Elwyn Davies (20 September 1908 – 18 September 1986) was a Welsh university and cultural administrator, civil servant, writer and academic. Born on 20 September 1908,"Dr Elwyn Davies", ''

The Times ''The Times'' is a British Newspaper#Daily, daily Newspaper#National, national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its modern name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its si ...

'' (London), 23 September 1986, p. 14. . Davies was the son of Congregationalist minister, Ben Davies (1878–1956). His brother, Alun Davies, became a professor of history at

Swansea University Swansea University () is a public university, public research university located in Swansea, Wales, United Kingdom. It was chartered as University College of Swansea in 1920, as the fourth college of the University of Wales. In 1996, it chang ...

."Davies, Elwyn, 1908–1986"
''

National Library of Wales The National Library of Wales (, ) in Aberystwyth is the national legal deposit library of Wales and is one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies. It is the biggest library in Wales, holding over 6.5 million books and periodicals, and the l ...

''. Retrieved 2 February 2022. Elwyn attended the

University College of Wales, 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 ...

, and the

University of Manchester The University of Manchester is a public university, public research university in Manchester, England. The main campus is south of Manchester city centre, Manchester City Centre on Wilmslow Road, Oxford Road. The University of Manchester is c ...

, completing a

PhD A Doctor of Philosophy (PhD, DPhil; or ) is a terminal degree that usually denotes the highest level of academic achievement in a given discipline and is awarded following a course of graduate study and original research. The name of the deg ...

at the latter in 1937. Davies was appointed a

lecturer Lecturer is an academic rank within many universities, though the meaning of the term varies somewhat from country to country. It generally denotes an academic expert who is hired to teach on a full- or part-time basis. They may also conduct re ...

at Manchester in 1934, serving under H. J. Fleure. He worked in

naval intelligence Military intelligence is a military discipline that uses information collection and analysis approaches to provide guidance and direction to assist commanders in their decisions. This aim is achieved by providing an assessment of data from a ...

for four years during the Second World War, after which, in 1945, he was appointed secretary to the council of the

University of Wales The University of Wales () is a confederal university based in Cardiff, Wales. Founded by royal charter in 1893 as a federal university with three constituent colleges – Aberystwyth, Bangor and Cardiff – the university was the first universit ...

, serving until 1963. He was also secretary to the board of the

University of Wales Press The University of Wales Press () was founded in 1922 as a central service of the University of Wales. The press publishes academic journals and around seventy books a year in the English and Welsh languages on six general subjects: history, poli ...

. In 1963, he was appointed

Permanent Secretary A permanent secretary is the most senior Civil Service (United Kingdom), civil servant of a department or Ministry (government department), ministry charged with running the department or ministry's day-to-day activities. Permanent secretaries are ...

of the Welsh Department of the

Ministry of Education An education ministry is a national or subnational government agency politically responsible for education. Various other names are commonly used to identify such agencies, such as Ministry of Education, Department of Education, and Ministry of Pub ...

; the next year, he took on the equivalent role in the newly formed Department of Education and Science. After retiring in 1969, he was chairman of the Welsh Library Council and president of the

, from 1977 to 1986. He died on 18 September 1986. An obituary in ''

'' noted that he had, "unaccountably", not received any state honours for his work, but he received an honorary doctorate from Manchester. He was also a writer, producing works on

transhumance Transhumance is a type of pastoralism or Nomad, nomadism, a seasonal movement of livestock between fixed summer and winter pastures. In montane regions (''vertical transhumance''), it implies movement between higher pastures in summer and low ...

and Welsh place names and rural communities.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Davies, Elwyn 1908 births 1986 deaths Welsh civil servants Alumni of Aberystwyth University Alumni of the University of Manchester Academics of the University of Manchester