Reconciling the celt: British national identity, empire, and the 1911 investiture of the prince of wales

Journal of British Studies

Volumn 37, Issue 4, 1998, Pages 391-418

  Ellis, John S ^a  

^a BOSTON COLLEGE   (United States)

Author keywords

[No Author keywords available]

Indexed keywords

EID: 60949967946     PISSN: 00219371     EISSN: None     Source Type: Journal    
DOI: 10.1086/386173     Document Type: Article

References (98)

1. On the relationship between Scotland and Queen Victoria see Hugh Trevor Roper, "The Invention of Tradition: The Highland Tradition of Scotland," in The Invention of Tradition, ed. Eric Hobsbawm and Terence Ranger (Cambridge, 1983), pp. 15-41.
2. John Davies, "Victoria and Victorian Wales," in Politics and Society in Wales, 1840-1922, ed. Geraint H. Jenkins and J. Beverley Smith (Cardiff, 1988), p. 7.
3. The lord mayor of Dublin, who had successfully moved that a loyal address be presented to the queen, was attacked by a hostile mob during the annual inaugural parade on Saint Patrick's Day. Rioters smashed the windows of the lord mayor's coach with stones, and mounted police had to charge into the crowd several times to ensure the safety of the politician. A mob in Tipperary stopped a special express train running to Dublin for the entrance of the queen and very roughly handled the excursionists on board. Farmers in the area who encouraged their workers to attend the royal event were subject to having their hay ricks burned. During the queen's visit, the Castle was apprehensive enough of the public mood that it closed down certain republican newspapers, including the United Irishman, a step not taken in any of the subsequent royal visits to Ireland. See the "Queen in Ireland," Manchester Guardian (7 April 1900); "Incident," Manchester Guardian (9 April 1900); "Cheers and Stones," Daily News (19 March 1900).
4. Eric Hobsbawm, "Introduction: Inventing Traditions," in Hobsbawm and Ranger, eds., Invention of Tradition, pp. 1-14;
5. George L. Mosse, The Nationalization of the Masses: Political Symbolism and Mass Movements in Germany from the Napoleonic Wars through the Third Reich (New York, 1975), pp. 1-16.
6. Linda Colley, Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837 (New Haven, Conn., 1992), pp. 217-36;
7. David Cannadine, "The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual: The British Monarchy and the Invention of Tradition, c. 1820-1977," in Hobsbawm and Ranger, eds., Invention of Tradition, pp. 101-64;
8. Tom Nairn, The Enchanted Glass: Britain and Its Monarchy (Derby, 1988).
9. Cannadine, "The Context, Performance and Meaning of Ritual," pp. 101-8;
10. Clifford Geertz, "Thick Description: Toward an Interpretive Theory of Culture," in his The Interpretation of Cultures (New York, 1973), pp. 3-32.
11. Wales and Her Prince: The Investiture and All about It (London, 1911), p. 4.
12. quot;Investiture of the Prince of Wales," Daily Telegraph (14 July 1911);
13. "The State Pageant at Carnarvon," South Wales Daily News (14 July 1911);
14. Wales and Her Prince, pp. 14-16;
15. Ceremonial to Be Observed at the Investiture of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales K.G. Carnarvon Castle 13th July 1911 (London, 1911).
16. Francis Jones, The Princes and Principality of Wales (Cardiff, 1969) p. 117.
17. quot;Rival Claims for Princely Ceremonial," Western Mail (30 July 1910).
18. quot;Owen Rhoscomyl" was the pen-name of Arthur Owen Vaughan, a writer of popular Welsh histories and adventure books and one of the principal commentators on the investiture; Owen Rhoscomyl, "The Next Prince of Wales," Western Mail (24 May 1910).
19. quot;Proposed Ceremonial in Cardiff," Western Mail (25 May 1910)
20. "Approval of Cardiff Cymrodorion," Western Mail (31 May 1910)
21. "Investiture Today," Western Mail (13 July 1911).
22. So closely was Lloyd George connected to the ceremony that it has often been erroneously claimed that he not only originated the idea for the investiture's revival, but he created and stage-managed every detail. In fact, Lloyd George was simply the most visible member of a committee that included Sir Alfred Thomas (the chairman of the Welsh Party), the Reverend Cadfan Davies (a popular Welsh Wesleyan minister), the bishop of Saint Asaph, Lord Plymouth, Lord Tredegar, and Lord Cawdor. This original committee was later expanded to include a few more Welsh Liberal M.P.s (Sir Herbert Roberts and W. F. Roch), W. G. Ormsby-Gore (a Welsh Conservative M.P.), the three remaining Anglican bishops of Wales, the heads of the four main Welsh Nonconformist denominations, the overwhelmingly Liberal chairmen and clerks of the county councils of Wales and Monmouthshire, and the mayors of Caernarfon, Aberystwyth, and Bangor. This committee created the form and content of the ceremony while the earl marshal (the duke of Norfolk), the lord great chamberlain (Earl Carrington), and the secretary of the office of works (Sir Schomberg McDonnel) took responsibility for its actual operation; see the "Rival Claims for Princely Ceremonial," Western Mail (30 July 1910); "Investiture Details Released," North Wales Chronicle (24 March 1911); and John S. Ellis, "Nationality, Consensus and the 1911 Investiture of the Prince of Wales" (master's thesis, University of Wales, Aberystwyth, 1994), 13-37.
23. Hall Caine, "A Great Drama: New Welsh Nationalism," Daily Telegraph (14 July 1911).
24. I have discussed this in another context in "The Prince and the Dragon: Welsh National Identity and the 1911 Investiture of the Prince of Wales," Welsh History Review 18 (December 1996): 272-94.
25. quot;Stately Ceremonial," Daily Telegraph (13 July 1911).
26. quot;The Prince of Wales," Standard (14 July 1911).
27. North Wales Chronicle (13 July 1911);
28. "A Present to Wales," Western Mail (14 July 1911).
29. quot;Investiture," Daily Telegraph (14 July 1911); Investiture of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales: Medals and Souvenirs Designed & Manufactured by Faltorini & Sons, Ltd., printed catalog (Bradford, 1911), National Library at Wales, Aberystwyth, p. 27.
30. The original text reads, "Nis gallwn lai na llawenychu yn deymged hon i'n hiaith a'n cenedl." "Cymru a'i Thywysog," Baner ac Amserau Cymru (13 July 1911). (All translations are by me with the assistance of Paul O'Leary.)
31. quot;The Prince of Wales," Evening Standard (14 July 1911).
32. Ceremonial to Be Observed, pp. 14-18.
33. Hugh Cunningham, "The Conservative Party and Patriotism," in Englishness: Politics and Culture, 1880-1920, ed. Robert Colls and Phillip Dodd (London, 1986), pp. 283-307;
34. James Loughlin, "Joseph Chamberlain, English Nationalism and the Ulster Question," History 77 (June 1992): 202-19;
35. Alan O'Day, "Irish Home Rule and Liberalism," in The Edwardian Age: Conflict and Stability, 1900-1914, ed. Alan O'Day (London, 1979), pp. 111-32;
36. Christine Bolt, "Race and the Victorians," in British Imperialism in the Nineteenth Century, ed. C. C. Eldridge (New York, 1984), pp. 131-46;
37. L. P. Curtis, Anglo-Saxons and Celts: A Study of Anti-Irish Prejudice in Victorian England (Bridgeport, Conn., 1968).
38. Cunningham, "The Conservative Party," 294.
39. Owen Rhoscomyl, "Great Day," Western Mail (13 July 1911).
40. The original text reads, "Mae yn arwydd ein bod wedi enill y dydd ar y Saeson a'u gorchfygu yn hollol yn eu hymgais greulawn a'u polisi draddodiadol i lesteirio a dileu cenedlaetholdeb y Cymry. . . . Yr ydydm o'r diwedd wedi cipio'r cledd o law y gelyn a'i gladdu yn ei galon ef ei hun"; "Yr Arwisgiad," Y Tyst (9 July 1911).
41. W. Llewelyn Williams, "Historic Ceremony in a Historic Place," Morning Leader (12 July 1911);
42. Myrddin Evans, letter, Manchester Guardian (22 August 1910).
43. Williams, "Historic Ceremony."
44. Abraham H. Thomas, "Urddwisgiad ei Uchelder Breninol Tywysog Cymni yn Nghaemarfon, 1911," printed leaflet (Llansamlet, 1911). The original text reads Hen Castell Caernarfon, He claddwyd y cledd Lie tarddodd hyd heddyw ffynonau o hedd; Daeth Cymru a Lloeger i heddwch parhaus, Rhowd terfyn ar ryfel a thrais.
45. H. Elvet Lewis, "Ode: The Prince of Wales," Wales: A National Magazine (July 1911): 115.
46. quot;The Prince of Wales," Standard (14 July 1911).
47. Beriah Gwynfe Evans, Glyndwr: Tywysog Cymru-the Welsh Historical Investiture Play (London, 1911), pp. 5-6.
48. Owen Rhoscomyl, Flame-Bearers of Welsh History (Merthyr-Tydfil, 1905), pp. 232-55.
49. Rhoscomyl, "The Next Prince of Wales."
50. quot;Carnarvon's Preparations for Tomorrow's Ceremony," Evening Standard (12 July 1911); "Preparations at Carnarvon Castle," The Times (12 July 1911).
51. The Investiture of H.R.H. The Prince of Wales at Carnarvon: Handbook and Official Programme of Festivities (Liverpool, 1911), pp. 46-47, 51.
52. quot;Souvenir of the Investiture of His Royal Highness the Prince of Wales," printed leaflet (Cardiff, 1911), National Library of Wales, Aberyswyth.
53. Both quotes are from the "The Spirit of Nationalism," Birmingham Post (14 July 1911).
54. Editorial, Morning Post (13 July 1911).
55. S "From the London Correspondent," Cork Examiner (8 July 1911).
56. quot;Royal Visit to Dublin," Irish Times (10 July 1911).
57. quot;A Splendid Welcome," Manchester Guardian (10 July 1911).
58. As quoted in Irish Freedom (July 1911).
59. Editorial, Cork Examiner (9 July 1911).
60. quot;Loyal Rivalry," Western Mail (11 July 1911).
61. Editorial, Morning Advertiser (13 July 1911).
62. Editorial, Manchester Dispatch (14 July 1911).
63. quot;Investiture of the Prince of Wales," Daily Chronicle (14 July 1911).
64. Caine, "A Great Drama."
65. Glasgow Herald (14 July 1911).
66. Malcolm Chapman, The Celts: The Construction of a Myth (London, 1992), pp. 201-264.
67. quot;The Claims of Cardiff," Western Mail (11 August 1910).
68. Neil Evans, "The Welsh Victorian City: The Middle Class and Civic and National Consciousness in Cardiff, 1850-1914," Welsh History Review 12, no. 3 (1983): 380-83;
69. quot;Wales and Its Prince," Holyhead Chronicle (26 August 1910).
70. Leotinus, letter, Manchester Guardian (24 August 1910).
71. The Times, as quoted in the Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald (7 July 1911).
72. See Leonore Davidoff and Catherine Hall, Family Fortunes: Men and Women of the English Middle Class 1750-1850 (Chicago, 1991);
73. Sonya O. Rose, Limited Livelihoods: Gender and Class in Nineteenth Century England (Berkeley and Los Angeles, 1992).
74. quot;Investiture of the Prince of Wales," Pall Mall Gazette (13 July 1911).
75. Rev. Wynne Jones, "How the Welsh Will Invest Their Prince," Lady's Realm (June 1911).
76. quot;Our Prince," South Wales Daily News (13 July 1911).
77. W. Jones, "How the Welsh Will Invest Their Prince."
78. Nairn, The Enchanted Glass; Gerry Smyth, " 'The Natural Course of Things': Matthew Arnold, Celticism and the English Poetic Tradition," Victorian Studies 1, no. 1 (Summer 1996): 12.
79. Lloyd's News (16 July 1911).
80. quot;The King: Why He Is Esteemed by His People," Carnarvon and Denbigh Herald (14 July 1911).
81. Illustrated Programme of the Investiture of the Prince of Wales (Caernarfon, 1911).
82. Ceremonial to be Observed, p. 4.
83. Morning Advertiser (13 July 1911).
84. Prys Morgan, "The Gwerin of Wales-Myth and Reality," in The Welsh and Their Country, ed. I. Hume and W. T. R. Pryce (Swansea, 1986), pp. 134-50;
85. Kenneth O. Morgan, "Peace Movements in Wales, 1899-1945," Welsh History Review 4 (1982): 234-56;
86. Cynthia H. Enloe, Ethnic Soldiers; State Security in Divided Societies (Athens, Ga., 1980), p. 198;
87. Goronwy J. Jones, Wales and the Quest for Peace (Cardiff, 1969), pp. 78-96.
88. quot;Death of Lord Plymouth," Western Mail (8 March 1923).
89. Ceremonial to be Observed, p. 22.
90. Rhoscomyl, "Great Day."
91. Rhoscomyl, "Investiture of the Prince of Wales."
92. Editorial, Western Mail (14 July 1911).
93. quot;The Irish Cause in England," Freeman's Journal (29 May 1911).
94. For an account of the Anglo-Boer War and its effects on British imperial policy, see Peter Warwick and S. B. Spies, eds., The South African War: The Anglo-Boer War, 1899-1902 (London, 1980), pp. 12-17, 37-64, 239-257, 334-340, 362-385.
95. Editorial, Manchester Guardian (14 July 1911).
96. Morning Advertiser (13 July 1911).
97. Hobsbawm, "Introduction," p. 12.
98. Nairn, Enchanted Glass, p. 228.