Cylchgronau Cymru

Chwiliwch trwy dros 450 o deitlau a 1.2 miliwn o dudalennau

EVAN H. PARRY 1879-1955 The sudden death of Mr. E. H. Parry of Tan-y-Graig, Bryn- tirion Drive, Prestatyn, will be a tragic loss to Flintshire, in whose cultural life Mr. Parry played a very prominent part. A native of Caernarvon with extensive interests in Liverpool, he had lived in Prestatyn for the last 31 years. In the town he was greatly respected and was a deacon of the Welsh Presbyterian Church as well as a former President and adviser in local history and all such matters to the flourishing Dyserth Field Club. Local history and the history of Wales were the interests of a lifetime, and Mr. Parry was widely known for his keen awareness of and constant researches into the past of Flintshire. He was local Secretary of the Cambrian Archae- logical Association and a member of the General Committee of that body. He never missed a meeting of the Cambrians and his presence had almost become one of the conditions of a successful gathering Flintshire people especially will not feel that the Annual Meetings of the Cambrian are the same now that Mr. Parry's genial influence has gone. Perhaps Mr. Parry's best memorial is the work that he put into the revival of the Flintshire Historical Society The Society had lapsed in the 1930's and 1940's. A meeting was held in the Council Chamber, Mold, on the 9th December, 1950 and Mr. Parry was elected to the Chair and proposed in his opening speech the revival of the once flourishing Society. At the Inaugural Meeting in the following February, Mr. E. H. Parry became Chair- man of the Council of the Society, a position he held to the day of his sudden death. How much work he put into the reorganisation of the Society, his fellow officials can testify. He helped to build up a membership of 400, led excursions, presided at lectures, and at every meeting of the Council or of the Society gave of his best. Tact, modesty, enthusiasm, a capacity for hard work, and above all a deep interest in Flintshire history and traditions made Mr. Parry an ideal Chairman. He saw several volumes of the Flintshire Histori- cal Society's Journal appear and his great ambition was to restart the Record Series for the publication of orginal sources for Flintshire history. The day before his tragic death he was talking of this subject and making arrangements to contact lecturers who had promised to address the Society. He should have been at the Cambrian Archaeological Association Committee meeting on Friday, the day of his funeral, to arrange the Easter meeting at which he would have played a prominent part. The opening of the Flintshire Record Office in 1952 and the appointment of a County Archivist were helped by Mr. Parry's interest, and he became a co-opted member of the first County Records Committee. Mr. Parry was a willing helper to many voluntary societies and his lectures, usually on subjects connected with local history, were most enjoyable events. When the National Eisteddfod came to Rhyl in 1953 he was first and foremost in the work of organising a successful Flintshire Historical Exhibition. Mr. Parry will be greatly missed in Flintshire and it will be a long time before anyone will be found to take his place. The cultural life of the County will be very much the poorer for his passing W.H.J. uno