Hedd Wyn was a Welsh-language poet who was killed on the first day of the Battle of Passchendaele during World War I. He was posthumously awarded the bard's chair at the 1917 National Eisteddfod. Evans, who had been awarded several chairs for his poetry, was inspired to take the bardic name Hedd Wyn from the way sunlight penetrated the mist in the Meirionnydd valleys.
Ellis Humphrey Evans, c.1910. Frontispiece in Cerddi'r Bugail (1918)
The "Lord Kitchener Wants You" recruitment poster from 1914.
The grave of Hedd Wyn at Artillery Wood Cemetery, Boezinge, Belgium.
The Black Chair (Y Gadair Ddu) is on permanent display at his family farm near Trawsfynydd
The Chairing of the Bard is one of the most important events in the Welsh eisteddfod tradition. The most famous chairing ceremony takes place at the National Eisteddfod of Wales, and is always on the Friday afternoon of Eisteddfod week. Winners are referred to as Y Prifardd. The custom of chairing the bard is, however, much older than the modern eisteddfod ceremony, and is known to have taken place as early as 1176.
Robin Llwyd ab Owain chaired in 1991
The chairing ceremony of the 1958 National Eisteddfod; the victorious poet was T. Llew Jones
The chair posthumously awarded to Taliesin o Eifion at the Wrexham Eisteddfod in 1876
