Richard Gwynfor Evans ( September 1, 1912 - April 21, 2005 ) is a Welsh politician, the first representative of the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru in the British Parliament (twice: from 1966 to 1970 and from 1974 to 1979 ).
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Early years
Gwynvor Evans was born into an English-speaking family in Barry near Cardiff ; He learned the Welsh language in adulthood. Evans studied at Aberystwyth and Oxford with a law degree. When the Wales Party was founded in 1925 , Evans was still a teenager, but when he was in Oxford he created a party department there. In 1945, he became president of Plaid Cymru and remained so until 1981 .
Evans was a sincere Christian and pacifist . During World War II, he refused to serve in the army on convictions and appeared before the court, but the judges recognized the firmness of his convictions and his right not to fight. Evans played an active role in maintaining party activity in the 1940s and 1950s. In the 1950s , he unsuccessfully fought for the creation of a parliament in Wales, and later opposed the dam on the Trierin River: the reservoir created as a result of its construction was supposed to supply Liverpool with water, but at the same time flooded the village of Kapel Kelin , where most spoke Welsh . The fight against the Llyn-Kelin Reservoir was an important political event in the early 1960s and played no less role in the history of the Wales Party than the disruption of the Penibert artillery school by Lewis Saunders and his associates.
Election Participation
Local Elections and Start of Parliamentary Race
Evans was elected a member of the Carmartenshire County Council in 1949 and retained it for 25 years. Usually he was the only representative of Plaid Cymru. He received the nickname "Evans Two Lane", as he insisted on improving the situation with transport all the time. He participated in the general elections of 1945, 1950, 1955 and 1959, fighting for a seat from the Marionet district, as well as in the 1954 by-election in the Aberdare district.
1966 Carmarthen By-election
On July 14, 1966, Evans defeated Labor representatives for a seat from Carmarthen County: by-elections were held in the county in connection with the death of Megan Lloyd George, daughter of former British Prime Minister David Lloyd George . Evans' victory in the by-election was a turning point for Plaid Cymru.
Participation in other elections
In the 1970 general election, Evans lost to Labor representative Gwynoro Jones, and was unable to recover what was lost in the 1974 election, losing only three votes. However, in October of that year, general elections were held again in the United Kingdom, and Evans won his election by a majority of 3,640 votes. Plaid cymru was represented by David Wigley and David Alice-Thomas .
In 1979 and 1983, Evans failed and did not participate in the elections anymore.
Evans as a deputy
In the House of Commons, Evans defended his pacifist principles. In particular, he was one of the few deputies who did not support the decision of Great Britain to supply weapons to the Government of Nigeria in the civil war with Biafra . He was also opposed to the Vietnam War : when US authorities did not let him into the country as part of a group of inspectors, he staged a protest at a military base in Thailand .
Evans was the first (and last) president of the Celtic League .
Late years
In 1980 , when there was a danger that conservatives would cancel the decision to start work on the Welsh-speaking television channel, Evans threatened to go on a hunger strike, and on November 1, 1982, the S4C began to work.
After leaving politics, Evans became an active publicist and writer. Typically, English versions of his books appeared simultaneously with Welsh or even after them.
Bibliography
- Aros Mae ( 1971 ) (English: Land of my Fathers: 2000 Years of Welsh History (1974) ISBN 0-903701-03-0 )
- Byw neu farw? : y frwydr dros yr iaith a'r Sianel deledu gymraeg / Life or death? : the struggle for the language and a Welsh TV channel ( 1980 ISBN 0-905077-12-1 , bilingual text)
- Diwedd Prydeindod ( 1981 , ISBN 0-86243-018-6 )
- Autobiography : Bywyd Cymro ( 1982 ) (English: For the Sake of Wales (1986) ISBN 1-86057-021-6 )
- Cymru o Hud ( 2001 , ISBN 0-86243-545-5 ) (English: Eternal Wales (2001) ISBN 0-86243-608-7 )
Notes
- ↑ 1 2 Discogs - 2000.
- ↑ http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/1089385/Gwynfor-Evans
- ↑ http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/wales/2002565.stm
- ↑ http://www.telegraph.co.uk/news/obituaries/1488363/Gwynfor-Evans.html
- ↑ http://www.bbc.co.uk/bitesize/ks3/history/uk_through_time/shaping_the_uk/revision/5/