Julian Cayo-Evans
William Edward Julian Cayo-Evans, also known locally as Iorwerth ap Ieuan, was a Welsh nationalist political activist and both leader and self-styled commandant of the paramilitary Free Wales Army throughout the 1960s.
Early life
Born at Plas Glandenys manor, Silian, near Lampeter, where he also died, Cayo-Evans was educated at the independent, co-educational Millfield School in the village of Street in Somerset, England. His father was John Cayo Evans, a professor of mathematics at St David's College, Lampeter and High Sheriff of Cardiganshire in the period 1941-42. In 1955, he was conscripted for National Service, serving with the South Wales Borderers and saw active service, fighting communist guerrillas in Malaya during the bitter Malayan emergency. On his return from service, he attended the Royal Agricultural College in Cirencester, and later returned to Lampeter to breed palomino and appaloosa horses on his stud farm.Political activism
Best known for his leadership of the Free Wales Army, Cayo-Evans appears to have become radicalised during the early 1960s, notably during the Tryweryn flooding. He was active in the paramilitary throughout the 1960s, and along with two other leading members of the organisation, Dennis Coslett and Gethin ap Iestyn, was convicted of conspiracy to cause explosions and other public order offences following a 53-day trial in 1969. He was sentenced to fifteen months imprisonment, though some sources suggest thirteen months.Security services' files from the UK National Archives described Cayo-Evans having "a mental age of 12", and Coslett, his second-in-command, as "unbalanced", although both of these claims are fiercely disputed by those close to the men. A memo from the Director of Public Prosecutions had cautioned against "taking the organisation's activities too seriously". When asked by the BBC for comment on the matter in 2005, historian John Davies stated that the assertion regarding Cayo-Evans' mental age "was a bit unkind"; however, "He was certainly a fantasist." Regarding the FWA itself, "the government was obviously concerned enough to investigate it thoroughly", which he surmised was connected to the sensitivity surrounding the escalating conflict in Northern Ireland at the time.
Post-Free Wales Army
At the age of 57, Cayo-Evans died suddenly at his home in Silian as a result of heart failure on the 28th of March, 1995. Hundreds travelled to attend his funeral at the local cemetery, including a number of plain-clothed police officers who had been informed that a firearm was going to be used for a gun salute, as was the tradition for Irish republican funerals. Instead, an accordion was played at the grave to the notes of the "Cuckoo Waltz", said to be Cayo-Evans' favourite tune.Print and performance
In April 2002, Sgript Cymru produced a play authored by Dic Edwards that was loosely based on Cayo-Evans. Franco's Bastard was performed at the Chapter Arts Centre in Cardiff and aroused both interest and protest from Welsh nationalists. Edwards later stated that "the play wasn't biographical" and apologised for any offence he may have caused Cayo-Evans' children. The writer recounted how he had personally known and become friends with Cayo-Evans following an intense physical altercation, in which he had been falsely accused of attempting to burn down a cottage at a party, resulting in him being hospitalised in Chepstow.Wyn Thomas published a history of the Free Wales Army "Hands Off Wales" in 2013.
In popular culture
In 2000, the brewery Tomos Watkin renamed the Apollo Hotel, Cardiff to "The Cayo Arms".In 2004, Cayo-Evans was voted to 33rd place in 100 Welsh Heroes, an online public opinion poll of Welsh figures that was later published as a book, which was commissioned by Welsh Assembly-funded body Culturenet Cymru.