EVANS, TREBOR LLOYD (1909-1979), minister (Indepedent) and author
Date of birth: 1909
Date of death: 1979
Gender: Male
Occupation: minister (Indepedent) and author
Area of activity: Literature and Writing; Religion
Author: Derwyn Morris Jones
The second of Robert and Winifred Evans' four children, and the eldest son, he was born February 5 1909, at Y Fedw, a farm in the parish of Llanycil, near Bala, Meirionethshire. His father was an elder and the precentor in Moelygarnedd Chapel (C M.) and his mother was of the Lloyd family, Pen-y-bryn, Llandderfel. 'Llwyd o'r Bryn' (Bob Lloyd) was her brother, and as a boy Trebor turned to his exuberant uncle for advice and guidance; he was his teacher as an elocutionist and he nurtured in him a love of literature. His mother was raised in Bethel Independent Chapel, and when her husband died aged 48 in 1917, when her eldest son was eight, she returned to the Independents in Bala. Mrs Talwyn Phillips, the previous minister's widow, his Sunday school teacher, together with the guidance of the new minister, Rev William Morse, were great influences on Trebor Evans in his youth.
He was educated in Bala primary school, and Ty Tan-domen, the old Grammar school, before going to Bala-Bangor Theological College and Bangor University College in 1927, with a view to entering the Christian Ministry. He graduated in Philosophy in 1930 and in Theology in 1934. He was ordained minister of Soar, Penygroes (Dyffryn Nantlle), Caernarfon in September 1933, before moving to Tabernacle, Morriston in July 1945 succeeding Rev J.J. Williams. In 1964, he was elected General Secretary of the Union of Welsh Independents, a post he held until his retirement in 1975. He was President of the Union of Welsh Independents, and delivered his address in 1976 in Morriston on "Keeping the Faith".
In 1936 he married Elizabeth Roberts, a teacher from Blaenau Ffestiniog. They had been fellow students in Bangor. They had three children – Elisabeth Lloyd in 1938, Robert Lloyd in 1941 and Dewi Pierce Lloyd in 1947.
Trebor Lloyd Evans soon became well kown as a powerful and impressive preacher. He enjoyed working with children and young people in Dyffryn Nantlle, where he experienced Welsh culture at its best. He was equally hardworking with the young in Cwm Tawe. He established the Urdd Aelwyd youth club in Morriston and worked hard to establish the first Welsh primary school in Swansea, in Lonlas, Llansamlet. He was an enthusiastic Eisteddfod supporter and he competed as an elocutionist and adjudicated recitation competitions in the Urdd and National Eisteddfodau on numerous occasions.
He gained an University of Wales M.A. degree in 1949 for his work on Dr Lewis Edwards, Bala, which was published as Lewis Edwards, ei Fywyd a'i Waith, in 1967. He was the author of more than a dozen books, including Damhegion y Deyrnas 1949, Pris ein Rhyddid 1962, Diddordebau Llwyd o'r Bryn 1966, Y Cathedral Anghydffurfiol Cymraeg 1972. He translated extracts from Kilvert's Diary in 1973 under the title Cymru Kilvert, and A Diary of Private Prayer (John Baillie) in 1978 under the title Bore a Hwyr: Gweddïau Personol.
Trebor Lloyd Evans was an orderly man with a strong personality – a natural and able leader who was an interesting speaker and writer of substance. As Secretary of the Union of Independents he left his mark on their new publishing house, Ty John Penri, and ensured that it published a wide variety of books dealing with the Christian faith and its Nonconformist expression. He persuaded authors like Tecwyn Lloyd, R. E. Jones, R. Tudur Jones, Pennar Davies, Gwynfor Evans, Cassie Davies and others, to publish through Ty John Penri books which were greatly appreciated by Welsh readers.
He died July 13 1979, in Swansea, and was cremated in Morriston Crematorium. His ashes were interred in the cemetery nearby. On his memorial in Tabernacle, Morriston, his friend O. M. Lloyd's couplet reads:
"Dyn y Bregeth a'r Pethe
Yn gyson oedd, gwas y Ne'"
Author
- Reverend Derwyn Morris Jones
- Blwyddiadur yr Annibynwyr Cymraeg (Year book), 1980
- Y Cathedral Anghydffurfiol Cymraeg (1972), pp.122-136 (with a list of his books, p. 132)
Sources
Published date: 2011-01-07
Article Copyright: http://rightsstatements.org/page/InC/1.0/
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