Gruffydd Evans, Baron Evans of Claughton

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David Thomas Gruffydd Evans, Baron Evans of Claughton DL (born February 9, 1928 in Birkenhead , Merseyside - † March 22, 1992 in Metropolitan Borough of Wirral , Merseyside) was a British lawyer and politician of the Liberal Party who was due to be a life peer in 1978 of the Life Peerages Act 1958 became a member of the House of Lords .

Life

Origin, solicitor and local politician

Evans grew up in a family that belonged to the Presbyterian Church of Wales and where the Welsh language was spoken. His grandfather was from Anglesey , settled in Birkenhead as a building contractor in 1884 and was a supporter of the National Eisteddfod held in Birkenhead in 1917 .

After visiting the Birkenhead Preparatory School , the Birkenhead School and the Friars School in Bangor he started despite a study space available for the University of Oxford to study law at the University of Liverpool , which he in 1948 with a Bachelor of Laws (LL.B. ) completed. After he then served as a sub-lieutenant ( pilot officer ) in the Royal Air Force , he settled as a solicitor in Liverpool . At the same time he worked as a legal advisor to the presbytery of the Presbyterian Church of Wales in Liverpool.

In the mid-1950s, Evans began his political career in the Liberal Party and was Secretary of the Liberal Federation of Lancashire , Cheshire and North West England between 1956 and 1960 . In 1957 he was first elected to the Birkenhead Council ( Birkenhead County Borough Council ) and was a member of this twelve years until 1969. During this time he was also chairman of the youth organization of the Liberal Party ( National League of Young Liberals ) between 1960 and 1961 .

Unsuccessful lower house candidates and executive chairman of the Liberal Party

In the general election of October 15, 1964 , Evans ran for the Liberal Party in the Wallasey constituency for the first time for a member of the House of Commons , losing to the constituency holder of the Conservative Party and former Minister of Transport and Postmaster General Ernest Marples . During this time he was also Chairman of Birkenhead Voluntary Service between 1964 and 1973.

In 1965 he succeeded Basil Wigoder as Chairman of the Liberal Party National Executive and held this position until he was replaced by Timothy Beaumont in 1967. In the general election on March 31, 1966 , he ran again in the Wallasey constituency , but was again clearly defeated by Ernest Marples. At the Congress of the Liberal Party in 1968, he spoke out in favor of excluding radical groups within the party.

In the general election of June 18, 1970 stood as a candidate Evans in the constituency Birkenhead , while also having time after the constituency owner of the Labor Party , Edmund Dell , who received 20,980 votes (50.7%), and the candidate of the conservative Tories , R. Kris who got 15,151 votes (36.6%), with 4926 votes (11.9%) only achieved third place. He also served as chairman of the Birkenhead Abbeyfield Society between 1970 and 1974.

President of the Liberal Party

Evans, who was between 1971 and 1974 chairman of the committee for the organization of the party congresses of the Liberal Party ( Assembly Committee ), was 1973 member of the council of the Metropolitan Borough of Wirral and was there from 1973 to 1977 chairman of the faction of the Liberal Party. At the same time he became a member of the council of Metropolitan County Merseyside in 1973 and was there between 1977 and 1981 also chairman of the parliamentary group of the Liberal Party. He was also a member of the Board of Directors of the Birkenhead School for the first time between 1974 and 1978.

After the resignation of former long-time party chairman Jeremy Thorpe in May 1976, he supported the candidacy of John Pardoe , who, however, was defeated in the primary election against David Steel with 7032 to 12,541 votes. He then supported Steel in building a more collegial party leadership and re-establishing unity in the party.

In 1976 Evans founded the Friends Association to protect Birkenhead Park, designed by Joseph Paxton in 1844 . He was also a member of the Advisory Board of the University of Liverpool between 1977 and 1983.

In 1977 Evans succeeded Basil Goldstone as President of the Liberal Party and held this position for a year until he was replaced by Michael Steed in 1978. At the same time he acted between 1977 and 1979 as chairman of the party's General Election Committee . In his function as party president he was confronted with the discussion about Jeremy Thorpe, who still represented the constituency of North Devon as a member of the lower house. A criminal case against Thorpe had been initiated at that time for homosexuality and alleged incitement to murder. Evans then asked Thorpe to stay away from the Southport convention .

House of Lords

By a Letters Patent of 24 April 1978 Evans was as a life peer with the title Baron Evans of Claughton , of Claughton in the County of Merseyside in the peerage collected and was until his death the House of Lords as a member. His official introduction ( Introduction ) as a member of the House of Lords took place on April 26, 1978 with the support of Basil Wigoder, Baron Wigoder and Timothy Beaumont, Baron Beaumont of Whitley.

In his maiden speech ( Maiden Speech ) in the House of Lords, he spoke on May 19, 1978 on the Inner Urban Areas Bill , in which he criticized the Labor Party government of Prime Minister James Callaghan for restricting the freedom of action of local government authorities. Due to his many years of experience in local politics, he became spokesman for the upper house parliamentary group of the Liberal Party for housing and local government. In 1981 he introduced a Leasehold Reform Bill to protect farmers on leased land. However, despite support from Labor leaders such as Cledwyn Hughes, Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos , the draft was rejected before a second reading.

On September 16, 1981, Evans, who was chairman of the Liverpool Luncheon Society from 1980 to 1981 , was chairman of the Liberal Assembly in Llandudno , which approved an electoral alliance with the Social Democratic Party (SDP) for the June 9, 1983 general election by a large majority . In the 1983 general election, he was again chairman of his party's campaign committee. Evans, who was vice-president of the national association of the Liberal Party in Wales ( Welsh Liberal Party ) between 1979 and 1986 , was then president of this national association from 1986 to 1987. Most recently, from 1988 until his death, he was again a member of the board of directors of the Birkenhead School and at times Deputy Lieutenant of Merseyside.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ^ London Gazette  (Supplement). No. 47495, HMSO, London, March 20, 1978, p. 3573 ( PDF , accessed November 25, 2013, English).
  2. ↑ London Gazette . No. 47521, HMSO, London, April 27, 1978, p. 4879 ( PDF , accessed November 25, 2013, English).
  3. ↑ Entry in Hansard (April 26, 1978)
  4. ^ Entry in Hansard (May 19, 1978)
personal data
SURNAME Evans, Gruffydd, Baron Evans of Claughton
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Evans, David Thomas Gruffydd, Baron Evans of Claughton (full name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION British politician
DATE OF BIRTH February 9, 1928
PLACE OF BIRTH Birkenhead , Merseyside
DATE OF DEATH March 22, 1992
Place of death Metropolitan Borough of Wirral , Merseyside