Hugh Davies, the first chaplain, being one of his parishioners. He spent a year as vicar of Braunston

Braunston

Braunston is a village and civil parish in the county of Northamptonshire, England. It has a population of 1,675 . Braunston is situated just off the A45 main road and lies between the towns of Rugby and Daventry....

, Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire

Northamptonshire is a landlocked county in the English East Midlands, with a population of 629,676 as at the 2001 census. It has boundaries with the ceremonial counties of Warwickshire to the west, Leicestershire and Rutland to the north, Cambridgeshire to the east, Bedfordshire to the south-east,...

 before moving to Holyhead

Holyhead

Holyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....

, Anglesey

Anglesey

Anglesey , also known by its Welsh name Ynys Môn , is an island and, as Isle of Anglesey, a county off the north west coast of Wales...

 in 1895 as vicar. He was also appointed a canon

Canon (priest)

A canon is a priest or minister who is a member of certain bodies of the Christian clergy subject to an ecclesiastical rule ....

 of Bangor

Bangor Cathedral

Bangor Cathedral is an ancient place of Christian worship situated in Bangor, Gwynedd, north-west Wales. It is dedicated to its founder, Saint Deiniol....

. He published in English and in Welsh, including a collection of sermons on the miracles of Jesus. He married Anna Thomas, who became active in attempts to reform the National Eisteddfod in the 1870s and 1880s, and who was nearly appointed as a professor of modern languages at the University College of North Wales, Bangor. They had five children. Anna survived until 1920.