THE LATE KEV. DR. W. REES.

Te Aroha News, Volume I, Issue 34, 26 January 1884, Page 6

THE LATE KEY. DR. W. REES.

Tin-. "Liverpool Weekly Mercury," of Novomber 10, gives a biography of tho Hew Dr. William llees, aneminont Wolsh divine and poet, who for thirty years laboured in the city of Liverpool as a minister of tho Gospol. Dr. Rees died at Chester on the morning.of Thursday, November S, in his S2nd year. He was the son of a farmer at Llansannan, Denbighshire, near the base of the Hinvthog Mountain, from which he derived his title as a Welsh bard ; his mother was a descendant of Hedd Mohvynog, the head of one of the fifteen tribes of Gwynedd Dr. Rees belonged to tho Congregational denomination, and entered the ministry of Mostyn (Flint) when in his 29th year. He laboured for several yeai*s with marked success at Denbigh, and subsequently removed to Liverpool, and became the minister of the Tabernacle Chapel in (U-eat Crosshall-street. At this chapel and at Salem, Brownlow Hill, Dr. Rees ministered for more than a quarter of a century. In 1859, a* national testimonial was presented to the rev. doctor in Liverpool, consisting of a handsomely-illuminated address and a purse containing about 700 guineas. Other presentations wore made to Dr. Rees by ministers, laymen, and the Cymmrodorion Society. As a Welsh bard, Dr. Rees gained great distinction, having, in addition to receiving numbers of gold and silver medals for poetic composition, enjoyed the much-coveted honour of being chaired at the Portmadoc Eisteddfod in ISSI. Dr. Rees passed a busy and useful life, which embraced poetry, letters, politics, and journalism. For many years he was an earnest and popular preacher, and in this department of liis lifelabour he shone conspicuously, and, in the opinion of the most capable judges who knew him, he gained his highest distinction.