Carl Iwan Clowes

OBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding valuable service in a wide range of useful activities. It comprises five classes of awards across both civil and military divisions, the most senior two o ...

(11 December 1943 – 4 December 2021) was a Welsh medical practitioner. In 1978 he founded the ''Nant Gwrtheyrn Trust'' in order to buy the village of

Nant Gwrtheyrn Nant Gwrtheyrn is a Welsh Language and Heritage Centre, located near the village of Llithfaen on the northern coast of the Llŷn Peninsula, Gwynedd, in northwest Wales. The centre takes its name from the valley in which it is located, Nant Gwr ...

, to restore and regenerate it and to set up a Welsh language centre. Clowes was born and brought up in Manchester, his mother was Welsh (and spoke Welsh) and his father was English. When his parents returned to

north Wales North Wales ( ) is a Regions of Wales, region of Wales, encompassing its northernmost areas. It borders mid Wales to the south, England to the east, and the Irish Sea to the north and west. The area is highly mountainous and rural, with Snowdon ...

, he set about learning Welsh. After qualifying as a doctor in 1967, he spent eight years as a doctor in

Llanaelhaearn Llanaelhaearn is a village on the Llŷn Peninsula in the Local government in Wales, county of Gwynedd, Wales. Located in the community of (prior to 2024 called just "Llanaelhaearn") which also includes the larger village of Trefor, Gwynedd, Tr ...

on the

Llŷn peninsula The Llŷn Peninsula ( or , ) is a peninsula in Gwynedd, Wales, with an area of about , and a population of at least 20,000. It extends into the Irish Sea, and its southern coast is the northern boundary of the Tremadog Bay inlet of Cardigan Ba ...

before gaining a master's degree in social medicine from the

London School of Hygiene and Tropical Medicine The London School of Hygiene & Tropical Medicine (LSHTM) is a public university, public research university in Bloomsbury, central London, and a constituent college, member institution of the University of London that specialises in public hea ...

. In 1974, he was the inaugural chairman of Antur Aelhaearn; the first community co-operative in the United Kingdom, which was established to save the local school. He was also the inaugural chairman and president of Dolen Cymru, a charity that was established in 1985 to build a relationship between Wales and the southern African country of

Lesotho Lesotho, formally the Kingdom of Lesotho and formerly known as Basutoland, is a landlocked country in Southern Africa. Entirely surrounded by South Africa, it is the largest of only three sovereign enclave and exclave, enclaves in the world, t ...

. He was the

Plaid Cymru Plaid Cymru ( ; , ; officially Plaid Cymru – the Party of Wales, and often referred to simply as Plaid) is a centre-left, Welsh nationalist list of political parties in Wales, political party in Wales, committed to Welsh independence from th ...

candidate for the

Montgomeryshire Montgomeryshire ( ) was Historic counties of Wales, one of the thirteen counties of Wales that existed from 1536 until their abolishment in 1974. It was named after its county town, Montgomery, Powys, Montgomery, which in turn was named after ...

constituency in the 1979, 1983 and 1987 UK general elections.

Personal life

He was married and had four children including

Dafydd Dafydd is a Welsh masculine given name, related to David, and more rarely a surname. People so named include: Given name Medieval era :''Ordered chronologically'' * Dafydd ab Owain Gwynedd (1203), Prince of Gwynedd * Dafydd ap Gruffydd (1238–1283 ...

and

Cian In Irish mythology, Cian or Cían (), nicknamed Scal Balb, was the son of Dian Cecht, the physician of the Tuatha Dé Danann, and best known as the father of Lugh Lamhfada. Cían's brothers were Cu, Cethen, and Miach. Cían was slain by th ...

who were members of the band

Super Furry Animals Super Furry Animals are a Welsh rock band formed in Cardiff in 1993. For the duration of their professional career, the band consisted of Gruff Rhys (lead vocals, guitar), Huw Bunford (lead guitar, vocals), Guto Pryce (bass guitar), Cian C ...

. He died at the age of 77 at his home in Pencaenewydd, Llŷn, and was interred at Llanaelhaearn cemetery.

Publications

* – Strategy for the Welsh language * – history and folk tales about Nant Gwrtheyrn and its language trust * – autobiography

Personal life

Publications

References

Further reading

Obituaries