The Story of The
Welsh National Anthem - Hen Wlad fy Nhadau - The Land of
My Fathers
Evan James
James James
Background
The Welsh National Anthem Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of
my Fathers) is amongst the finest anthems of the world
and a song steeped in history. It was written by Evan James
and his son James, two modest tradesmen living at Pontypridd
in the mid nineteenth century. Evan James was born in 1809
at Caerphilly but moved when only four years old to live
at the Ancient Druid Inn near Argoed in the parish of Bedwellty.
A weaver by trade, he installed his own loom near the inn
and spent the early years of his married life as both landlord
and weaver. His son James, one of seven children, was also
born there in 1832. Evan James and his family came to Pontypridd
in 1847 to run a woollen factory on the banks of the river
Rhondda. He remained there until his death in 1878. James
James left Pontypridd for Mountain Ash and later moved
to Aberdare in 1893 where he died in 1902.
Evan James spent many hours reading literature
and composing simple poetry. It is said that even whilst working
he always kept a slate beside him should he feel the need to
write some thoughts. We also gather that from an early age
James showed a natural gift for music and became fond of the
harp. Thus father and son would happily spend long evenings,
the one composing verses and the other playing music.
THE BIRTH OF THE WELSH NATIONAL
ANTHEM
There seems to be general agreement
that the tune was composed in January 1856. This date is written
on the earliest copy in existence, a manuscript in the handwriting
of the composer James James, which is kept at the National
Library of Wales, Aberystwyth. The circumstances of the anthem's
composition however are somewhat uncertain. A mystery remains
to this day as to whether it was the poem or the music that
came first. Unfortunately we have no reliable record and not
surprisingly contradictory accounts circulate today. One of
these state that the words of Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau were written
as Evan James's response to his brother's invitation to join
him in America. He gives the words to James and they inspire
him to music.
Taliesin James, son of James
James, gives another account in a letter addressed
to John Crockett of Pontypridd. Dated December 1910, he writes
that James first composed the tune whilst walking along the
river Rhondda and asks his father to write verses for it. Whatever
the truth, the father and son appropriately named their song
Glan Rhondda as it was composed on the banks of this river.
THE ANTHEM'S EARLY YEARS
Although not officially nor legally
recognised as the Welsh National Anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
was considered as such among the Welsh populace well before
the end of the nineteenth century. Unlike many anthems it hadn't
been commissioned to mark a particular occasion. Rather it
had gradually gained acceptance and secured its place each
time it was played. A 16 year old girl from Pontypridd named
Elizabeth John first publicly performed the song in the Vestry
of Tabor Methodist Chapel, now a Workingman's Club, in Maesteg.
According to an article written by the journalist and druid
Owen Morgan (Morien) that appeared in the Western Mail (April
4 th , 1884) James James also sang the song himself in an Eisteddfod
held at the Castell Ifor Inn, Hopkinstown. Other sources inform
us that he sang the melody at the Gorsedd ceremony of the Pontypridd
Eisteddfod held on Pontypridd Common in 1857.
Maesteg Workingman's
Club which once was Tabor Methodist
Chapel - thesite of the first performance of the Welsh National
Anthem
It became more widely known following the 1858
Llangollen National Eisteddfod. A competition at the eisteddfod
called for a collection of unpublished Welsh airs. Thomas Llewelyn
(Llewelyn Alaw) of Aberdare included Glan Rhondda in his selection
and shared first prize. The song made an impression on John
Owen (Owain Alaw), the adjudicator and accomplished musician.
He decided to include the words and music in his collection,
Gems of Welsh Melody , published by Isaac Clarke of Ruthin
in 1860. He also arranged the melody for four voices and entitled
it Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau. Although we're fairly certain that the
words and music appeared in a book for the first time with
the publication of Gems of a Welsh Melody , there is also a
ballad sheet preserved at Pontypridd Library, which according
to words written upon it, was printed by F. Evans of Pontypridd
in 1858. The authenticity of the date requires further examination.
John Owen sang Hen Wlad Fy
Nhadau at numerous concerts all over North Wales. Having
a rousing chorus and easily learnt, it became very popular
with Eisteddfod followers. Seeing audiences' responses, the
great soloists of the day sang it themselves with gusto.
At the 1866 Chester Eisteddfod Lewis William Lewis (Llew
Llwyfo) sang it according to the historian Dr John Davies
with remarkable effect. He claims in his publication A History
of Wales that “Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau …. was sung with such passion
that it was adopted forthwith as the national anthem”. It
was sung to close every session at this event and every eisteddfod
thereafter. Nine years later Wales's leading soloist Robert
Rees (Eos Morlais) sang it at Bangor National Eisteddfod.
His performance, according to the Baner ac Amserau Cymru
journal “had taken the Eisteddfod by storm”. Hen Wlad Fy
Nhadau was recognised as the Eisteddfod song at the Caernarfon
Eisteddfod of 1880 and sung at every Gorsedd ceremony ever
since.
The Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau cause received a further boost at
the National Eisteddfod held at London's Albert Hall in 1887.
Having succeeded on a number of occasions to excuse himself
from visiting the Eisteddfod, Prince Albert Edward, Prince
of Wales could hardly avoid this one. Eos Morlais lead the
singing of God Bless The Prince of Wales as the prince arrived.
At the end of the meeting Eos rose to sing Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau
. Albert and his family got up too and stood while the anthem
was sung. We don't know the reason why he rose but royalty
had stood for the Welsh National Anthem.
At the end of the nineteenth century the anthem took another
significant step. The first commercial recording of Welsh songs
was made in London on March 11 th 1899 and released by the
Gramophone Company. Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau was among those songs.
Commemorating
the Welsh National Anthem in Pontypridd
Pontypridd town's commemoration of the Welsh National Anthem's
author and composer originated in 1909. It was in April of
that year that Pontypridd Grammar School's first headmaster,
Mr Rhys Morgan, addressed the Pontypridd Cymmrodorion Society
and argued for establishing a worthy memorial to Evan James
and James James. A few weeks later on June 10 th 1909, a
public meeting was held at the Municipal Buildings. A committee
was appointed that included Councillor Hopkin Morgan as chairman
and Mr Rhys Morgan and Mr J Colenso Jones as joint secretaries.
However, it wasn't until over twenty years later that Mr
Rhys Morgan's vision of commemorating Evan and James James
was finally achieved. Read
the Council letter.
The project started brightly enough. A report about the
first meeting of the General Committee and a list of subscriptions
appeared in the Pontypridd Observer at the end of June 1909.
Circulars were sent out and concerts held with the aim of
obtaining funds. Henry Davies even went to the United States
in June 1913 to raise funds from Welsh-Americans although
we see from the Observer that on his return he suffered the
indignity of having to deny rumours that he'd spent some
of the funds raised whilst there.
Five years after the launch of the campaign the committee's
target remained unmet. The public's generosity was drawn towards
Senghenydd following the appalling mining disaster in October
1913. Its death knell however was the outbreak of the First
World War that signalled the abandonment of the campaign.
Post war conditions made re-establishing the
campaign difficult. Not until 1928 did the artist Sir W Goscombe
John attended a meeting of the fund committee with a small
model of a memorial that he thought would be fitting. Although
his suggestion was approved, a sum of £500 was required
to enable the committee to close the campaign. After several
months of little success, Mr Rhys Morgan decided to discuss
the matter with Sir William Davies, editor of the Western
Mail. An appeal appeared in the publication on June 29 th
1929 that deserved a “prompt response” from every “Welsh
man or woman”. The money was collected in a very short time.
By May 1930 Sir W Goscombe John had almost completed his
work. A letter and a photograph that he sent to secretaries
of the Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau Memorial shown below illustrate
that the memorial would consist of two bronze figures, one
representing music and the other poetry. The completed monument
was to be mounted on a pedestal of blue pennant stone from
the nearby Graig yr Hesg Quarry.
Sir W Goscombe John
On July 23 rd 1930 the unveiling of the memorial
to Evan James and James James took place at Ynysangharad
Park. In the words of the Observer, it was a “Red Letter
day in the history of Pontypridd”. As shown below on the
invitations given that day, a procession formed outside the
Municipal Buildings and marched to Ynysangharad Park where
about 10,000 people had assembled. Lord Treowen unveiled
the memorial in the presence of the Archdruid ‘Pedrog' and
other members of the Gorsedd.
A year following the unveiling of the memorial in Ynysangharad
Park, a marble tablet was erected in Mill Street, Pontypridd
marking the place where Evan James's woollen factory once
stood.
Unfortunately the tablet was later damaged during building
works and a far more indistinctive tablet remains at the
side of the building today.
The tablet's unveiling in 1931 was the culminating point
of a project started over twenty years previously by Mr Rhys
Morgan and the Pontypridd Cymmrodorion Society as the minutes
of the Pontypridd Urban District Council show.
An important year in Pontypridd town's commemoration of
the National Anthem was 1956. A week of commemorative services
and celebrations were held during the anthem's centenary
year that included religious services, singing festivals,
school concerts, sports days and a ten-mile race between
Mountain Ash and Pontypridd. The culmination was a celebrity
concert including a performance by Cilfynydd's world famous
opera singer Geraint Evans. Beyond Pontypridd the Western
Mail sponsored a Schools' Essay competition. Unsurprisingly,
the subject of the essay was “The Welsh National Anthem” or “Yr
Anthem Genedlaethol Cymraeg” (sic.).
A few days before the anthem centenary celebration
week the Western Mail reported that visitors who came to see
Evan James grave at Carmel Baptist Chapel Pontypridd were shocked
at the derelict state of the graveyard. Mr William Gilmore,
a deacon at Carmel Chapel, began a project with the assistance
of the Pontypridd Rotary Club to transform the churchyard into
a Garden of Remembrance. Events were held in order to raise
funds including concerts and a rugby match that was staged
in the town park. Despite generous donations received from
the Rotary Club and Glamorgan County Council, the task of securing
enough funds was proving difficult. An appeal by the Reverend
Haydn Lewis of Ton Pentre at Llanelli National Eisteddfod in
1962 raised only £10.
Sadly, unlike the Ynysangharad Park memorial,
the Garden of Remembrance didn't have a successful outcome.
Carmel Chapel was demolished in late 1969 and the Garden
of Remembrance left in a derelict condition. The reports
show (click
here) the arguments that ensued about exhuming and reburying
Evan James remains. On a quiet Sunday morning on July 1 st
1973, in the presence of Mr Gilmore, Rev Haydn Lewis and
a few others, the remains of Evans James and his wife Elizabeth
were re-interred at Ynysangharad Park.
Recent commemorations to Evan and James James include the
naming of a new Welsh medium school that opened in Pontypridd
in 1983 as ‘Ysgol Evan James' and a mosaic in a town centre
underpass that shows their likenesses.
