David Martyn Lloyd-Jones was born on 20th December 1899 into this land which had experienced a spiritual roller-coaster ride for many years. Born in Cardiff, South Wales, the first ten years of his life were quite uneventful, that is, until January 1910. His father, Henry, had been a fairly successful businessman in Llangeitho, but that cold winter night was to change everything; a fire broke out, nearly costing two of the Lloyd-Jones boys, Martyn and Vincent, their lives as they slept upstairs. Harold was away from home with his mother at that time. Being half-awakened by the smell of fumes, the two boys, who shared a room, went back to sleep. But the fire started and very quickly became a tremendous inferno. Just in time, the alert was raised and Martyn was thrown from an upstairs window and caught by three men standing on the road, and his father and Vincent were able to escape to safety by a ladder. Thankfully, the family was saved but Henry and Magdalene lost everything else, a loss from which Henry never seemed to recover financially. Martyn was never to forget that terrible night, an experience that moulded his attitude to life in a permanent way.
Martyn appears to have been distracted at school, probably because of this near-death experience that he had had just recently. He was told off by his schoolmaster for inattention in class, and warned that if he did not 'pull up his socks,' he would not get a place at the 120-pupil County School in Tregaron which would open doors for higher education. Knowing his father's financial plight, he did not have to be told what his responsibilities were, so he knuckled down and took second place in the exams that would give him a scholarship to the next level.
While Martyn proceeded with his education, the Lloyd-Jones' family was faced with a new challenge, and one that would change their lives forever. Henry, having been declared bankrupt, gathered the family together and told them they would be leaving Llangeitho forever and would be going to live and work in Canada. Henry went first to carry out a reconnaissance of the new world, realised this was not for them, so three months later he returned and the family moved to London instead. This was in 1914, the year the First World War broke out. It was in London that his father set up a milk delivery business and Martyn shared in the rounds of the business. With the family, they attached themselves to the Charing Cross Chapel (now Orange Street Congregational Church) and Martyn attended there throughout his young adulthood and student days in the capital. Here Martyn continued his education and training at St Bartholomew's (affectionately known as Bart's) hospital to become a doctor, eventually becoming chief clinical assistant to Sir (later Lord) Thomas Horder, the King's physician, and had a lucrative medical career ahead of him. By the age of 26 he had gained his MD degree and the MRCP. From these facts, it is clear that, as a young doctor, he was well on his way up the Harley Street career ladder. He obviously has a lucrative career in medicine before him.
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Source by J. E. Hazlett Lynch
