Dilys Grace Edmunds

Who was Dilys Grace Edmunds?

Dilys Grace Edmunds, an early twentieth century teacher in India from a Welsh Calvinistic Methodist background, whose fund-raising work supported school building programmes in the Karimanj District of India.

Dilys Edmunds was born in London in 1879. Her father was Mr Llewelyn Edmunds, the precentor at Bethel Chapel, Wilton Square, in Islington, London. Such Welsh Methodists had their origins in the religious revival of the eighteenth century, and had been influenced by George Whitfield and his patron, Selina, Countess of Huntingdon.

After attending a school in London, Dilys Edmunds studied at the University College of Wales in Aberystwyth where she gaind a BA, followed by completion of a teachers' training course. Her teaching career began in London, but in 1914 as war broke out in Europe, she sailed to India, funded by of a Welsh missionary society, to teach at a secondary school in Silchar. Two years later she was offered a post in charge of the Girl's School at Karimganj. Whilst there she wrote numerous articles about the customs and culture of local people for the Welsh monthly periodical Y Cenhadwr