Postponement of the 1914 Bangor Eisteddfod

Everything was in place. All the deadlines had passed, the adjudications had all been submitted, and the pavilion was ready.  All that remained to be done was to look forward to welcoming everyone to the National Eisteddfod in Bangor – in a month’s time. The Eisteddfod had been held annually since 1880. The year was 1914; what could go wrong?

On 4 August that year, the world changed forever, as Britain entered the Great War. Three days after this huge announcement, a meeting of the Eisteddfod's Executive Committee was held in Bangor, and according to the report in Y Dinesydd Cymreig, "On the proposal of Sir Henry Lewis, the committee unanimously approved the following resolution: -" As the question of the propriety of holding the Eisteddfod in Bangor this year, given the serious estate of the present circumstances, has been raised, that the committee agrees that there is not currently sufficient reason to change the decision previously reached to host the Eisteddfod. ”

But huge changes were afoot, and just days after Sir Henry Lewis's motion was agreed, Eisteddfod officials were concerned about the feasibility of hosting the festival. According to the 19 August 1914 issue of Yr Udgorn, organisers were particularly worried about travelling arrangements, “Nothing has been finalised yet about hosting this year's Bangor National Eisteddfod. The biggest hurdle at this time is getting cheap trains to run. Up to last Friday night none of the companies had sent final answers. All of the choirs preparing to compete are ready to attend if appropriate facilities can be obtained to travel. If the Eisteddfod is not held this year, a request will be made to have the Eisteddfod in Bangor next year instead of in Aberystwyth. There will be a meeting of the committee tonight (Tuesday) to consider the matter further.”

Within the week, the Finance Committee had gathered together to look again at the decision to hold the festival, with a report in Y Dinesydd Cymreig on 26 August stating, “The Eisteddfod Executive Committee met to consider the financial committee's recommendation to defer the festival until September 1915. The letter of Mr TJ Williams, former Eisteddfod treasurer, was read out stating his intention to resign if the recommendation was adopted ... The Mayor reported that letters had been received from Mr Lloyd George and Sir Vincent Evans asking the committee to continue with the Eisteddfod, and a similar request was received from three of the great choirs of South Wales. ”

For once, Lloyd George's words failed to sway the decision, and "After a split, the overwhelming majority of the committee voted for the postponement, and it was passed that the financial arrangements were to be left to the finance committee."

And there were some major financial arrangements to be discussed. The implications of the decision to postpone the Eisteddfod were huge. The Executive Committee had already received a report, which stated that if the festival were cancelled the loss would be 1,800p (£116,255 today). A total of 3,184p (£369,812 today) would be required if the festival was deferred for a year and an additional 2,734p (£317,546 today) if the festival continued.

So, the decision had been taken to postpone the Eisteddfod for a year, but the officials and the committee were facing serious financial problems, and they had to raise money quickly.

On 16 September, Y Dinesydd Cymreig reported that the Eisteddfod Pavilion was to be used for the housing of soldiers - at a reasonable price, "The number of men enlisted at the Wrexham Office for the Royal Welsh Fusiliers is so large that we have nowhere big enough to house them. On Thursday a number of military officers accompanied Sir Henry Lewis to inspect the Pavilion at the Bangor National Eisteddfod and asked for the terms on which it could be used to house the extra troops. An immediate meeting of the Eisteddfod's Finance Committee was called, with the result that the use of the building was allowed at a reasonable price. Many of the troops are already in place.”

Therefore, the work to raise money to hold the 1915 Eisteddfod in Bangor had begun, but there was much more to be done to achieve the goal. And while the financial negotiations continued, the Committee continued to discuss what to do with all the arrangements which were already in place for the 1914 Eisteddfod.

By postponing so late in the day, all the literary arrangements had been made and the work for the art exhibition had also been received.  Unlike this year, when the festival was postponed before the compositions were sent to the judges, all the adjudications had been completed and returned to the organisers. So all the judges knew whether they’d chosen a winner or not. Thank goodness for sealed envelopes and pseudonyms, or the whole competitions process would have been ruined.

Everything had to be kept completely safe and untouched for a whole year, and on 22 September 1914, Y Genedl announced the decision of the Executive Committee, "... in the literary department all the compositions and adjudications will be sealed and kept in the bank until the time of the Eisteddfod. The entries in the art and science sections will be kept in a room in the University, where the Exhibition will be held.”

The Committee decided to allow additional entries in the stage competitions, "in the vocal and instrumental competitions, including choirs and brass bands ... New entries are also accepted in the recitation and slate splitting competitions."

But at the end of all the work, was there a happy ending to the history of the Bangor Eisteddfod when it was finally held in August 1915?

The answer is clear in the 11 August 1915 issue of Y Cymro, “The shadow of the war had been upon the Eisteddfod for a year, and the cloud did not rise during the week. The fragmented programme and the main competitions that usually draw thousands to the festival, captivating them in the Pavilion, were made impossible by the costs of travelling to Bangor by rail.  It is understood that the deficit is close to a thousand pounds (£116,000 today). We share our deepest sympathies with the people of Bangor, those who worked so hard in such difficult and disadvantageous circumstances. We trust that they can be helped if not completely compensated in some way. ”

And on top of the financial loss, there were also complaints about the quality of the literary compositions, after they had been locked in the bank for a year. “We regret that the standard of the composition competitions did not compensate the external and financial woes of the Eisteddfod.  To have produced a masterpiece in these troubled times would have been an excellent memorial to the Eisteddfod. But unless the adjudicators were suffering from soreness and misery this year, there was little or no achievements in the compositions.”

But, there was one great success in all the ‘soreness and misery’, with TH Parry-Williams winning the Chair and the Crown for the second time, following his success at the Wrexham Eisteddfod in 1912, and creating the first 'double-double', a feat only once repeated over the last hundred years with the success of Donald Evans in 1977 and 1980.