Enthronement of the First Archbishop of Wales, 1920

The Historic Ceremony of the Enthronement of the First Archbishop of Wales at St. Asaph’s Cathedral June 1st, 1920

35mm, 8.01 minutes, Black & White, Silent, Actuality

Inter-titled record of the enthronement of Alfred George Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph, as the first Archbishop for the newly disestablished Church in Wales (the disetablishment was secured in 1914 but, owing to the war, was not put into effect until 1920). Shots show the cathedral from Elwy Bridge; front exterior of both the cathedral and the Archbishop's Palace, with people milling about the grounds; a top-hatted Prime Minister David Lloyd George standing beneath a tree with the young Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire (Henry Neville Gladstone, son of William Ewart Gladstone); the Countess of Dundonald of Gwrych Castle, Abergele (Winifred Cochrane, nee Bamford-Hesketh), in the palace garden with accompanying ladies; the procession of clergy through the palace garden (a service sheet blows away and is rescued); the procession out of the cathedral after the enthronement, showing the new Archbishop with mitre and robes, Lloyd George and Prince Arthur of Connaught [Arthur Frederick Patrick Albert Saxe-Coburg Gotha, grandson of Queen Victoria], and other members of the congregation; the archbishop, flanked by the archbishops of Canterbury (Randall Thomas Davidson) and York (Cosmo Gordon Lang, who later became the Archbishop of Canterbury), addressing the gathered crowd from a platform situated in front of the palace. The closing shot shows the Band of the Welsh Guards playing, a regiment newly-created in 1915.

NB: This film is not available for viewing on the BFI Player but a Shannon Film Company film of the event is included but it does not include shots of Lloyd George