John Gwenogvryn Evans

Who was John Gwenogvryn Evans?

Reverend John Gwenogvryn Evans was a Welsh palaeographic expert.

Evans was born at Llanybydder in Carmarthenshire. He was apprenticed to a grocer, but returned to school, one of his teachers being William Thomas. He studied theology and became a Unitarian minister, but gave up his pastorate because of ill-health. He began to take an interest in ancient Welsh manuscripts, and set up his own printing press in order to create facsimiles of major Welsh medieval manuscripts, such as the books of Aneirin and Taliesin. In 1880 he moved to Oxford, where he spent most of the rest of his life. From 1894 to 1920, Evans was employed by the Historical Manuscripts Commission, producing a major Report on Manuscripts in the Welsh Language. In 1905 he facilitated the purchase of the Peniarth manuscript collection from Sir John Williams, 1st Baronet Williams. Since 1909, this has been lodged in the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth. Evans retired to Llanbedrog in Caernarfonshire, where he ran his own printing press as a hobby. He and his wife Edith are both buried there.