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John Evans was born in 1857 in the village of Llangynog, Bala, Gwynedd. His birthplace, the cottage Pen y Parc, still stands high above the quarries, looking down on the village. By the age of ten he was working a twelve hour day in the lead mines and had already gained the Sol-fa certificate of the London College of Music. Before he was twenty he was playing the harmonium in chapel, conducting Llangynog's choir and winning trophies at local eisteddfodau, both for the choir and for his own poetry.
John had taught himself academic subjects as well as music and became a clerk in the office at the slate quarry. At the age of 23 he moved to Manchester to work in a textile warehouse, where he stayed for 49 years. He devoted much time to his work as deacon in the Methodist church, but music and poetry remained his first love. He chose the bardic name of Cynogfab (Son of Cynog) and achieved national fame, composing more than twenty hymns of which a number are still sung today. He formed and conducted the North Wales Union Choir and was well known as a conductor and adjudicator at music festivals all over England and Wales. Like John, his wife Elizabeth was also a native of, and grew up in, Llangynog. Their son, Aneurin Maldwyn Evans of Manchester, was born in 1891. He was killed in action fighting with the 2nd Battalion, Royal Welsh Fusiliers at the Battle of Polygon Wood, near Ypres on 26th September 1917. He is buried in the Tyne Cot Cemetery. In 1918, a year after Aneurin's death, John wrote a hymn-tune, Aneurin, in his memory. In the library of Llangynog are photographs of local preachers and poets, including John Evans (Cynogfab), remembered as a native of the village, a staunch socialist, and writer of hymns for the Wesleyan chapel. |