David Evans-Bevan

Sir David Martyn Evans-Bevan (4 March 1902 – 9 September 1973) was a wealthy industrialist from south Wales. He was the owner of the Vale of Neath Brewery, and purchased Margam Castle from the Talbot family.

David Evans-Bevan was the son of Evan Evans-Bevan, a brewery owner who was Mayor of Neath on several occasions,[1] and his wife Caroline (née Thomas). He was educated at Uppingham School.[2]

David, already High Sheriff of Breconshire, inherited the Vale of Neath Brewery on his father's death in 1929, at the same time becoming wales's leading mine-owner, but decided to concentrate on the brewing business.[3] David married Eira Winifred Glanley, daughter of Sidney Archibald Lloyd Glanley, in 1929, and they had two children, David (born 1932) and Marigold (born 1934).[2]

In 1942 he acquired the Margam estate,[4] including the castle, the ruins of former monastic buildings attached to Margam Abbey, the orangery and about 850 acres of land.[5] Felin Newydd, a country house near Brecon, purchased as a shooting lodge, became a family home, and was converted to a hotel by his grandson Huw in the 2000s.[6]

In addition to the purchase of two Spitfires to help the war effort, David Evans-Bevan was known for his philanthropy and became High Sheriff of Glamorgan in 1951. On 9 July 1958 he was created a baronet, of Cadoxton-juxta-Neath in the County of Glamorgan.[7][8]

In 1967, Sir David sold the brewery to Whitbread, and it finally closed in 1972.[9]

David Evans-Bevan died in September 1973, aged 71, and was succeeded in the baronetcy by his son Martyn. His widow, Eira, died on 24 December 2001.