His achievements include helping shape the US constitution, championing women’s rights, furthering the cause of the anti-slavery movement – and he also found time to hone the maths used by the insurance industry. In short Richard Price, an 18th-century moral philosopher, nonconformist preacher and scientist, was – those in the know agree – Wales’s greatest thinker.
The problem is that not so many people in the UK, Wales or even his home county of Bridgend, know much about him, and lots have never heard of him.
In an attempt to put this right, events have been organised in his home village, Llangeinor, across Wales and in London where he spent most of his adult life, to mark the 300th anniversary of his birth, on 23 February.
The writer and Price enthusiast Vic Mills, who has created a play about him, said it was sad he had been largely forgotten. “He was an incredible individual, a hero. But he was a huge threat to the establishment, almost an enemy of the state to many. He was a radical – and he was Welsh. The English establishment made sure he was forgotten.”
Mills argued that the time was right to celebrate Price. “In an age where we are reassessing our histories and pulling statues down, Price is a figure that we can legitimately place on a pedestal.”
The only permanent memorial to Price in Llangeinor is on railings near the bus stop, with phrases associated with the thinker etched into the metalwork, and the community centre bears his name.
An exhibition was opened at the centre on Thursday detailing his life in Llangeinor, with the centrepiece being a large painting by a local artist, Kevin Sinnott, featuring Price sitting at his desk as scenes from the American and French revolutions swirl around him. The exhibition was accompanied by talks, extracts from Mills’s play, and poetry readings.
Colin Simper, a member of the Garw Valley Heritage Society, said: “Even here, not everyone knows who he was. Some people think the centre is named after a local building merchant down the road. America knows him better than we do.”
Deb Davies, one of the centre’s directors, said: “He stepped on too many toes and they wrote him out of history.”
As part of Price 300, Mills’s play – Price Of Change – will be performed later this year in Llangeinor, Cardiff, Aberystwyth and London. There will also be an academic conference hosted by Cardiff University in the summer.
English Heritage also marked Price’s birthday by placing a plaque on his former home in Newington Green, north London.
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Huw Edwards, the journalist, presenter and newsreader, who unveiled the plaque, said Price deserved to be a household name. “He was a mathematical genius and forward-thinking philosopher and theologian whose influence is still felt today.”
Huw Williams, of Cardiff University’s school of English, communication and philosophy, said Price helped “forge” the modern world, “but he has been lost from our popular memory. His contributions in the fields of politics, philosophy and science have long been underappreciated.
“There is something crucial here for us in Wales to ponder, because he is ultimately our guy – a hero of global status embodying our progressive and internationalist traditions, who helped to build the modern world.”
He continued: “It tells us a lot about our own psychology, our struggles with our own history, and how we regard ourselves as a people that he is so little celebrated. This may be partly about who we are conditioned as Welsh people to lionise, whether that’s poets, singers or sports stars, and partly perhaps our lack of understanding with regards to our contributions in the world of mathematics, science and statecraft.
“It’s heartening to see a number of events being held to celebrate his life. More than ever, it seems, his values and his life’s work speaks to us across the centuries.”
