EVANS
,
CARADOC
(
1878
-
1945
),
author
;
b. at
Pant-y-croy
,
Llanfihangel-ar-Arth, Carms.
,
31 Dec. 1878
, and christened
David
, son of
William
Evans
,
auctioneer
, and
Mary
(née
Powell
)
. He spent most of his childhood at
Lanlas
,
Rhydlewis
, and attended the board school there before he was
apprenticed to the drapery trade
. He worked as a
shop assistant
for some twelve years-in
Carmarthen
,
Cardiff
and
London
. In
London
he attended classes at the
Toynbee Hall
and the
Working Men's College
in
Crowndale Road
and became an accomplished
writer
. He entered journalism as a
free-lance journalist
but
held various editorial posts
, most particularly with
Ideas
and
T.P's Weekly
. His first stories appeared in the
English Review
,
1914
; his first volume was
My People
,
1915
. This caused great offence to many of his countrymen, as did almost everything he wrote thereafter. His work includes five collections of short stories,
My People
,
1915
,
Capel Sion
,
1916
,
My Neighbours
,
1919
,
Pilgrims in a Foreign Land
,
1942
,
The Earth Gives All and Takes All
,
1946
; five novels, of which the best is
Nothing to Pay
,
1930
; a play,
Taffy
,
1923
; and a posthumously published
Journal
. He also devilled for other writers. His best stories rank with the best of his time. In
1934-35
he returned to
Wales
and
helped run a theatre
at
Aberystwyth
. In
1939
he settled at
Aberystwyth
and then at
New Cross
. He was twice married, (1), to
Rose
Ware
,
1907
(divorced
8 Mar. 1933
), and (2), to
Marguerite Helene
(‘
Oliver Sandys
’), dau. of
Col.
H.P.
Jervis
, in
May 1933
. He had no children. He d.
11 Jan. 1945
in
Aberystwyth hospital
.
Bibliography:
-
Western Mail
,
12 Jan. 1945
;
-
Oliver Sandys
,
Caradoc Evans
, London, 1946
(1946)
;
-
G. H. Green
, preface to
The Earth Gives All and Takes All. [Tales.
With a memoir of Caradoc Evans by George H. Green. With a
portrait.]
, London, 1946
;
- N.L.W. Catalogue;
-
[
John Harris
; ed.
My People
, Bridgend, 1987
(1997)
;
-
John Harris
, ed.,
Fury never leaves us a miscellany of Caradoc
Evans
, 1985
(1983)
;
-
T. Ll. Williams
,
Caradoc Evans
, Cardiff, 1970
(1970)
].
Author:
Professor Gwyn Jones, M.A., (1907-99), Aberystwyth / Cardiff
