(Q65032)

Samuel James Evans (1870-1938), was born at Llandysul, Cardiganshire, and educated at UCW Aberystwyth, graduating BA (Lond.) in 1892 and MA in 1894. He became the first headmaster of Welshpool County School for Boys in 1895, and the first headmaster of Llangefni County School in 1897, a post which he held until his retirement in 1935. He was awarded an OBE in 1929 for public and educational services. He was a member of the Departmental Committee on Rural Education in Wales, the Central Welsh Board, the University Court, the Council of UCNW Bangor, the governing bodies of St Mary's College and the Normal College Bangor, was chairman of the North Wales Secondary Schools' Employment Committee and the Anglesey Juvenile Unemployment Committee, and secretary of the Montgomeryshire Association of Headmasters and Headmistresses. S. J. Evans was also involved in the religious and cultural life of Wales and was a member of various religious committees. He was the chairman of the Anglesey Committee of the Council for the Preservation of Rural Wales, the Anglesey Rural Community Council, the Anglesey Antiquarian Society, the Anglesey Eisteddfod Association and the Llangefni Silver Band Committee. His publications include various articles and textbooks on Welsh grammar. In 1902 he published for the Guild of Graduates an annotated version of Theophilus Evans's Drych y Prif Oesoedd, and in 1920, Crynhodeb Byr o Gyfansoddiad yr Eglwys yng Nghymru being a translation of Frank Morgan's Short Summary of the Constitution of the Church in Wales. He edited Chaucer's Prologue and Knight's Tale when he was a member of the staff of the University Tutorial College, and The Curricula of Secondary Schools, 1925. As well as suggesting a new collection of Welsh hymns he was the secretary of the committee which published Emynau'r Eglwys in 1941, and also wrote the preface to Llyfr Gwyliau Corawl Esgobaeth Bangor/Bangor Diocesan Festival Book.