The Independent Minister and Journalist

Image: © Robin Drayton Taken: 29 Jul 2013

Evan Jones, 'Ieuan Gwynedd' (1820-1852). The inscription reads: Born Near Dolgellau, Evan Jones, 'Ieuan Gwynedd' was an Independent minister and journalist. He became minister at Saron Chapel in Tredegar in 1845 but left after 2½ years to pursue a career in journalism. During his short stay at Tredegar he developed Sunday school classes and took a keen interest in education. Often this was the only education children working in the mines and ironworks received. Evan was a prominent critic of the Report of Commission of Enquiry into the state of Education in Wales published in 1847. The report was produced in blue books and later referred to by it many critics as 'The Treachery of the Blue Books'. It exaggerated and blamed the poor state of education and schools in Wales upon the Welsh language, the influence of non-conformist chapels, and the alleged, low morals and coarse habits of the Welsh people. Evan wrote and published many letters and pamphlets attacking the report and its conclusions. His arguments, always strongly presented, were based on careful study of the facts. Evan suffered from ill-health throughout his life and died in 1852, aged only 31. O.M. Edwards, the Welsh Historian, Educationalist and Writer paid tribute saying, 'He struck a note that will never be forgotten in Wales. His voice was like the blast of a trumpet, it made every Welshman realise that he was either a coward or a man determined to resent the silent belief that Welshmen were racially inferior to their neighbours.'

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