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Dr Richard Gwynfor Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005), was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. President of Plaid Cymru for thirty six years, he was the first Member of Parliament to represent Plaid Cymru at Westminster (1966-1970; 1974-1979).
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Gwynfor Evans was born in Barry, near Cardiff. He was educated at the University of Wales, Aberystwyth, and St John's College, Oxford, from where he qualified as a lawyer. He was also a market gardener. He was a teenager when the Welsh nationalist party Plaid Cymru was founded in 1925, and he founded a branch of the party while he was at Oxford. He became the party's president in 1945 and retained the office until 1981.
A pacifist, he became active in Heddwchwyr Cymru, a Welsh organisation closely associated with the Peace Pledge Union, serving as secretary and editor of a series of pamphlets throughout the Second World War. A committed Christian also, he declared himself a conscientious objector, and was required to appear before a tribunal which, recognising the firmness of his beliefs, registered him unconditionally.
Evans is credited with keeping Plaid Cymru going through the lean years of the 1940s and 1950s — in the 1950s he campaigned unsuccessfully for a Welsh parliament, and failed to prevent the damming of the Tryweryn river and consequent inundation of the Welsh-speaking community of Capel Celyn in order to supply the city of Liverpool with water — a cause célèbre in Wales in the early 1960s.
Evans was elected to Carmarthenshire County Council in 1949, keeping his seat for the next 25 years, usually as the lone Plaid Cymru representative, acquiring the nickname "Evans dual carriageway" for his emphasis on improving transport links. He contested Merioneth at the general elections of 1945, 1950, 1955 and 1959, and the Aberdare by-election, 1954.
On 14 July 1966, Evans won the parliamentary seat of Carmarthen from Labour in a by-election caused by the death of Lady Megan Lloyd George, daughter of the former Liberal Prime Minister, David Lloyd George, having come third in the general election just a few weeks before. He had also contested the seat at the 1964 general election. His by-election victory is regarded as a seminal moment for Plaid Cymru. He was shown around the House of Commons by fellow pacifist Emrys Hughes, the son-in-law of Keir Hardie; on pointing out the Welsh Labour table in the Commons' tea room, Hughes warned him, "You’d better not sit down there, your name’s mud among that lot." [1]
In the 1970 General Election Evans lost his Carmarthen seat to Labour's Gwynoro Jones, and failed to regain it in the February 1974 General Election by only three votes. He regained the seat - with a majority of 3,640 votes - in the October 1974 General Election, when he returned to Parliament accompanied by two other Plaid Cymru MPs, Dafydd Wigley and Dafydd Elis Thomas.
Evans lost Carmarthen once more at the 1979 general election - to Dr Roger Thomas (also Labour). He was unsuccessful in the 1983 General Election, and did not contest any further elections.
In the House of Commons, Evans was true to his pacifist principles in being one of the few MPs to oppose the British government's support of the Nigerian federal government with supplies of weapons in the civil war against Biafra (1967–1970). He also opposed the Vietnam War: after being denied entry to the country as part of an inspection group, he instead protested outside a US air base in Thailand.
Evans was the first (and last) president of the Celtic League 1961-71. Dr. Robert McIntyre of the SNP was vice-president at the time.
In 1980, his threat to go on hunger strike, after the Conservative government reneged on its election promise of a Welsh language television channel, was instrumental in bringing about an early U-turn on the part of Margaret Thatcher, and S4C began broadcasting on 1 November 1982.
In his political retirement he became a prolific writer, mainly on Welsh subjects and writing in Welsh with simultaneous or later English editions. His work Aros Mae (English: It Endures) (published 1971), a comprehensive history of Wales, and the English language version Land of my Fathers: 2000 Years of Welsh History (published 1974), had already become best-sellers.
In 1941 Evans married Rhiannon Prys Thomas, who survived him by nine months, dying on 13 January 2006. They had seven children.
On his death the Welsh political establishment united in paying its respects to Gwynfor Evans:
| Parliament of the United Kingdom | ||
|---|---|---|
| Preceded by Megan Lloyd George |
Member of
Parliament for Carmarthen 1966–1970 |
Succeeded by Gwynoro Jones |
| Preceded by Gwynoro Jones |
Member of
Parliament for Carmarthen 1974–1979 |
Succeeded by Roger Thomas |
| Party political offices | ||
| Preceded by John Edward Daniel |
President of Plaid Cymru 1945–1981 |
Succeeded by Dafydd Wigley |
   | BBC News Obituary - BBC NEWS | UK | Wales | Plaid pioneer Gwynfor Evans dies |
| | Official Gwynfor Evans Website - Gwynfor Evans - gwynfor.net |
| | ''The Times'' obituary - Gwynfor Evans | Times Online Obituary |
| | ''Daily Telegraph'' obituary - Latest News, Breaking News and Current News from the UK and World - Telegraph - Telegraph |
| | ''The Guardian'' obituary - Obituary: Gwynfor Evans | Media | The Guardian |
| | ''The Independent'' obituary - The Independent | Obituaries | Latest Obituary |
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