Ellen Evans

CBE 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 ...

(10 March 1891 – 26 September 1953) was a writer, teacher and principal of Glamorgan Training College in

Barry Barry may refer to: People and fictional characters * Barry (name), including lists of people with the given name, nickname or surname, as well as fictional characters with the given name * Dancing Barry, stage name of Barry Richards (born c. 195 ...

. She was a leading advocate for teaching

Welsh Welsh may refer to: Related to Wales * Welsh, of or about Wales * Welsh language, spoken in Wales * Welsh people, an ethnic group native to Wales Places * Welsh, Arkansas, U.S. * Welsh, Louisiana, U.S. * Welsh, Ohio, U.S. * Welsh Basin, during t ...

in schools.

Life

Evans was born in Gelli in Wales in 1891. Her parents were John and Ellen Evans and they both came from Cardiganshire. She went to Rhondda secondary school and after becoming a pupil-teacher she went to the

University of Aberystwyth Aberystwyth University () is a Public university, public Research university, research university in Aberystwyth, Wales. Aberystwyth was a founding member institution of the former federal University of Wales. The university has over 8,000 stude ...

where she obtained a degree in 1914. Ellen Evans and her students in 1951 2

In 1914

Glamorgan County Council Glamorgan County Council was established in 1889 together with the administrative county of Glamorganshire under the Local Government Act 1888. The first elections to the council were held in January 1889. The council was abolished under the Loca ...

created Glamorgan Training College to train women to teach and Hilda M Raw was the first Principal. Evans began work there in 1915. Raw served until 1923 when Evans was promoted to succeed her. She was an leading advocate for teaching Welsh in schools. The college only took women who lived in Monmouthshire or Glamorganshire. In 1947, the college decided to accept students irrespective of where they lived and in the same year she was given a CBE for the work in Education. Evans served as the Principal of Glamorgan College of Education until she died in 1953 when she was succeeded by Olive R Powell. In 1965 her college changed its name to Glamorgan College of Education.

Writing and legacy

In 1924 she published ''The Teaching of Welsh'' which was adapted from her masters thesis. In 1926 she published

lesson plan A lesson plan is a teacher's detailed description of the course of instruction or "learning trajectory" for a lesson. A daily lesson plan is developed by a teacher to guide class learning. Details will vary depending on the preference of the teac ...

s for teachers starting to teach Welsh in her book, ''Llawlyfr i athrawon'' and in the following year ''Cynllun Cymraeg''. These books enabled teachers to teach in the Welsh language. She created source works adapting the classic

Mabinogion The ''Mabinogion'' () is a collection of the earliest Welsh prose stories, compiled in Middle Welsh in the 12th–13th centuries from earlier oral traditions. There are two main source manuscripts, created –1410, as well as a few earlier frag ...

for younger readers in her ''Y Mabinogion i'r plant'' which was published in four volumes in 1924. She also wrote ''Hwiangerddi Rhiannon'' in 1926 and ''Y Wen Fro'' in 1931. She has been seen as an overlooked person in Welsh history.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Ellen 1891 births 1953 deaths People from Rhondda Heads of colleges in the United Kingdom Alumni of Aberystwyth University Commanders_of_the_Order_of_the_British_Empire