Edward Evans

CBE The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(11 January 1883 – 30 March 1960) was a teacher and Labour Party politician in the

United Kingdom The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland, commonly known as the United Kingdom (UK) or Britain, is a country in Europe, off the north-western coast of the continental mainland. It comprises England, Scotland, Wales and North ...

. Noted for his work for and with

deaf Deafness has varying definitions in cultural and medical contexts. In medical contexts, the meaning of deafness is hearing loss that precludes a person from understanding spoken language, an Audiology, audiological condition. In this context it ...

people and the blind, he entered the

House of Commons The House of Commons is the name for the elected lower house of the bicameral parliaments of the United Kingdom and Canada. In both of these countries, the Commons holds much more legislative power than the nominally upper house of parliament. ...

in his sixties, and sat from 1945 to 1959.

Early life

Evans was born in Manchester to Welsh parents. He was educated at Llanelli Science Schools and at St Paul's College in

Cheltenham Cheltenham (), also known as Cheltenham Spa, is a spa town and borough on the edge of the Cotswolds in the county of Gloucestershire, England. Cheltenham became known as a health and holiday spa town resort, following the discovery of mineral s ...

, before training as a teacher at the

University of London The University of London (UoL; abbreviated as Lond or more rarely Londin in post-nominals) is a federal public research university located in London, England, United Kingdom. The university was established by royal charter in 1836 as a degree ...

. He taught first at an

elementary school A primary school (in Ireland, the United Kingdom, Australia, Trinidad and Tobago, Jamaica, and South Africa), junior school (in Australia), elementary school or grade school (in North America and the Philippines) is a school for primary ed ...

London London is the capital and largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary down to the North Sea, and has been a majo ...

, then successively at Linden Lodge Special School for the Blind, the Old Kent Road School for the Deaf and the East Anglian Schools for Blind and Deaf in

Gorleston Gorleston-on-Sea (), known colloquially as Gorleston, is a town in the Borough of Great Yarmouth, in Norfolk, England, to the south of Great Yarmouth. Situated at the mouth of the River Yare it was a port town at the time of the Domesday Book ...

, Norfolk. He held special diplomas in the teaching of blind and of deaf people, and retired as the headmaster of Gorleston in 1943, having been a teacher for 40 years, and served for the next two years as Secretary of the

National Institute for the Blind The Royal National Institute of Blind People (RNIB) is a UK charity offering information, support and advice to almost two million people in the UK with sight loss. History The RNIB was founded by Thomas Rhodes Armitage, a doctor who had eye ...

. A sometime member of

Great Yarmouth Borough Council Great may refer to: Descriptions or measurements * Great, a relative measurement in physical space, see Size * Greatness, being divine, majestic, superior, majestic, or transcendent People * List of people known as "the Great" *Artel Great (born ...

and its education committee, he was elected at the

1945 general election The following elections occurred in the year 1945. Africa * 1945 South-West African legislative election Asia * 1945 Indian general election Australia * 1945 Fremantle by-election Europe * 1945 Albanian parliamentary election * 1945 Bulgaria ...

as the

Member of Parliament A member of parliament (MP) is the representative in parliament of the people who live in their electoral district. In many countries with bicameral parliaments, this term refers only to members of the lower house since upper house members of ...

(MP) for

Lowestoft Lowestoft ( ) is a coastal town and civil parish in the East Suffolk district of Suffolk, England.OS Explorer Map OL40: The Broads: (1:25 000) : . As the most easterly UK settlement, it is north-east of London, north-east of Ipswich and sou ...

Suffolk Suffolk () is a ceremonial county of England in East Anglia. It borders Norfolk to the north, Cambridgeshire to the west and Essex to the south; the North Sea lies to the east. The county town is Ipswich; other important towns include Lowes ...

. ''

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'' newspaper had predicted that the sitting

Conservative Party The Conservative Party is a name used by many political parties around the world. These political parties are generally right-wing though their exact ideologies can range from center-right to far-right. Political parties called The Conservative P ...

Pierse Loftus Pierse Creagh Loftus (29 November 1877 – 20 January 1956) was an Irish-born British businessman and Conservative Party politician. A notable figure in the public life of Lowestoft and East Suffolk for several decades, he sat in the House of Co ...

as "likely to be re-elected", but 62-year-old Evans had overturned a majority of 22% to become Lowestoft's first Labour MP. He was made a

Commander of the Order of the British Empire The Most Excellent Order of the British Empire is a British order of chivalry, rewarding contributions to the arts and sciences, work with charitable and welfare organisations, and public service outside the civil service. It was established o ...

(CBE) "for political and public services" in the King's Birthday Honours List 1949, and represented Lowestoft in the

for 14 years, until his defeat at the 1959 general election by the

Conservative Conservatism is a cultural, social, and political philosophy that seeks to promote and to preserve traditional institutions, practices, and values. The central tenets of conservatism may vary in relation to the culture and civilization i ...

James Prior James Michael Leathes Prior, Baron Prior, (11 October 1927 – 12 December 2016) was a British Conservative Party politician. A Member of Parliament from 1959 to 1987, he represented the Suffolk constituency of Lowestoft until 1983 and then ...

. In the Commons, he was noted for his contributions relating to

coastal erosion Coastal erosion is the loss or displacement of land, or the long-term removal of sediment and rocks along the coastline due to the action of waves, currents, tides, wind-driven water, waterborne ice, or other impacts of storms. The landward ...

East Anglia East Anglia is an area in the East of England, often defined as including the counties of Norfolk, Suffolk and Cambridgeshire. The name derives from the Anglo-Saxon kingdom of the East Angles, a people whose name originated in Anglia, in ...

, chairing the All Party Coast Defence Committee, and on fishery protection, frequently complaining of violations by other nations of the

Overfishing Overfishing is the removal of a species of fish (i.e. fishing) from a body of water at a rate greater than that the species can replenish its population naturally (i.e. the overexploitation of the fishery's existing fish stock), resulting in th ...

Convention. He was Chairman of the Labour Party's Fisheries Committee. In Parliament and out, Evans was an activist on issues relating to disability. He helped draft the sections on disability in the

National Assistance Act 1948 The National Assistance Act 1948 is an Act of Parliament passed in the United Kingdom by the Labour government of Clement Attlee. It formally abolished the Poor Law system that had existed since the reign of Elizabeth I, and established a social s ...

, was instrumental in the release of the

National Health Service The National Health Service (NHS) is the umbrella term for the publicly funded healthcare systems of the United Kingdom (UK). Since 1948, they have been funded out of general taxation. There are three systems which are referred to using the " ...

's first hearing aid Medresco, and from 1949 until his death he was chairman of the Ministry of Health Health Advisory Committee on Handicapped Persons. His contributions on deafness were respected on both sides of the House, and nearly a decade after his death he was described as "the spokesman for the deaf in this House".HC Deb 03 March 1967 vol 742 cc915
/ref> As well as being governor or committee-member of numerous bodies related to disability, he wrote ''A Manual Alphabet for the Deaf-blind'' and edited ''Braille Schools'' magazine. The Edward Evans Hall, which served as the Beccles Labour Club, now demolished was erected in his honour.

Family

In November 1915, Evans married (Victoria) Evelyn Muir, daughter of Robert Muir. She died in 1953, after the couple had had two sons. He died at his home in

Pinner Pinner is a London suburb in the London borough of Harrow, Greater London, England, northwest of Charing Cross, close to the border with Hillingdon, historically in the county of Middlesex. The population was 31,130 in 2011. Originally a med ...

on 30 March 1960, aged 77.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Evans, Edward 1883 births 1960 deaths Politicians from Manchester Labour Party (UK) MPs for English constituencies UK MPs 1945–1950 UK MPs 1950–1951 UK MPs 1951–1955 UK MPs 1955–1959 Commanders of the Order of the British Empire Councillors in Suffolk Alumni of the University of London British disability rights activists