Sir Griffith Humphrey Pugh Evans of Lovesgrove 1840 - 1902
Sir Griffith Pugh Evans of Lovesgrove
A Cardiganshire Squire in India
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| Sirv Griffith Humphrey Pugh Evans KC |
As the procession wended slowly down the gravelled walk the snow was falling softly, renewing the white garb of hedgerows and the fields, where patches of green and brown were showing after the thaw at midday. Little groups of people were waiting in the snow here and there on the road, and the cortege grew in numbers as it proceeded. When the main road was reached, a considerable number of persons on foot followed the long line of carriages.
This touching description appeared in the Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard of Friday 14 February 1902 describing the scene the previous Monday afternoon for the funeral of Sir Griffith Humphrey Pugh Evans of Lovesgrove, who had died at his home on 6 February at the age of 62 after a long illness.
Griffith was born in Aberystwyth on 13 January 1840, third son of John Evans, a wealthy Merionethshire born Aberystwyth merchant and draper, and twice Mayor, who could trace his lineage to Meurig, Prince of Dyfed, and the Second Royal Tribe of Wales. Educated at Shrewsbury School, John Evans was able to purchase the Lovesgrove estate from Colonel William Powell MP of Nanteos in 1843 for £7,500. The family motto is ‘Duw a Gadwo y Brain’ (‘God Protects the Ravens’) and a raven features on the family’s crest. Griffith’s mother, Elizabeth (known as Eliza), was the daughter and heiress of Lewis Pugh of Abermad, Llanilar, another small estate, the Pugh family tracing their ancestry to the Pughs of Mathafarn, near Machynlleth, who came to prominence during the Tudor period. It is said that Elizabeth Pugh brought with her a dowry of 7,000 gold sovereigns.
As a young child, Griffith moved to Lovesgrove with his parents and siblings but with two older brothers would have had no expectation of inheriting the estate. Educated at Bradfield College, Berkshire he was probably one of the first pupils following the college’s opening, as a preparatory school, in 1850. Between 1858 and 1862, Griffith studied at Lincoln College, Oxford gaining a BA and, in 1872, he was awarded an MA. He studied medicine but later switched to law and was admitted as a barrister-at-law in 1867 at Lincoln’s Inn. Griffith’s original intention had been to go to New York to practise but he was persuaded by his elder brother, Lewis, to join him in Calcutta where he practised at the Indian Bar and served with distinction in public office for most of his adult life.
In 1874 John Evans died and Griffith, despite being the third son, inherited Lovesgrove. His eldest brother John Pugh Evans, a clergyman, presumably declined the opportunity to inherit whilst the second son, Lewis Pugh Evans had, in 1868, inherited the Abermad estate from his maternal uncle on the condition that he took the surname Pugh, becoming Lewis Pugh Evans Pugh! Like Griffith, Lewis had a distinguished career in India becoming Attorney General of Bengal. When Lewis died in India in 1908, his cremated remains were brought home and were the first cremated remains to be buried in Llanbadarn Fawr. Through their connection to India, the two brothers would marry two sisters, the daughters of James Hills, an indigo planter, of Nischindepore, Bengal. Griffith married Emilia Savi Hills at St Hilary’s Church, Llanilar on 4 September 1873. Lewis had, in March 1864, married Veronica Harriet Hills at the Cathedral in Calcutta. The brother of Emilia and Veronica was James Hills, awarded the Victoria Cross for his actions at the Siege of Delhi during the Indian Mutiny in 1857, who would later find his way to Wales and became Lieutenant-General Sir James Hills-Johnes VC following his marriage to the heiress of the Dolaucothi estate in North Carmarthenshire, after which he assumed the additional surname of Johnes.
In late 1877 Griffith was appointed by the Earl of Lytton, then Viceroy of India, to the Legislative Council of India, being the first practising barrister to sit on the council. He was to remain a member of the council for twenty-two years. His obituary in the Cambrian News and Merionethshire Standard of 14 February 1902 recorded that “his intimate knowledge of native life and character derived from his confidential relations with the leading members of the native community” particularly fitted him to the role. In recognition of his service, he was knighted in May 1892 being appointed a Knight Commander of the Order of the Indian Empire (KCIE), an order which, like the other Indian Empire orders of chivalry, has been in abeyance (but never formally abolished) since the last appointments were made in the New Year Honours of 1948. The last surviving member of the Order, the Maharajah of Alwar, died as recently as 2009.
Griffith became renowned in Calcutta and beyond for his legal skills and for his quick grasp of the salient points of intricate and complex cases earning the respect of the judges in front of whom he appeared and, no doubt, the envy of those on the opposite side. Griffith and Emilia had a house in Simla (now Shimla), the Summer capital of the British Raj among the forests and hills of the North West Himalayas, to where the Vice-Regal Court and administration would move to escape the summer heat.
Griffith decided, despite spending much of his time in India, to build a new mansion house at Lovesgrove replacing the earlier house. At the time he was earning £10,000 a year and, in a letter to his family, he wrote that the cost of building the new mansion would be easily managed and covered by one year’s earnings. Construction took place during 1882/83 to a design by the architect, John Macvicar Anderson of Edinburgh and London, with the original plans preserved in the Lovesgrove collection at the National Library of Wales. The Carmarthenshire and Ceredigion volume of the Buildings of Wales (2006) describes the new house as follows:
Blue Llanddewi Brefi stone with Bath stone dressings. Reminiscent of a Scottish shooting lodge, long and low, with bargeboard gables over mullioned bays. Prominent chimneys. Aesthetic Movement detail within: hall with Jacobean-style fireplace, one panel dated EB 1639, and double-arch opening to staircase with classicizing figures of the Four Seasons in stained glass. Drawing room with deep inglenook. Library with ‘Queen Anne’ style white-painted shelves and arcaded overmantel.
The Aberystwith Observer of 13 February 1902 described the mansion as follows:
The present beautiful structure which, standing on the northern slope of the valley of the Rheidol, always facing the sun, and commanding a view of the valley in both directions, as well as the hills for miles, is a charming residence.
It seems that Anderson and his wife maintained contact with the Evans family as, almost twenty years later, in September 1901, they are recorded in a long list of those who bought wedding gifts for Griffith and Emilia’s daughter, Alice Mary Pugh Evans, on her marriage at Llanbadarn Fawr to Richard Townsend Greer, of the Indian Civil Service.
Despite his new home at Lovesgrove, Griffith was as busy as ever in India and in 1884 he undertook what must have been an adventure which would have tested even the most physically and mentally fit 44 year old. The Aberystwith Observer of 22 November 1884 reported:
The Bengal (India) Government have been endeavouring to establish a trade between India and Tibet by way of Darjeeling, and Mr Macaulay, Secretary to the Bengal Government, in the course of a recent trip into Sikkim, a native state through which the Darjeeling - Tibet routes pass, had an interview with the Rajah, who is understood to have expressed a cordial desire to co-operate in the work of opening the roads and establishing a regular trade. Many of our readers will be interested to know that the Hon. G.H.P. Evans, of Lovesgrove, near this town, accompanied Mr Macaulay in this expedition. The country is one that very few Europeans have been allowed to enter, and it is very difficult to reach.
One wonders how cordial the Rajah’s desire to co-operate actually was and whether, in reality, he had a choice!
On his visits home, Griffith involved himself in public affairs and was a keen horseman, enjoying hunting and country pursuits. A fluent Welsh speaker, he served as a Deputy Lieutenant of Cardiganshire from 1880, and a Justice of the Peace from 1876. In August 1893 he lent some interesting articles for exhibit in a temporary museum which had been organised by Henry Bonsall as part of a four day bazaar to raise funds to pay off the £2,300 debt remaining on the new St Michael’s Church. The Aberystwith Observer of 17 August that year records:
Sir Griffith Evans, member of the Legislative Council of India, lent several articles, including the King of Burmah’s family bible, taken in the last war, a censer that used to be swung before the Grand Llama at Tibet (very valuable), and a Burmese illustrated novel, highly sensational, found in the King’s palace after Mandelay.
A gifted orator, when in Cardiganshire he would speak in support of the Liberal candidates at election time. In 1900, he was instrumental in establishing a School of Law at Aberystwyth University. The school opened in 1901 with Sir Griffith contributing to the cost. His obituary records that:
In private life he was extremely popular, having a personal charm and ready sympathy and interest which endeared him to all about him, old and young, rich and poor; while his absolute fairness and his capacity for understanding the views and opinions of those who differed from him and his ready recognition that there are often two sides of a question, combined with sound judgement, enabled him to go through life making no enemies and gaining the respect of his opponents and smoothing out differences and mediating between others.
Sir Griffith returned home for the final time in 1901, having undergone an operation on his throat in June 1900. The final two years of his life were dogged by ill-health and he spent time in Bournemouth, Llandrindod Wells and the Cotswolds in search of an improvement which, sadly, did not occur. Griffith’s great-grandson, Christopher Evans, recalls being told by his grandfather, Brigadier General Lewis Pugh Evans, that had Sir Griffith gone to New York as originally planned, he might have lived a longer life.
The Aberystwith Observer of 13 February 1902 described the scene in Llanbadarn Fawr for Sir Griffith’s funeral as follows:
As the head of the cortege approached Llanbadarn village, and the sad sound of the tolling bells were heard, a bit of blue sky appeared in the north, and in a few minutes the snow clouds had passed southward, the sun shone again, and midwinter was followed by balmy spring weather, as if in indication that death was followed by life.
The carriages present included those of Gogerddan, Nanteos, Fronfraith, Glanrheidol, Nantcaerio, Glanpaith, Penglais, Penywern, Bryneithyn, Llidiarde, Ffosrhydgaled, Lluest, etc. Blinds were drawn in the village and all along the route, and the bells were tolled, and the muffled peals were rung. The entrance to the family vault was lined with moss decorated with white flowers.
In 1904, a stained glass window in his memory was unveiled in St Padarn’s Church. The Aberystwith Observer of 8 September that year reported:
A beautiful window in memory of the late Sir Griffith Evans, Lovesgrove, was unveiled at the English service in the parish church on Sunday morning by the Ven. David Williams, Archdeacon of St David’s. In the course of his sermon the Archdeacon referred to his early friendship with Sir Griffith of whom he always thought with reverence, honour and love, and who was good, noble and true, and characterised by brightness, cheerfulness and thought for others. Lady Evans and several members of the family were present.
The memorial window represents a figure of Justice holding an open book, on which are engraven the words Justice, Wisdom, Reverence, Love. Above the figure hangs the Order of Knight Commander of the Indian Empire, and beneath an inscription to his memory, and underneath that his arms. Around the window is inscribed the text “The path of the just is as the shining Light that shineth more and more unto the perfect day”. The window was executed by the artist Mr Arnold.
Sir Griffith’s widow, Lady Emilia, survived him until 1938 involving herself with several local organisations. She formed the Aberystwyth and Llanbadarn District Nursing Association in 1899, and helped establish Alltymynydd Sanatorium at Llanybydder. She was President of the Mothers Union, the Girls Friendly Society and the Women's Section of the Aberystwyth Branch of the British Legion and supported the Soldiers and Sailors Families Association. Following her death in November 1938, the Cambrian News stated "Perhaps her many friends will think her personality her best claim on our memories. It was not what she did but what she was.”
The couple had three sons and four daughters. The eldest son, Griffith Pugh Evans (1879 - 1946) inherited Lovesgrove. A bachelor, the estate then passed to the elder of his two brothers, Brigadier-General Lewis Pugh Evans (1881 - 1962), perhaps the most well-known member of the family, holder of the Victoria Cross, and several other gallantry awards and honours (see ‘A Llanbadarn Fawr VC Winner’, The Ego, December 2016). His son, Eric Evans, having predeceased him in 1950, on the General’s death, in 1962, the estate was inherited by his 17 year old grandson, Christopher Lewis Vaughan Pryse Evans, the current head of the family who now lives near Hay-on-Wye, but also farms at Ponterwyd having sold Lovesgrove in 1984. Christopher is also a representative, in the female line, of the Pryse family of Gogerddan through his paternal grandmother, Dorothea Pryse-Rice of Llwynybrain, Llandovery. Both Dorothea and her sister, Nest, died within months of each other in 1921, aged 27 and 25 respectively, from flu, having both served as nurses during the First World War.
I am grateful to Mr Christopher Evans for his help in the compilation of this article and for the use of photographs from his family collection.
David Gorman
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