Sir Ifan ab Owen Edwards (25 July

1895 Events January–March * January 5 – Dreyfus affair: French officer Alfred Dreyfus is stripped of his army rank, and sentenced to life imprisonment on Devil's Island. * January 12 – The National Trust for Places of Histor ...

– 23 January 1970) was a

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, referring or related to Wales * Welsh language, a Brittonic Celtic language spoken in Wales * Welsh people People * Welsh (surname) * Sometimes used as a synonym for the ancient Britons (Celtic peopl ...

academic, writer and film-maker, best known as the founder of

Urdd Gobaith Cymru Urdd Gobaith Cymru () (known as the Urdd) is a national voluntary youth organisation, which claimed over 56,000 members in 2019 aged between 8 and 25 years old. It provides opportunities for children and young people across Wales to take part ...

, the Welsh League of Youth. He was born at Tremaran, Llanuwchllyn,

Merionethshire , HQ= Dolgellau , Government= Merionethshire County Council (1889-1974) , Origin= , Status= , Start= 1284 , End= , Code= MER , CodeName= ...

, the son of Sir Owen Morgan Edwards, and was educated at

Bala Grammar School Ysgol y Berwyn is a high-school situated in the town of Bala, in Gwynedd, north Wales. According to the 2013 Estyn report, 79% of pupils are from Welsh-speaking homes. In 2017, 80% of pupils achieved 5 or more GCSEs at grades A*-C. In September ...

and

University of Wales, Aberystwyth , mottoeng = A world without knowledge is no world at all , established = 1872 (as ''The University College of Wales'') , former_names = University of Wales, Aberystwyth , type = Public , endowment = ...

. After military service on the Western Front during

World War I World War I (28 July 1914 11 November 1918), often abbreviated as WWI, was List of wars and anthropogenic disasters by death toll, one of the deadliest global conflicts in history. Belligerents included much of Europe, the Russian Empire, ...

, he studied at

Lincoln College, Oxford Lincoln College (formally, The College of the Blessed Mary and All Saints, Lincoln) is one of the constituent colleges of the University of Oxford, situated on Turl Street in central Oxford. Lincoln was founded in 1427 by Richard Fleming, th ...

, taking a degree in history. He worked as a teacher and lecturer from 1920 to 1948, when he gave up the profession to concentrate on his work for the Urdd. In 1922, Edwards wrote a letter to the periodical ''Cymru'r Plant'', which led to the founding of the Urdd, and the first Urdd recreational camp was held at Llanuwchllyn in 1928, under his direction. The first Urdd local branch was founded in

Treuddyn Treuddyn is a village, community and electoral ward in Flintshire, Wales, located just off the A5104 road, around 4 miles south-east of Mold and 3 miles north-west of Caergwrle. The community includes the nearby village of Coed Talon, to the e ...

. It was gradually followed by more permanent camps and residential centres. In partnership with J. Ellis Williams, he made the first

Welsh language Welsh ( or ) is a Celtic language of the Brittonic subgroup that is native to the Welsh people. Welsh is spoken natively in Wales, by some in England, and in Y Wladfa (the Welsh colony in Chubut Province, Argentina). Historically, it h ...

sound film, ''The Quarryman''. In 1947 he was knighted in recognition of his youth work, and the Urdd had his portrait painted by

Alfred Janes Alfred George Janes (30 June 1911 – 3 February 1999) was a Welsh artist, who worked in Swansea and Croydon. He experimented with many forms, but is best known for his meticulous still lifes and portraits. He is also remembered as one of The ...

in 1956. He was a director of

Television Wales and the West Television Wales and the West (TWW) was the British Independent Television (commercial television) contractor for a franchise area that initially served South Wales and West of England (franchise awarded 26 October 1956, started transmissions o ...

and encouraged the making of television programmes in Welsh. His son, Owen Edwards, would become the first chief executive of S4C.

Works

*''A catalogue of Star Chamber proceedings relating to Wales'' (1929) (ed.) *''Yr Urdd 1922-43'' (1943) *''Clych Atgof'' (1921) (edited version of his father's autobiography)

Sources

{{DEFAULTSORT:Edwards, Ifan Ab Owen 1895 births 1970 deaths Alumni of Lincoln College, Oxford Welsh film directors 20th-century Welsh historians Welsh language activists Knights Bachelor