Hedd Wyn - Legacy

Legacy

On 6 September 1917 the ceremony of Chairing of the Bard took place at the National Eisteddfod, held that year at Birkenhead. The prime minister, David Lloyd George - himself a Welsh-speaking Welshman, was present. The adjudicators announced that the entry submitted under the pseudonym Fleur de Lys was the winner and the trumpets were sounded for him to identify himself. After three such summons, the Archdruid announced that the winner had been killed in action six weeks before. The empty chair was draped in a black sheet, and was delivered to Ellis's parents in the same condition. "The festival in tears and the poet in his grave," said the Archdruid Dyfed. The festival is now referred to as "The Eisteddfodd of the Black Chair." The 'black chair' was made by Flemish craftsman, Eugeen Vanfleteren (1880-1950), a carpenter born in Mechelen, Belgium, who had fled to England on the outbreak of war and who had settled in Birkenhead.

Ellis H. Evans lies buried at Artillery Wood Cemetery, near Boezinge. After the war, a petition was submitted to the Commonwealth War Graves Commission, and it was granted that his tombstone did not read simply E. H. Evans, but also Y Prifardd Hedd Wyn ("The Chief Bard, Hedd Wyn").