Ffermwr a phregethwr gyda'r Methodistiaid Calfinaidd oedd Richard Newell. Cafodd ei eni yn Allt-y-ffynnon, Aberhafesb, Sir Drefaldwyn ar 23 o Fawrth 1785. Richard Newell oedd ei dad a Bridget oedd ei fam. Ym 1786 symudodd y teulu i fyw i Gwernfyda, Llanllugan ac yna i Bryn, Llanwyddelan. Pan fu farw ei dad ym 1800 symudodd ei fam i fyw yn Hen Neuadd, Manafon ac aeth Richard Newell i ysgol ei ewythr yn Llanbryn-mair.
Priododd Richard Newell ym 1811 gydag Elizabeth Griffiths o Gefn-du, Meifod a cawsant 9 o blant. Fe'i etholwyd yn henadur yng nghapel Llanwyddelan ym 1821 a gweithiodd yn ddiwyd gydag ysgolion Sul a'r mudiad dirwest ar y gororau. Ym 1819 daeth yn Brif Gonstabl ardal Berriw. Symudodd ym 1831 i Blas-bach, Meifod. Bu farw ym 1852.
Ar y cyd gyda Morris Davies (1796-1876), Bangor, cyhoeddodd gylchgrawn i bobl ifanc a phlant dan y teitl Pethau Newydd a Hen neu Drysorfa i'r Ysgol Sabbothol - y cyntaf o'i fath yn Gymraeg mae'n debyg.
Richard Newell was a farmer and a Calvinistic Methodist preacher. Born at Allt-y-ffynnon, Aberhafesb, Montgomeryshire on 23 March 1785, he was the son of Richard Newell, farmer, and Bridget his wife. In 1786 the family moved to Gwernfyda, Llanllugan in the same shire, where Richard attended a school kept by the Rev. John Davies and David Davies. The family moved once again in 1786 to Bryn, Llanwyddelan, where Richard Newell, the father, died in 1800. Richard Newell, the younger, attended the school kept by his uncle, John Roberts (1767-1834), at Llanbryn-mair. In 1803, he and his mother moved to Hen Neuadd, Manafon, where they lived until 1831
In 1811 Richard Newell married Elizabeth Griffiths of Cefn-du, sister of Evan Griffiths (1778-1839), Meifod, by whom he had nine children. He was elected as an elder of the chapel at Llanwyddelan and was accepted as a preacher at the Llanfair Association, 1821. He was one of the first to work among the English in the Montgomeryshire borders and his greatest work was in connection with the Sunday schools and the temperance movement. Around 1819 Newell was appointed High Constable for the Berriw district and succeeded in curbing interludes, Sunday wakes, and other disturbing influences. In 1831 he moved to Plas-bach, Meifod, and in 1846 to Cwm, where he died on 22 June 1852. Together with Morris Davies (1796-1876), Bangor, he published a periodical for young people and children, entitled Pethau Newydd a Hen neu Drysorfa i'r Ysgol Sabbothol . This publication ran for four years (1826-1829), and was probably the first of its kind in Welsh.
