0:00:03 > 0:00:06This is Porthmadog on the northwest coast of Wales.
0:00:06 > 0:00:09It was hundreds of miles from the front line in France
0:00:09 > 0:00:13but, like towns everywhere, it was touched by the First World War.
0:00:13 > 0:00:16From intrepid sea captains fighting U-boats,
0:00:16 > 0:00:19to feisty munitions workers fighting for their rights,
0:00:19 > 0:00:23from a wartime Prime Minister to a celebrated poet,
0:00:23 > 0:00:27war reached deep into this corner of Wales.
0:00:43 > 0:00:45TRAIN WHISTLES
0:00:48 > 0:00:50In August 1914,
0:00:50 > 0:00:53Porthmadog was as sunny and peaceful as it is today -
0:00:53 > 0:00:55the backdrop of the mountains,
0:00:55 > 0:00:59the wharves bustling with commercial sailing ships, not yachts.
0:00:59 > 0:01:01But, in faraway Downing Street,
0:01:01 > 0:01:04the local boy made good, David Lloyd George,
0:01:04 > 0:01:10is embroiled in the frantic, last-minute efforts to avert war.
0:01:10 > 0:01:13"I am moving through a nightmare world these days,"
0:01:13 > 0:01:15he wrote to his wife.
0:01:19 > 0:01:24For some of Porthmadog's seafarers, the nightmare was soon upon them.
0:01:24 > 0:01:27The town was built on the slate trade
0:01:27 > 0:01:31and Germany was one of the industry's biggest clients.
0:01:31 > 0:01:34Millions of slates went to roof German cities.
0:01:35 > 0:01:37When war was declared,
0:01:37 > 0:01:39many of the town's ships were trapped in Hamburg.
0:01:41 > 0:01:43But, in more than 40 years of business,
0:01:43 > 0:01:46their captains had made friends in the port
0:01:46 > 0:01:49and they quietly slipped away and headed for home.
0:01:51 > 0:01:53Sadly, not quite all.
0:01:53 > 0:01:56One sailor from the town, Arthur Owen, didn't make it out -
0:01:56 > 0:01:59he was interned and, two years later,
0:01:59 > 0:02:02died of TB in a German prison camp.
0:02:02 > 0:02:04One of several hundred men from the area
0:02:04 > 0:02:07who lost their lives in the conflict.
0:02:09 > 0:02:11The outbreak of war had a dramatic effect
0:02:11 > 0:02:14on this Welsh-speaking part of Wales.
0:02:14 > 0:02:16The sudden end of slate exports to Germany
0:02:16 > 0:02:19hit not only Porthmadog's maritime trade,
0:02:19 > 0:02:21but also the nearby town of Blaenau Ffestiniog,
0:02:21 > 0:02:23where the slate was quarried.
0:02:26 > 0:02:29Virtually all building in Britain came to an end.
0:02:29 > 0:02:31The last thing the government wanted
0:02:31 > 0:02:34was anybody putting any resources into building anything -
0:02:34 > 0:02:37all the resources needed to go into the war effort.
0:02:37 > 0:02:40And as, of course, slate is a building material -
0:02:40 > 0:02:45it was primarily used for roofing - then, when the war came,
0:02:45 > 0:02:49the market for slate, the home market for slate collapsed.
0:02:49 > 0:02:51What happens to the labour force?
0:02:51 > 0:02:54In the early 20th century, there's about 11,000 or 12,000.
0:02:54 > 0:02:56By the beginning of the First World War,
0:02:56 > 0:02:58it's down to about 8,000, bit more than that.
0:02:58 > 0:03:02By the end of the First World War, it's 3,000.
0:03:02 > 0:03:04You know, that is a complete collapse
0:03:04 > 0:03:06of the workforce in the industry.
0:03:06 > 0:03:09Are they easily persuaded to go to war?
0:03:09 > 0:03:11Well, many of them do go to munitions,
0:03:11 > 0:03:13some of them go to other industries,
0:03:13 > 0:03:17their union was very keen that they go and work in other industries.
0:03:17 > 0:03:19But, yes, of course, a huge number of them,
0:03:19 > 0:03:22as any war memorial in this district will testify,
0:03:22 > 0:03:25a huge number of them went to war.
0:03:25 > 0:03:29In non-conformist North Wales, there was a strong pacifist tradition.
0:03:29 > 0:03:32But with local MP David Lloyd George,
0:03:32 > 0:03:35aided by Methodist Minister John Williams, Brynsiencyn,
0:03:35 > 0:03:39rallying the cause, support for the war grew.
0:03:39 > 0:03:44This was not a jingoistic, warmongering part of the world
0:03:44 > 0:03:48but, overall, Lloyd George's great point -
0:03:48 > 0:03:51which was that the war was a war to defend small countries,
0:03:51 > 0:03:55particularly Belgium, against German militarism -
0:03:55 > 0:03:58that point was very well received in these parts
0:03:58 > 0:04:02and people did go willingly to fight for that principle.
0:04:12 > 0:04:15Once his mind was made up, that the war had to be fought,
0:04:15 > 0:04:19Lloyd George was nothing but fully committed
0:04:19 > 0:04:21and he demanded the same of his fellow countrymen.
0:04:21 > 0:04:25Just a month into the conflict, he was back on home turf,
0:04:25 > 0:04:29here in Criccieth, delivering a blunt message.
0:04:29 > 0:04:32"In recruiting, Scotland comes first in numbers,
0:04:32 > 0:04:33"England is second,
0:04:33 > 0:04:35"Wales is third.
0:04:35 > 0:04:37"This is not the position
0:04:37 > 0:04:40"for a nation which has turned out more soldiers than any
0:04:40 > 0:04:43"in the Continental wars of the past.
0:04:43 > 0:04:47"At Crecy and Agincourt, where the British were eminently successful,
0:04:47 > 0:04:49"half the soldiers were Welsh."
0:04:51 > 0:04:54Welsh troops were soon in action on the Western Front,
0:04:54 > 0:04:57not least the quarrymen of Blaenau Ffestiniog -
0:04:57 > 0:05:01tunnelling and laying explosives under German lines.
0:05:01 > 0:05:04But, by 1915, there was stalemate in the trenches
0:05:04 > 0:05:08and a second front was opened against Germany's ally, Turkey.
0:05:10 > 0:05:15The attack on Gallipoli on the Turkish coast was a shambles,
0:05:15 > 0:05:18with thousands of troops pinned down on the beaches,
0:05:18 > 0:05:20blasted by the Turkish guns.
0:05:21 > 0:05:23It's remembered for the slaughter
0:05:23 > 0:05:27of the Australian and New Zealand soldiers, the ANZACs,
0:05:27 > 0:05:31but the Royal Welch Fusiliers were in the thick of the action, as well,
0:05:31 > 0:05:34including 62 men from Porthmadog.
0:05:35 > 0:05:38One of them, machine gunner Edward Jones,
0:05:38 > 0:05:42wrote to the local newspaper from his hospital bed in Malta
0:05:42 > 0:05:44and in the Cambrian Evening News
0:05:44 > 0:05:50and Welsh Farmers' Gazette of January 28th, 1916, this appeared.
0:05:50 > 0:05:52"You know, along with the rest of the world,
0:05:52 > 0:05:55"that, by now, the whole of the peninsula has been evacuated.
0:05:55 > 0:05:58"We certainly could not advance there.
0:05:58 > 0:05:59"Several men here,
0:05:59 > 0:06:01"who have been out in France for seven or eight months,
0:06:01 > 0:06:04"say they would rather do six months out there
0:06:04 > 0:06:06"than one month in Gallipoli.
0:06:06 > 0:06:09"That gives you an idea of what Gallipoli was like.
0:06:09 > 0:06:11"You could not rest there, anywhere,
0:06:11 > 0:06:14"as every spot on the place was swept by shellfire.
0:06:14 > 0:06:17"As you know, dysentery and various diseases
0:06:17 > 0:06:19"played havoc with all of us there.
0:06:19 > 0:06:24"It is like paradise to be back in civilisation again at Malta.
0:06:24 > 0:06:26"We are all very much alive,
0:06:26 > 0:06:29"even if we don't feel much like kicking."
0:06:32 > 0:06:35Of course, tens of thousands died in the campaign
0:06:35 > 0:06:39and here in Porthmadog's cemetery is the name of one of them,
0:06:39 > 0:06:41Lance Corporal William Jones
0:06:41 > 0:06:44of the 6th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers.
0:06:44 > 0:06:49Died on the 11th August 1915 in Turkey, aged 26.
0:06:49 > 0:06:51You can't help but feel -
0:06:51 > 0:06:53and maybe William Jones felt it, too -
0:06:53 > 0:06:56that from these lush mountainsides
0:06:56 > 0:06:59to the dust and dirt of Gallipoli
0:06:59 > 0:07:00is a long, long way.
0:07:03 > 0:07:07With Gallipoli a disaster and stalemate on the Western Front,
0:07:07 > 0:07:09the war was going badly for Britain.
0:07:09 > 0:07:12There was also a crisis in munitions,
0:07:12 > 0:07:17with shells often not even exploding and accidents at factories.
0:07:17 > 0:07:19Enter David Lloyd George.
0:07:19 > 0:07:22He'd grown up in the village of Llanystumdwy,
0:07:22 > 0:07:23just outside Criccieth,
0:07:23 > 0:07:27and the museum there reveals Lloyd's George's pivotal role
0:07:27 > 0:07:28in the First World War.
0:07:28 > 0:07:31From his beginnings as a Porthmadog solicitor,
0:07:31 > 0:07:35by 1914, he'd become one of Britain's leading politicians -
0:07:35 > 0:07:38Chancellor of the Exchequer.
0:07:38 > 0:07:42Now Lloyd George made it his mission to sort out the shell crisis.
0:07:42 > 0:07:46He campaigned in the press, he gave speeches.
0:07:46 > 0:07:47And it worked.
0:07:47 > 0:07:50And here, at the Lloyd George Museum in Llanystumdwy,
0:07:50 > 0:07:52is the fruit of his labour.
0:07:52 > 0:07:55It's from King George V,
0:07:55 > 0:07:57and it appoints the said David Lloyd George
0:07:57 > 0:07:59to be Minister of Munitions.
0:08:01 > 0:08:04There aren't many people alive who knew Lloyd George well,
0:08:04 > 0:08:08but one is his grandson, Bengy Carey-Evans.
0:08:08 > 0:08:09Minister of Munitions,
0:08:09 > 0:08:12it doesn't sound one of the great offices of state.
0:08:12 > 0:08:14How important was it?
0:08:14 > 0:08:16Well, it was desperately important.
0:08:16 > 0:08:18I mean, the arsenals were hopeless.
0:08:18 > 0:08:21They were sending out 30% dud shells, for a start,
0:08:21 > 0:08:25so it was a dramatically appalling situation.
0:08:25 > 0:08:28But, um, he gave up the chancellorship...
0:08:28 > 0:08:31and took on this minor role,
0:08:31 > 0:08:33which showed that he had no personal ambition.
0:08:33 > 0:08:35Personal ambition didn't rule his life.
0:08:35 > 0:08:37He was there to achieve his objectives.
0:08:37 > 0:08:40He was much more concerned to get things done
0:08:40 > 0:08:44and getting women into the... into the arsenals,
0:08:44 > 0:08:47which they opposed bitterly.
0:08:47 > 0:08:50The unions and the arsenal workers themselves,
0:08:50 > 0:08:51they thought women were...
0:08:51 > 0:08:53shouldn't be allowed anywhere near the explosives.
0:08:53 > 0:08:56They proved to be better than the men, quite frankly.
0:08:56 > 0:09:00Lloyd George's energy solved the munitions crisis
0:09:00 > 0:09:04and led to him becoming Prime Minister at the end of 1916.
0:09:04 > 0:09:07For women, it had an equally dramatic effect
0:09:07 > 0:09:10and 1.5 million joined the workforce,
0:09:10 > 0:09:13many doing the dangerous job of making shells.
0:09:18 > 0:09:19In Porthmadog,
0:09:19 > 0:09:22a small munitions factory was opened in one of the railway sheds.
0:09:22 > 0:09:25There were factories like this all over the country
0:09:25 > 0:09:28but, here, there's a surprising story
0:09:28 > 0:09:30of women fighting for their rights.
0:09:32 > 0:09:34The factory was at Boston Lodge,
0:09:34 > 0:09:37on the far side of the estuary from Porthmadog.
0:09:37 > 0:09:41Instead of going by train, the women workers had to walk there -
0:09:41 > 0:09:44a mile across the causeway, the Cob -
0:09:44 > 0:09:47at five every morning, rain or shine.
0:09:47 > 0:09:50Two of them were Carys Meurig Parry's great aunts.
0:09:53 > 0:09:56Well, this is the photograph we had in our house
0:09:56 > 0:09:59and I remember asking my mother who they were.
0:09:59 > 0:10:03And this one here is Auntie Rachel,
0:10:03 > 0:10:06that's my grandmother's sister.
0:10:06 > 0:10:09And this one here is Auntie Kate,
0:10:09 > 0:10:12my grandfather's sister.
0:10:12 > 0:10:15And they both worked in the factory.
0:10:15 > 0:10:18We found something for you here. It's a petition
0:10:18 > 0:10:20and it's signed by some of the workers.
0:10:20 > 0:10:22And they say, "Our request is this -
0:10:22 > 0:10:25"The morning shift starts at 6am.
0:10:25 > 0:10:29"Your company have a train leaving Porthmadog station at 5:40am.
0:10:29 > 0:10:31"We should therefore be obliged if you could agree for us
0:10:31 > 0:10:35"to board this train and allow it to stop at the works to set us down."
0:10:36 > 0:10:40So there you are, it's a sort of... It's women's rights.
0:10:40 > 0:10:41Yes, yes, certainly.
0:10:41 > 0:10:47And do you recognise the first signature on the second page?
0:10:48 > 0:10:54Yes, that's R Williams. That's, um, Rachel Williams,
0:10:54 > 0:10:57sister to my grandmother.
0:10:57 > 0:11:00Lloyd George asked them to help in the war effort.
0:11:00 > 0:11:04It's only right that they had transport to work, in my mind.
0:11:04 > 0:11:06TRAINS WHISTLES
0:11:10 > 0:11:12The women won their fight
0:11:12 > 0:11:16and the train made a special stop at Boston Lodge every morning.
0:11:16 > 0:11:20Carys and I took the same journey nearly 100 years on.
0:11:20 > 0:11:22It's slightly unfair. We've got glorious weather now
0:11:22 > 0:11:26- but I think if you're walking the Cob in November...- Yes.
0:11:27 > 0:11:31It's a very windy place. As you can see, it's very open.
0:11:32 > 0:11:36And, even in summer, on a wet day, it's no joke, really.
0:11:50 > 0:11:53Boston Lodge works are now used to build and repair steam engines
0:11:53 > 0:11:56but, inside, very little has changed.
0:12:02 > 0:12:05- It's the place, isn't it? - It's definitely the place, yes.
0:12:05 > 0:12:09You can see the wheels up there, where the belts came down
0:12:09 > 0:12:14and I believe they were doing 15-pounders and 18-pounders here.
0:12:14 > 0:12:16And they wouldn't have done this before?
0:12:16 > 0:12:18No, they wouldn't. No.
0:12:18 > 0:12:20They would be farm workers, most of them.
0:12:20 > 0:12:23Seeing Auntie Rachel's obituary,
0:12:23 > 0:12:28where the local Methodist minister describes how she was,
0:12:28 > 0:12:30what a gentle person she was,
0:12:30 > 0:12:34and a very good Christian, going to chapel every Sunday.
0:12:34 > 0:12:39And then I think about this type of work, how did that fit in?
0:12:39 > 0:12:41But they were desperate times, weren't they?
0:12:41 > 0:12:43They were. They were indeed.
0:12:50 > 0:12:52The Ffestiniog & Welsh Highland Railway
0:12:52 > 0:12:55has another relic from the First World War.
0:12:55 > 0:12:59This little diesel engine, called a Simplex, dates from 1917.
0:12:59 > 0:13:03And, on service in France, it would deliver shells made here
0:13:03 > 0:13:05right up to the front line.
0:13:06 > 0:13:08Diesel rather than steam,
0:13:08 > 0:13:12because there would be no smoke to give away its position. Although...
0:13:12 > 0:13:13HE KNOCKS
0:13:13 > 0:13:16..it was heavily armour-plated, just in case.
0:13:24 > 0:13:27The war in the trenches was grim and relentless
0:13:27 > 0:13:32but, by 1916, the conflict at sea was no less brutal.
0:13:32 > 0:13:36The previous May, a German U-boat had torpedoed and sunk
0:13:36 > 0:13:40an American liner, The Lusitania, just off the coast of Ireland,
0:13:40 > 0:13:43an event which ultimately brought the USA into the war.
0:13:43 > 0:13:47Among the dead was Walter McLean from Porthmadog,
0:13:47 > 0:13:48the son of the town's draper,
0:13:48 > 0:13:51who was returning home from a business trip to Canada.
0:13:54 > 0:13:59Many of Porthmadog's mariners met the same fate in sailing ships,
0:13:59 > 0:14:01still plying their trade.
0:14:02 > 0:14:04Sailing down to the Mediterranean,
0:14:04 > 0:14:06picking up rock salt in Cadiz,
0:14:06 > 0:14:09sailing across the Atlantic to Newfoundland,
0:14:09 > 0:14:14offloading the salt and loading up with salted fish,
0:14:14 > 0:14:18which they would then bring back to several Mediterranean ports,
0:14:18 > 0:14:22either in Spain, Italy or even in Greece.
0:14:22 > 0:14:25- This is long-haul trade that they're engaged in.- Long-haul trade, yes.
0:14:25 > 0:14:27They would leave Porthmadog around about April,
0:14:27 > 0:14:31and return usually ending up back in Porthmadog in November.
0:14:31 > 0:14:33Were they are unarmed?
0:14:33 > 0:14:36Oh, totally unarmed, yes. Oh, yes.
0:14:36 > 0:14:39Yes, they were no threat to the enemy whatsoever.
0:14:39 > 0:14:41They're made of wood, they're elegant.
0:14:41 > 0:14:44Did that Germans treat them with any respect?
0:14:44 > 0:14:48In fact, six of the Porthmadog-built ships were sunk
0:14:48 > 0:14:52by enemy action during the First World War.
0:14:52 > 0:14:54But, if you look at the dates that they were sunk,
0:14:54 > 0:14:57I think there was one lost in 1916,
0:14:57 > 0:15:00but the other five were lost in 1917,
0:15:00 > 0:15:03just towards the end of the war, when the Germans...
0:15:03 > 0:15:06They were obviously becoming more aggressive
0:15:06 > 0:15:09in their attack on Allied vessels.
0:15:10 > 0:15:13Remarkably, the sinking of one of Porthmadog's ships
0:15:13 > 0:15:16was recorded on film.
0:15:16 > 0:15:18The U-boat U-35 had a cameraman on board
0:15:18 > 0:15:21to record its victims, for propaganda.
0:15:21 > 0:15:24One of them was the schooner, Miss Morris.
0:15:25 > 0:15:2970 years later, the last survivor, Griffith John Ellis,
0:15:29 > 0:15:31told what happened in a BBC interview.
0:16:09 > 0:16:11Aye?
0:16:13 > 0:16:14- Aye?- Yes.
0:16:21 > 0:16:22Aye.
0:16:43 > 0:16:47- And so the old captain was now seeing his ship go down.- Yes, yes.
0:16:47 > 0:16:49- Captain Morris.- Captain Morris.
0:17:29 > 0:17:33There are several mariners here on Porthmadog's war memorial.
0:17:34 > 0:17:37The names of 96 men and one woman -
0:17:37 > 0:17:40Nurse Kathleen Hugheston Roberts,
0:17:40 > 0:17:43who died during the First World War.
0:17:43 > 0:17:45Behind every name, there is a personal story,
0:17:45 > 0:17:47an individual tragedy.
0:17:47 > 0:17:51Some are forgotten, lost to history.
0:17:51 > 0:17:54Others, though, are treasured by their families.
0:17:56 > 0:18:02One is Edmund Davies, who was killed at Passchendaele in 1917.
0:18:02 > 0:18:05His niece Leri Roberts has spent years finding out
0:18:05 > 0:18:07about her uncle's life and death.
0:18:10 > 0:18:13- What have we go, here?- Sit down. - Thank you very much.- There we are.
0:18:14 > 0:18:16- So, this is Uncle Edmund.- Yes.
0:18:17 > 0:18:21My mother's brother. He was the youngest of the brothers.
0:18:21 > 0:18:23- He's a handsome little chap.- He is.
0:18:23 > 0:18:26He looks so young. Younger than 25.
0:18:26 > 0:18:31He looks about 18, or even less there - 16, maybe.
0:18:31 > 0:18:33I wrote to the War Commission.
0:18:33 > 0:18:36I've started now getting the information
0:18:36 > 0:18:39and, um...it was so, so sad.
0:18:39 > 0:18:42It tore me apart to read about what happened,
0:18:42 > 0:18:47the Battle of Passchendaele, the worst battle ever, I think.
0:18:47 > 0:18:48- Yeah.- You know?
0:18:48 > 0:18:51- Letters from him to home?- Yes.
0:18:51 > 0:18:53He says, "Dear...
0:18:54 > 0:18:57"Dear Sister, Mum and Brothers,
0:18:57 > 0:19:01"Here I am, taking the pressure..."
0:19:02 > 0:19:04Oh, it's very hard to...
0:19:04 > 0:19:08- Can I do it in Welsh?- You can. - Is that all right?- Yeah, yeah.
0:19:08 > 0:19:11SHE SPEAKS IN WELSH
0:19:23 > 0:19:25Oh, they catch up...
0:19:46 > 0:19:47You all right?
0:19:49 > 0:19:52Tyne Cot, near the village of Passchendaele in Belgium,
0:19:52 > 0:19:56is the largest cemetery for Commonwealth forces in the world.
0:19:57 > 0:20:02There are 12,000 graves, including that of Edmund Davies.
0:20:03 > 0:20:09I took him a little wreath, a poppy wreath, from Mum.
0:20:09 > 0:20:14And I took some earth from the ground at Tyne Cot
0:20:14 > 0:20:18and took it home with me to put on my nain and teid's grave.
0:20:18 > 0:20:24Oh, yes, before I went over, I took some earth from their grave
0:20:24 > 0:20:28and put it on Edmund's remembrance, yes.
0:20:28 > 0:20:31It's funny, I just needed to...
0:20:31 > 0:20:37I felt that he needed a little part of Wales with him, you know?
0:20:38 > 0:20:41- I'm a real softy, I'm a real...- No, no, no...
0:20:41 > 0:20:45But that's me. I'd rather be that than hard and cruel, you know?
0:21:01 > 0:21:06Edmund Davies, one of the estimated 244,000 British servicemen
0:21:06 > 0:21:09killed or wounded in the mud of Passchendaele.
0:21:09 > 0:21:12Edmund Davies, a name remembered by his family,
0:21:12 > 0:21:14but just one among so many.
0:21:14 > 0:21:18One Welsh soldier came to symbolise all the sacrifice.
0:21:21 > 0:21:24Ellis Evans is better known as the poet Hedd Wyn.
0:21:24 > 0:21:28He was brought up on a farm just outside Trawsfynydd.
0:21:28 > 0:21:32Like many working on the land, he was reluctant to join up,
0:21:32 > 0:21:36but by 1917, the army's demand for more men
0:21:36 > 0:21:39led to a change in the law.
0:21:39 > 0:21:42Now, only one son could stay on the farm
0:21:42 > 0:21:47and Hedd Wyn chose to enlist instead of his younger brother.
0:21:47 > 0:21:50He joined the Royal Welch Fusiliers and went to France.
0:21:50 > 0:21:53He continued to write, reflecting on the world around him.
0:21:53 > 0:21:57This is part of his poem Rhyfel - "War".
0:21:58 > 0:22:00The harps to which we sang are hung
0:22:00 > 0:22:03On willow boughs, and their refrain
0:22:03 > 0:22:06Drowned by the anguish of the young
0:22:06 > 0:22:09Whose blood is mingled with the rain.
0:22:13 > 0:22:17Hedd Wyn's cottage has remained virtually unchanged.
0:22:17 > 0:22:21It's cared for by his nephew Gerald Williams.
0:22:21 > 0:22:26Back in 1917, the poet composed his entry for that year's Eisteddfod
0:22:26 > 0:22:28while serving in the trenches.
0:22:28 > 0:22:31He sent it in under the pen name Fleur de Lys.
0:22:32 > 0:22:36He had a bit of a job, getting it out of there
0:22:36 > 0:22:37to the Eisteddfod,
0:22:37 > 0:22:41because it was in Welsh, and you see,
0:22:41 > 0:22:43all the letters that were sent from the front line
0:22:43 > 0:22:45were heavily censored.
0:22:46 > 0:22:47But it was in Welsh,
0:22:47 > 0:22:52so they had a bit of a job to find an officer that could translate
0:22:52 > 0:22:56from Welsh to English, to say that it was OK to go through.
0:22:56 > 0:22:59- But it did get through. - It get through in time, yes.
0:23:01 > 0:23:05The Eisteddfod that year was held in Birkenhead on Merseyside
0:23:05 > 0:23:08with Prime Minister Lloyd George in attendance.
0:23:08 > 0:23:11Inside, the atmosphere was sombre.
0:23:13 > 0:23:19What happened at the Chair ceremony in Birkenhead in 1917?
0:23:19 > 0:23:25They gave the adjudications and said who was the winning bard,
0:23:25 > 0:23:26Fleur de Lys,
0:23:26 > 0:23:30and then they asked him to stand up,
0:23:30 > 0:23:36but they asked three times round the audience, but nobody stood up.
0:23:36 > 0:23:39So, one of the officials from the Eisteddfod came on
0:23:39 > 0:23:43and said that he was Hedd Wyn and he was lost in action.
0:23:45 > 0:23:47Hedd Wyn had been killed at Passchendaele
0:23:47 > 0:23:49just five weeks earlier.
0:23:49 > 0:23:52His cottage has become a shrine to him
0:23:52 > 0:23:55and to all the Welsh soldiers killed in the war.
0:23:56 > 0:24:00I've seen many people coming here,
0:24:00 > 0:24:02all people coming here, and looking around,
0:24:02 > 0:24:05and big tears running down their faces
0:24:05 > 0:24:07when they see the place, yes,
0:24:07 > 0:24:11because time has stood still, here - nothing has changed.
0:24:13 > 0:24:15Edmund Davies and Hedd Wyn
0:24:15 > 0:24:18were among the tens of thousands of soldiers from Wales
0:24:18 > 0:24:20who died in the war,
0:24:20 > 0:24:23but even more were wounded.
0:24:23 > 0:24:25Hospitals were set up across the land,
0:24:25 > 0:24:28often in grand country houses.
0:24:28 > 0:24:31Wern Manor on the outskirts of Porthmadog
0:24:31 > 0:24:34was built by slate quarry owner Richard Graves
0:24:34 > 0:24:37and handed over to the Red Cross in 1915.
0:24:39 > 0:24:42Photographs of the hospital show a relaxed atmosphere
0:24:42 > 0:24:45with fancy dress parties.
0:24:45 > 0:24:50But the story of the photographer, Tom Ackers, is just as remarkable.
0:24:50 > 0:24:53His granddaughter Lynda Shaughnessy was born in Porthmadog.
0:24:53 > 0:24:57She came along to the Wern to tell me about him.
0:24:57 > 0:25:00- The wonderful work of your wonderful grandfather.- Yes.
0:25:00 > 0:25:03Tell me about Tom Ackers.
0:25:03 > 0:25:06Well, he was in the Royal Welch Fusiliers,
0:25:06 > 0:25:10came out in 1917, he was ill,
0:25:10 > 0:25:13and took up photography.
0:25:13 > 0:25:16- And here he is.- That's him, yes.
0:25:16 > 0:25:19It's not quite a selfie, is it, but it's a self-portrait of him.
0:25:19 > 0:25:24Yes, I think so. I think he liked having his photograph taken.
0:25:24 > 0:25:26So, he...is no longer a soldier,
0:25:26 > 0:25:30- he sets himself up as a photographer here in Porthmadog.- Yes, yes.
0:25:30 > 0:25:34- What next?- What next - well, everything and everybody.
0:25:34 > 0:25:42I mean, he took photographs of new babies that soldiers hadn't seen,
0:25:42 > 0:25:46wives, girlfriends, weddings...
0:25:46 > 0:25:49You often expect everybody to be so serious in these photographs,
0:25:49 > 0:25:51but...there's something...
0:25:51 > 0:25:54- A wry grin, a smile. - And here we have...
0:25:54 > 0:25:58Well, Charlie Chaplin and friends.
0:25:58 > 0:26:03Did they suggest they dressed up like that, or did he suggest?
0:26:03 > 0:26:04I don't know.
0:26:04 > 0:26:07Mementos large and small.
0:26:07 > 0:26:13Yes, this little fellow was given to the troops by their families,
0:26:13 > 0:26:17um...as a good-luck token.
0:26:17 > 0:26:19And he was specially made -
0:26:19 > 0:26:22had eyes on the top of their heads and an upturned snout,
0:26:22 > 0:26:26so that they could fit in the soldier's top pocket.
0:26:27 > 0:26:30Given the nature of the First World War, it seems...
0:26:30 > 0:26:32Well, they're quite rare.
0:26:32 > 0:26:36Your grandfather would have kept that because he didn't see action.
0:26:36 > 0:26:39- He didn't, no. - His asthma kept him at home.
0:26:39 > 0:26:42which suggests he had a lucky break, but...
0:26:42 > 0:26:47Well...not really, no, no.
0:26:47 > 0:26:52- He died before the end of the war. - He did, on November 6th 1918, yeah.
0:26:52 > 0:26:56- Five days before. - I know, I know.- Of?- Spanish flu.
0:26:58 > 0:27:01All these photographs were taken in, probably, a year.
0:27:01 > 0:27:03- Hm.- Amazing.
0:27:09 > 0:27:12Tom Ackers was one of more than 50 million people
0:27:12 > 0:27:15who died in the worldwide flu pandemic.
0:27:15 > 0:27:17At the end of war in 1918,
0:27:17 > 0:27:20the world that he photographed was changing for ever.
0:27:23 > 0:27:25Slowly, the soldiers returned
0:27:25 > 0:27:27and began to piece together their lives -
0:27:27 > 0:27:31the munitions works at Boston Lodge were returned to the railways
0:27:31 > 0:27:34and the women workers were laid off, although their efforts
0:27:34 > 0:27:38and those of many other millions would ultimately win them the vote.
0:27:38 > 0:27:42Lloyd George went to sign the Treaty of Versailles a hero,
0:27:42 > 0:27:46only to be turfed out of office three years later.
0:27:46 > 0:27:51Here, maritime trade resumed, although never at its former levels.
0:27:51 > 0:27:55But the sailors of Porthmadog had the last laugh.
0:27:55 > 0:27:59At the end of the war, a captured U-boat,
0:27:59 > 0:28:02the deadly foe that had sunk six ships from Porthmadog,
0:28:02 > 0:28:06was brought into the harbour to be broken up for scrap.
0:28:06 > 0:28:09Locals were allowed to visit at sixpence a time.
0:28:11 > 0:28:13Parts of the U-boat are still visible,
0:28:13 > 0:28:14if you know where to look.
0:28:14 > 0:28:18This is the war memorial at nearby Llanfrothen.
0:28:18 > 0:28:20It was designed by Clough Williams-Ellis,
0:28:20 > 0:28:25the eccentric architect behind Portmeirion just down the coast,
0:28:25 > 0:28:29and if you look at the top, you can see strings of nuts
0:28:29 > 0:28:33and according to local legend, the enterprising Clough
0:28:33 > 0:28:35took them from the U-boat.
0:28:35 > 0:28:37It's strange, but somehow fitting,
0:28:37 > 0:28:40that these little pieces of a machine of destruction
0:28:40 > 0:28:42have ended up here on a memorial
0:28:42 > 0:28:45to those that have lost their lives in war,
0:28:45 > 0:28:49a memorial that also stands for all our hopes for peace.