Hugh Evans (after 1616 − 1656) was aWelshPuritanminister anditinerant preacher ofBaptist views. Evans was the first minister in Wales to propagateBaptist doctrines, through the Welshparishes, planting the ground for later ministers.
Hugh Evans was born after the year 1616 inRadnorshire,Wales, to a traditional Welshfamily. In hisyouth, Evans went to thecathedral city ofWorcester, inEngland, to be trained as atailor's apprentice, where he resided until 1642. Soon after the outbreak of theEnglish Civil War, Evans left Worcester and went north to live inCoventry, in theWest Midlands.
Soon, Evans became convinced ofbaptizing only believers, and so joined the Baptist church of the city (Queens Road Baptist Church), formed after Puritan controversies inside the twoAnglicanparish churches of Coventry.
Hugh Evans was elected minister to Coventry Baptist Church around 1645 due his pastoral skills. During this time, Evans started considering about devoting himself toitinerant preaching in Wales, due to its "deplorable condition as overspread with gross darkness". His friends approved his decision; yet they advised Evans to firstly have a deeper literary andtheological instruction. Following theadvice, Evans ostensibly traveled to London to be placed under the tutorship and schooling ofJeremiah Ives, the respectableNonconformist Baptistchurch leader atOld Jewry. After some time of theological education, Evans, along with Ives, went to Wales in 1646 or 1647 with the mission of preaching credobaptism,general atonement, andclosed communion, until his death in 1656.[1][2]
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