Roger Gwynn

Roger Gwynn was born in London during the Second World War, in 1941. His father was a Whitehall civil servant. In 1947 the family moved to Epsom, Surrey, where Roger spent the remainder of his childhood and youth.

Roger studied Modern Languages and Social Anthropology at Cambridge University and graduated (B.A. Hons) in the summer of 1963.

Rather than go straight into employment Roger opted to spend some time doing voluntary work. He was sent to East Pakistan by Service Civil International in 1964. There he helped to run a workcamp programme based in Dhaka. He also did some teaching in Rajshahi district and relief work in Barisal and Patuakhali districts. After a short break in the UK he returned to East Pakistan in 1966 for a further period of voluntary service, this time helping with a child sponsoring programme in Dinajpur.

Back in England Roger took a Postgraduate Certificate in Education from St Peter's College, Saltley, Birmingham, in 1969, following which he taught for two years at Yardley Junior School. During this time he lived in a lodging house in Small Heath owned by an ex-seaman from Sylhet. This was his first contact with the people and language of Sylhet district.

In 1971, when the liberation movement began in East Pakistan, Roger joined the Bangla Desh Action Committee, Birmingham, as office secretary. Later that year he visited East Pakistan as an interpreter for a Granada Television World in Action film team which was investigating the war situation inside the country. The team visited a liberated area in Faridpur district and filmed evidence of Pakistan army atrocities. The resulting film was shown in December 1971 under the title The Year of Killing.

When Bangladesh achieved independence Roger was eager to assist in the task of rebuilding the country and went for a third stint of voluntary service beginning in 1972. This time he stayed for three years and was involved in administrative work at Ganashasthya Kendra, Sabhar as well as participating in workcamps in various parts of Bangladesh.

On his return to England Roger worked for a while as a waiter in Bangladeshi restaurants in Birmingham. Then in 1976 he started voluntary work for the Bangladeshi community, writing letters and filling in forms for those who had little command of English; interpreting at official interviews and appeal tribunals, giving advice on social security and immigration matters and so on. From time to time he used to accompany Barrister Shafiuddin of the UK Immigration Advisory Service on month-long tours in Sylhet, collecting evidence to help families with immigration problems.

In his spare time Roger studied the Sylheti dialect and the Nagri script. He produced a simple Nagri computer font and a short Sylheti dictionary, and also translated a couple of Sylheti puthi into English.

Roger’s work with the Bangladeshi community in Birmingham was interrupted in 1996, when he had to move to Gloucestershire to look after his elderly parents. Roger has now retired from work and lives in Stroud, Gloucestershire.