Gwilym Prys Davies, Baron Prys-Davies
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Gwilym Prys Prys-Davies, Baron Prys-Davies (born Gwilym Prys Davies; 8 December 1923 – 28 March 2017) was a Welsh Labour politician. He was a pioneer of the use of the Welsh language for official purposes, and in 1982 became the first member of the House of Lords to take the oath of allegiance in Welsh.[1]
Biography
Gwilym Prys Davies was born in the village of Llanegryn, in Meirionnydd, Wales. He served in the Royal Navy during the Second World War, on North Atlantic Convoys. After the war was over, he went to the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth to study law. This is where he met Llinos Evans, to whom he would be married for over fifty years until her death in 2010. By 1956 he had qualified as a solicitor and was working at a legal practice in Pontypridd, pioneering the use of the Welsh language in the courts.
His political career started with Plaid Cymru, before he moved to Labour after the Welsh Socialist Republican Movement, of which he was a founder and strong supporter, failed to influence party policy. He also believed that change could be better made by working within a larger, less nationalistic, party that was in power, rather than a smaller, more nationalistic, party that was not in power. He was always a strong advocate of devolution for Wales. He was the Labour candidate in the 1966 Carmarthen by-election but lost to the first Plaid Cymru member to be a member of parliament, a historic event in Welsh politics. He went on to support devolutionsists within the Labour Party with the aim of securing "political responsibility for Welsh life".[citation needed]
He became a member of the Welsh Hospitals' Board and ensured that the parents of the victims of the 1966
He was appointed as a
References
- ^ Julia Langdon (13 April 2017). "Lord Prys-Davies obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 10 March 2021.
- ^ "No. 44815". The London Gazette (Supplement). 25 March 1969. p. 3182.
- ^ "No. 49264". The London Gazette. 14 February 1983. p. 2159.
- ^ "Lord Prys-Davies". UK Parliament. Retrieved 2 April 2017.
- ^ http://www.parliament.uk/mps-lords-and-offices/lords/retired-lords/ Retired members of the House of Lords
External links
Sources
- Parliament.uk Biography
- Hansard
- BBC News Obituary
- Mosley, Charles ()