Gwynfor Evans

Gwynfor Evans
Evans in 1951
President of Plaid Cymru
In office
1945–1981
Preceded byAbi Williams
Succeeded byDafydd Wigley
Member of Parliament
for Carmarthen
In office
15 July 1966 – 29 May 1970
Preceded byMegan Lloyd George
Succeeded byGwynoro Jones
In office
10 October 1974 – 7 April 1979
Preceded byGwynoro Jones
Succeeded byRoger Thomas
Personal details
Born
Gwynfor Richard Evans

(1912-09-01)1 September 1912
Barry, Wales
Died21 April 2005(2005-04-21) (aged 92)
Pencarreg, Carmarthenshire, Wales
Political partyPlaid Cymru
Spouse
Rhiannon Prys Thomas
(m. 1941)
Children7
Relatives
Alma materUniversity of Wales, Aberystwyth
St John's College, Oxford

Gwynfor Richard Evans (1 September 1912 – 21 April 2005) was a Welsh politician, lawyer and author. He was President of the Welsh political party Plaid Cymru for thirty-six years and was the first member of Parliament to represent it at Westminster, which he did twice, from 1966 to 1970, and again from 1974 to 1979.

On entering the House of Commons, he famously failed in his attempt to obtain permission to take the oath in the Welsh language.[1] He was the first MP to attempt to do so, but the right to take the oath in any of the UK's native languages was not granted until 1974.[2] His most notable achievement was his successful campaign for the creation of a Welsh-language television channel.[3]

  1. ^ "Oath of Allegiance (Welsh language)". Hansard. 21 July 1966. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
  2. ^ British Academy (2003). The British Constitution in the Twentieth Century. British Academy. p. 615. ISBN 978-0-19-726271-9.
  3. ^ David Crystal (29 April 2002). Language Death. Cambridge University Press. p. 87. ISBN 978-0-521-01271-3.