VAVASOR

POWELL (1617-1670)  , Welsh Nonconformist, was by birth a Radnorshire man and was educated at Jesus College, Oxford . About 1639 he entered upon the career of an itinerant preacher, and for preaching in various parts of Wales he was twice arrested in 164o; however, he was not punished and during the Civil War he preached in and around London . In 1646, when the victory of the parliamentary cause was assured, 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 165o parliament appointed a commission " for the better propagation and preaching of the gospel in Wales," and Powell acted 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 he returned to London, and 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 again seized, and he remained in prison for seven years . He was set free in 1667, but in the following year he was again a prisoner, and he was in custody when he died on the 27th of October 1670 . Powell wrote several treatises and also some hymns, but his chief gifts were those of a preacher . See The Life and Death of Mr Vavasor Powell (1671), attributed to Edward Bagshaw the younger; Vavasoris Examen et Purgamen (1654), by E . Allen and others; D .

Neal, History of the Puritans (1822); and T . Rees, History of Protestant Nonconformity in Wales (1861) .