In the last Century, David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was looked upon by many as one of the most influential Christians of the modern era. Though not an Author in the proper sense, his books, transcribed from his sermons, became some of the best sellers available at the time. If you’ve never heard of him, or just know of him, take a few minutes to become familiar with this man by reading the following Article.
Editor’s Note: The following Article appears courtesy of “Dictionary of Welsh Biography” (https://biography.wales/article/s12-LLOY-MAR-1899 ) written by Dafydd Ifans (pictures courtesy of Banner of Truth’s First Forty Years). Having read Iain Murray’s 2 Volume set on Lloyd-Jones, I found this to be a great summary of his life and wanted to include something more than just a Wikipedia Article. Much of the Biographical Content of this Website is at the behest of other’s work. The only credit I take is finding it to be a good and concise work and putting it in as a Post. My hope is that it helps make their “Contributions” to the website helpful!
Martyn Lloyd-Jones was born in Cardiff, the second of three sons born to Henry Lloyd-Jones and Magdalene or ‘Maggie’ Lloyd-Jones (née Evans), on 20 December 1899. The family home was in Donald Street, Cathays, and the father was a grocer by trade. Because of the father’s health, the family moved from Cardiff to Llangeitho during the spring of 1906, to keep a general store, which included the sale of farm implements, near the village square. Both parents had been born in Cardiganshire, the mother from Llwyncadfor farm near Newcastle Emlyn, and the father from the Rhydlewis area. Although they spoke Welsh to each other, they had spoken English to their sons in Cardiff, which made it necessary for the boys to learn Welsh in their new surroundings. After a year at Llangeitho Martyn told one of his friends: ‘Speak Welsh to me – I’m a Welshman now!’
Martyn was educated at Llangeitho Primary School and Tregaron County School. He and his brothers lodged at Tregaron from Monday evening until Friday morning because the school was almost five miles from their home. He recalls in his reminiscences that he was very homesick at this time, adding that ‘Tregaron, for me still today, is the coldest place on the face of the earth’, and his predisposition to chilblains was sorely aggravated during his stay there.
On 20 January 1910, the ten-year-old Martyn, his father, and his brother Vincent were rescued from the fire when the family home burnt to the ground – Martyn having been thrown from an upstairs window into the arms of neighbours below. Although the house was rebuilt, things were never the same in Llangeitho after the fire, and he was conscious of the scriptural maxim ‘for here have we no abiding city’ for the rest of his life.
1913 was a notable year for the young Martyn, one which was to prove especially influential on his future callings. It was during that year that he decided to be a physician. The second influence was the Calvinistic Methodist Summer Association which met at Llangeitho to mark the two-hundredth anniversary of Daniel Rowland’s birth. The Association meetings had a great effect upon him and he was ‘enchanted’ by listening to the eloquent preaching of the denominational ‘big guns’.
By January 1914 the family business was failing and in financial straits because of over-expansion and under-funding. The father sailed to Canada to search for employment, but nothing came of the venture and he returned to Britain. Martyn travelled to London to meet his father and help him search for a business and a home, at the outbreak of the Great War. They saw Lloyd George, Asquith and Kitchener during their stay and those days proved particularly frightening for the young Martyn.
By the end of September 1914, Henry Lloyd-Jones had bought a dairy business at 7 Regency Street, Westminster. Martyn was expected to help by delivering milk if any members of staff failed to turn up for duty, which meant getting up at 5.30am for the round before going on to Marylebone Grammar School, where he excelled at his studies. He chose to study medicine at St Bartholomew’s (Barts) Hospital, London, and he was accepted there at sixteen years of age.
Martyn gained outstanding successes in the medical world. Within five years he had obtained his MBBS (with distinction in Medicine), MRCS and LRCP. By 1923 he had been awarded an MD degree for research on subacute bacterial endocarditis, followed in 1925 by the award of MRCP. He was chosen to assist Sir Thomas Horder (later Lord Horder) in the medical unit. Horder was regarded as one of the foremost physicians of his age and he served for a long time as doctor to the royal family. He ran a private clinic in Harley Street and Dr Lloyd-Jones was able to gain experience of private clinics there. In 1926, when Dr Lloyd-Jones was about to abandon his medical career, he was offered the post of Assistant Professor in Medicine at Barts Hospital.
It is believed that it was during his time at Barts Hospital that Dr Lloyd-Jones, while still in his early twenties, experienced an evangelical conversion over a period of time. He had witnessed the moral and spiritual vacuum which existed not only among his poorer patients in London’s East End, but also with the rich patients who attended the Harley Street clinics. At this time also he had enjoyed the ministry of Dr John A. Hutton at Westminster Chapel, a preacher who believed in God’s ability to change people’s lives by spiritual regeneration.
Many people were surprised by Martyn Lloyd-Jones’s decision to leave the medical world in 1926. He was sponsored by the London Presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Wales to be a candidate for the ministry in September 1926. On 8 January 1927 he married Dr Bethan Phillips (1898-1991), granddaughter of the Rev. Evan Phillips (1829-1912), Newcastle Emlyn, at Charing Cross Chapel; and on 1 February he arrived at Sandfields, Aberavon, to be minister at Bethlehem, the Forward Movement’s cause there. Dr Lloyd-Jones turned his back on a glowing medical career in London where he could have earned £3,500 per annum, to minister to the people of the Port Talbot steelworks for an annual stipend of £220.
Some in religious circles were very critical that the new minister had not received any theological training and that he did not possess any experience of leading a church. However, the church members were extremely welcoming and he won over a faithful friend and supporter in E. T. Rees, the Secretary of Bethlehem, one who also served as the political agent of Ramsay MacDonald, M.P. for Aberavon and the first Labour prime minister. Mrs Bethan Lloyd-Jones gives an account of this period in her book Memories of Sandfields 1927-1938 (1983). Many of the members had come under the influence of the 1904-05 Revival and appreciated his ministry from the start. Numerous listeners from rough and irreligious backgrounds came to faith in Christ through the ministry of ‘Dr Martyn’, as he was referred to in Wales.