This chair was designed by Lord Snowdon for the investiture of Prince Charles on 1 July 1969. 4,600 of these chairs were made for seating guests inside Caernarfon Castle.
The chair was used by Iorwerth Howells, director of education for Carmarthenshire, who was invited to the investiture as one of the representatives for that county. The frame is made from steamed beech and the seat and back of preformed plywood veneered with olive ash. The whole is stained vermilion and sealed with a clear acid catalyst lacquer. The chairs were made at Remploy factories in Treforest and Wrexham.
The investiture of Prince Charles on 1 July 1969 at Caernarfon Castle
The fabric is made from Welsh red flannel made by David Lewis Limited of Cambrian Mills in Drefach Felindre, now home to the National Wool Museum. 2,650 yards of cloth were produced at 18/- per yard. The Prince of Wales’s feathers were embossed in gold leaf by the Ferndale Book Company. After the ceremony the chairs were offered for sale at £12.00 each. Invited guests had first refusal and the remaining chairs were sold to the public.
The original sample sent to the department of works for checking
The Investiture of the Prince of the Wales at Caernarfon Castle made 1969 a particularly exciting year in Wales. And an exhibition held at National Museum Cardiff reflected the patriotic fervour of the investiture with the wonder and excitement of the first humans on the moon during the Apollo 11 mission with Cymru Yfory – Wales Tomorrow. It was held in the Main Hall and was the museum’s official contribution towards the celebrations of Investiture Year.
As the forward in the catalogue put it:
"If a National Museum chooses to open its doors to contributions from the designer’s studio, the market place, the planner’s office or the research laboratory, no precedent is necessary. The Victoria & Albert Museum did these things excitedly in 1946 in the exhibition, Britain can make it . We saw then, after many drab years, a splash of enterprise and colour and an unexpected promise for the future.
For its main contribution to the year of the Investiture and of Croeso ’69 [a year long campaign to promote Welsh tourism and business built around the Investiture], the NMW has chosen deliberately to look beyond its ordinary boundaries and also to look into the future.
It has invited contributions from organisations of all sorts and the brief has been simple: that the ideas presented should be imaginative and for the future. They are not promises; they may not even be pleasant, but at least they refer to aspects of a possible future…"
Stands and ceiling display [with the General Post Office stand to the left]
The exhibition represented a major break with the traditions of the Museum; it was showing that it had an interest not only in the past, but in the life of the community in the present and the future. The whole of the Main Hall was used – isolated from the rest of the Museum by hanging drapes and a magnificent inflated plastic ceiling. For the first time professional designers were commissioned to design and plan the exhibition; Alan Taylor (Senior Designer, BBC Wales TV) and John Wright (Principal of Newport College of Art) co-ordinated the design of exhibits contributed by over twenty organisations. The results were spectacular, an immediate surprise to every visitor who had known the Main Hall as a dignified setting for classical sculpture.
The range and imagination of the stands on display at this 1969 exhibition were vast; they included ideas and plans for the Cardiff of the future, for the valleys, for the Severn Estuary and for housing and schools. Some were realistic but most were fantastical and frivolous – especially exhibits illustrating clothing, furniture and domestic habits of the future. A major contributor was General Industrial Plastics Limited, manufacturers and designers of plastic products who made the magnificent inflated ceiling display, pieces of air filled furniture and the plastic carrier bag provided with the official catalogue. Cardiff College of Art, the National Coal Board, the City of Cardiff, the General Post Office and British Rail also contributed stands.
As part of the fun atmosphere, a spoof contributor named Kumro Kemicals Corporation was created. The catalogue states they were established in 1999 (bear in mind this event took place in 1969!) and that their products were “the result of the most intensive research programme ever undertaken by any corporation in the Western Hemisphere…” As part of their contribution, Kumro produced sealed envelopes bearing the following message, DO NOT OPEN UNTIL 1999 – and the Library still holds one of these that remains unopened!
When publishing images, copyright issues need to be considered and a number of these photographs are stamped on the reverse with either Hylton Warner & Co Ltd or Giovanni Gemin (Whitchurch Road, Cardiff). Internet searches brought up a little information on Hylton Warner but nothing current and no information at all was found concerning Giovanni Gemin. Therefore, a notice was placed on the Photo Archive News website requesting communication from anyone who might be familiar with these two photographers. After some time, we were contacted by the son of Giovanni Gemin. Award-winning author Giancarlo Gemin was kind enough to grant permission to publish the photographs and also tell us the following about his father:
"He was an industrial and commercial photographer based in Cardiff from 1961. He worked regularly for BBC Wales, and was one of the official photographers at the investiture of the Prince of Wales. He was awarded the Chartered Institute of Incorporated Photographers (AIIP) and an Associate of Master Photographers (AMPA)".
Models standing beneath the clear plastic ceiling installation
As well as items of ephemera such as the official catalogue, carrier bag, stickers etc. we are fortunate to hold two volumes of comments books. These are a fascinating record of visitors’ thoughts and the majority are very positive but, not everyone appreciated looking to the future instead of a classical past and to end this post, here are just a few that have made us smile:
BW, Rhwibina – "Awful"
RM, Rhondda – "Not as good as the British Museum"
MB, Cheltenham – "Baffled!"
MD, Durham – "I prefer the face of OLD WALES proud and noble not false and plastic"
CS, Cardiff – "Needs dusting"
L, Cardiff – "Rubbish, waste of good museum space!"
TO, County Cork – "TRASH"
Inflatable ceiling display in process of construction
We also recently made contact with Drake Educational Associates who purchased Hylton Warner along with copyright of all their photographs a number of years ago. We thank them also for allowing us to use the images in this article.
The Library archive holds material that brings vividly to life the early history of the Museum and of life in and around Cardiff during the early 20th century. As we approach the centenary of the end of the First World War, we take a look at the efforts to create a Welsh National War Memorial.
The movement to establish a national memorial in Cardiff was instigated by the Western Mail in October 1919. A committee was established to oversee the project with the then Lord Mayor, G. F. Forsdike, at its helm. The fund closed in 1921 having raised £27,500 and a commission to design the monument was offered to Sir Thomas Brock, designer of the Victoria Memorial outside Buckingham Palace. However, Brock’s original design, although considered “very beautiful and imposing” [1], proved to be too expensive and he died before submitting a further proposal. Therefore in 1924 the committee invited a select group of architects to submit designs in a limited competition. The winning design was by Ninian J. Comper, acknowledged today as one of the last of the great Gothic Revival architects [2].
The committee wanted to place the memorial on a circular plot of land directly in front of City Hall. The Library holds original drawings that show the proposed site. They are signed by A. Dunbar Smith who, along with his partner Cecil Brewer, designed our very own National Museum Cardiff building.
At some point someone decided to get creative and produce a photo-collage to illustrate how it might look. We have a number of A3 sized photographs of the view in front of City Hall, with a photograph of a model of the memorial cut out and slotted into place to show it in situ. We don’t know who the creative was, but it obviously did the trick, as the next stage was to build a life sized frame of the monument in position.
We hold photographs showing it in place and partly covered in canvas to represent its solid form. However, this had the opposite of the intended effect by prompting both the Museum and City Hall to object [3]. One would have to agree with them looking at how close the formidable sized memorial would have been to these buildings.
So, our mystery creative got to work again with another collage showing the memorial in a different location. This photograph, taken from Queen Street looking towards Cathays Park, has a cut out of the model glued into place in Friary Gardens. Frustratingly, this location was objected to by the Marquess of Bute because it had been specified in the documents of transference of Cathays Park to the city, that no buildings would be erected on that site [4].
Thankfully by August 1925 the present site in Alexandra Gardens was chosen and Comper was finally instructed to proceed with the work. This commenced in March 1926 and was completed by early 1928, with construction carried out by E. Turner & Sons.
Newspaper cuttings report that the ceremony of unveiling and dedication was carried out by the Prince of Wales on 12 June 1928 in front of nearly 50,000 people. One report tells how the Prince was given a Welsh lesson by David Lloyd George in the train on their way down from London so that he might deliver part of his speech in Welsh [5].
Photo: By kind permission from the Western Mail
Other items of interest held concerning the memorial and the First World War can be found online here.
References
Welsh National War Memorial Official order of service at the ceremony of unveiling and dedication by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales on June 12th 1928. Cardiff:Western Mail, p.8.
Symondson, A. & Bucknall, S. 2006. Sir Ninian Comper: an introduction to his life and work with complete gazetteer. Reading: Spire Books, p.198.
Welsh National War Memorial Official order of service at the ceremony of unveiling and dedication by H.R.H. The Prince of Wales on June 12th 1928. Cardiff:Western Mail, p.10.
Gaffney, A. 1998. Aftermath: Remembering the Great War in Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press, p.45.
Amgueddfa Cymru - National Museum Wales Library cuttings file [Daily Chronicle 15/06/28].
As we reveal half a million collection records for the first time, we look at some of the strangest and most fascinating objects from National Museum Wales Collections Online.
This article contains photos of human skeletal fragments.
Built in 1917, the Institute features a billiard room, dance hall and library - and is nowadays found in St Fagans National Museum of History.
Horace Watkins testing his monoplane in 1908
Many of the buildings in St Fagans are part of the national collection - meaning they have the same legal status as one of our masterpiece Monets or this coin hoard. The buildings are dismantled, moved, rebuilt - and cared for using traditional techniques, by the museum's legendary Historic Buildings Unit.
The Oldest
The oldest human remains ever discovered in Wales
These teeth belonged to an eight year-old Neanderthal boy - and at 230,000 years old, they are the oldest human remains in Wales.
They were discovered in a cave near Cefn Meiriadog in Denbighshire, along with a trove of other prehistoric finds, including stone tools and the remains of a bear, a lion, a leopard and a rhinocerous tooth.
People in Wales have been making, trading and wearing beautiful treasures from gold for thousands of years - like this Bronze Age hair ornament and this extremely blingy Medieval signet.
At around 4000 years old, this sun disc is one of the earliest and rarest examples of Welsh bling
One of the earliest examples of Welsh bling is this so-called 'sun disc', found near Cwmystwyth in Ceredigion.
Current research suggests that these 'sun discs' were part of ancient funeral practice, most likely sewn onto the clothes of the dead before their funerals. Only six have ever been found in the UK.
Most Controversial
At first glance, an ordinary Chapel tea service - used by congregations as they enjoyed a 'paned o de' after a service. A closer look reveals the words - 'Capel Celyn'. The chapel, its graveyard and surrounding village are now under water.
Capel Celyn, in the Tryweryn Valley, is now underwater
Flooded in 1965 by the Liverpool Corporation, the Tryweryn valley became a flashpoint for Welsh political activism - creating a new generation of campaigners who pushed for change in how Welsh communities were treated by government and corporations.
Curators from St Fagans collected these as an example of life in Capel Celyn - to serve as a poignant reminder of a displaced community, and to commemorate one of the most politically charged moments of the 20th century in Wales.
Honourable Mention: an Airplane made from a Dining Room Chair
Made from a dining room chair, piano wire and a 40 horsepower engine, the Robin Goch (Red Robin) was built in 1909 - and also features a fuel gauge made from an egg timer.
The Robin Goch (Red Robin) on display at the National Waterfront Museum
Its builder, Horace Watkins, was the son of a Cardiff printer - here he is pictured with an earlier, even more rickety version of his famous monoplane.
Horace Watkins testing his monoplane in 1908
Our collections are full of stories which reflect Wales' unique character and history. The Robin Goch is one of the treasures of the collection, and is an example of Welsh ingenuity at its best.
Half a Million Searchable Items
The launch of Collections Online uncovers half a million records, which are now searchable online for the first time.
“Collections Online represents a huge milestone in our work, to bring more of our collections online and to reach the widest possible audience.
It’s also just the beginning. It’s exciting to think how people in Wales and beyond will explore these objects, form connections, build stories around them, and add to our store of knowledge." – Chris Owen, Web Manager
Our next project will be to work through these 500,000 records, adding information and images as we go.
We'll be measuring how people use the collections, to see which objects provoke debate or are popular with our visitors. That way, we can work out what items to photograph next, or which items to consider for display in our seven national museums.
Preparing and photographing the collections can take time, as some items are very fragile and sensitive to light. If you would like to support us as we bring the nation's collections online, please donate today - every donation counts.
At precisely 8:00pm, February 6th, 1918, The Representation of the People Act was passed by Royal Assent in Westminster. After decades of campaigning, some women were now allowed to vote. The Equal Franchise Act, passed in 1928, gave all women over 21 the right to vote.
We're used to seeing photos of 'Suffragettes' protesting in London, but what about the campaign in Wales?
Non-Violent Protest
Even though the press at the time concentrated on the trials and tribulations of the Suffragettes, there were far more Suffragists in Wales. Suffragists believed in peaceful action, and changing things through constitutional means. Among them were members of the Cardiff District Women's Suffrage Society - the largest branch of the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies outside London.
At their helm was Rose Mabel Lewis (Greenmeadow, Tongwynlais) – or 'Mrs Henry Lewis' as she is described in our museum documentation. The most prominent members of the branch tended to be the city's well-connected, middle-class women. Their annual report for 1911 shows they held a whole host of activities to raise awareness of their campaign, including a fancy dress dance, whist drive and jumble sale. That year, their membership doubled to 920.
Banners: The Craft of Activism
Banner of the Cardiff Cardiff & District Women's Suffrage Society. Made by Rose Mabel Lewis, President of the Society
Rose Mabel Lewis made the silk banner now held in the Museum's collection - a powerful example of how the Suffragists and Suffragettes used craft to communicate and express themselves. The exact date of the banner is unknown, but evidence shows it was used in a protest in 1911. During that year, on the 17th of June, Rose Mabel led the women of south Wales in the Women's Coronation Procession in London. The banner's accession documents contain a note of explanation from one of the branch's former members:
The banner was worked by Mrs Henry Lewis… [she] was also President of the South Wales Federation of Women’s Suffrage Societies + she led the S. Wales section of the great Suffrage Procession in London on June 17th 1911, walking in front of her own beautiful banner… It was a great occasion, some 40,000 to 50,000 men + women taking part in the walk from Whitehall through Pall Mall, St James’s Street + Piccadilly to the Albert Hall. The dragon attracted much attention – “Here comes the Devil” was the greeting of one group of on lookers.
Banners like this were an incredibly important part of the visual culture of activists campaigning for women's right to vote. A number of these banners can be found today in museums and archives, including the Cardiff University Special Collections and Archives. Organisers of the 1911 march expected over 900 banners on the day!
Two years later, in July 1913, the banner appears again on the streets of Cardiff, as part of a march in the city to raise awareness of the Great Suffrage Pilgrimage. In the museum's collection, we find amazing pictures of Rose Mabel Lewis, and the branch's other members, gathering with the banner in front of City Hall in Cathays Park:
According to the annual report for 1913-14, some of the members were worried about the march, but were emboldened after receiving a positive response on the day:
It was with misgivings that some members agreed to take part in the procession, but afterwards their enthusiasm aroused and the desire to do something more in the future. The march was useful in drawing the attention of many people to the existance of our society.
Making History: St Fagans and the centenary
In 2018, the banner will be on display in Cardiff once more - not in a protest, but in a display of iconic objects from Wales at St Fagans National Museum of History. The display, which is part of the Making History project to redevelop St Fagans, will mark the first time the banner is displayed since it was donated in 1950 by the Cardiff Women Citizen's Association. At that time, their treasurer wrote a letter to Dr Iorwerth Peate, Keeper of St Fagans, to express their great pride in seeing the banner preserved for the future at St Fagans:
A cordial vote of thanks was accorded to you for realising how much the Suffrage Cause meant to women and for granting a memorial of it in the shape of the banner to remain in the Museum.
In addition to the banner, the museum also holds a number of objects relating to campaigns for women's right to vote, including letters and reports from the NUWSS, as well as an unusual hand-made anti-suffragette doll from west Wales.
Anti-suffrage voodoo doll sent anonymously to a woman in west Wales, early 1900s
Primary Sources:
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies: Cardiff & District Annual Report, 1911-12 (St Fagans National Musuem of History).
National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies: Cardiff & District Annual Report, 1913-14 (St Fagans National Musuem of History).
Accession Documents 50.118 (St Fagans National Museum of History).
Secondary Sources:
Kay Cook a Neil Evans, 'The Petty Antics of the Bell-Ringing Boisterous Band'? The Women's Suffrage Movement in Wales, 1890 - 1918' yn Angela V. John (gol.), Our Mothers' Land Chapters in Welsh Women's History 1830 - 1939 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 1991).
Ryland Wallace, The Women's Suffrage Movement in Wales 1866 - 1928 (Cardiff: University of Wales Press, 2009).
