00:01
Join us as we explore the captivating story of how Bangor University came to be.
00:10
The story of how Bangor University started is a captivating one.
00:15
I'm Mari, studying Childhood and Youth studies here at Bangor University and this is the first in a series of six films where we
00:26
explore the history of Bangor University and how the small University on the Hill became the global influence that is today.
00:33
Here to take us on this fascinating journey is Gari Wyn, local historian, businessman, and graduate from Bangor University School of History.
00:41
So what can you tell us about how this story began? {Gari} Well, it all started in in the 1880s, and the first college was opened in 1884.
00:50
But we're standing here now in the new college, which was opened in 1911.
00:59
And right above us, we have the central tower of the college, which has four statues on it.
01:04
The ones we see from here are David, the patron Saint of Wales.
01:09
Next door to him is Llywellyn Ap Griffith. On the other side, we have Owen Gwynedd, who's buried in Bangor Cathedral down the road here,
01:13
down at the bottom of the hill, and also Owain Glyndwr
01:21
And the important person amongst those four is Owain Glyndwr because he had the vision in 1404 to have an independent Parliament
01:24
for Wales and an independent church for Wales and possibly more significance for us here,
01:33
an independent self autonomous university for Wales.
01:38
And how long did that take? {Gari} Well, when you work it out, it's 480 years isn't.
01:43
And with the drive and the vision of the people of Gwynedd and Anglesey, we finally had what Owain Glyndwr hoped he would have in 1404.
01:48
It's all started with the local people getting behind the local business leaders,
01:58
securing this building called the Penrhyn Arms and adapting it to be the university.
02:03
The doors opened and the processions came from all over for the opening ceremony.
02:09
I suppose you could say it was one of the earliest records of crowdfunding.
02:18
That's a good way of putting it. The whole community came together.
02:22
A non-conformist, traditional, old fashioned Welsh community farmers, poor farmers,
02:25
wealthy farmers, prominent businesspeople and especially the Quarrymen.
02:30
The Quarrymen actually gathered together 1200 pounds of their own money to start off the
02:34
conversion of the Penrhyn Arms Hotel to turn it into some kind of modern university.
02:40
And this was a massive challenge at the time.
02:46
The next step, obviously, was to gather the rest of them, and actually came to 35,000 to add that to the building.
02:48
Then we had a great procession to open the building in front of the Penrhyn Port here and down at the sea,
02:55
and opened the building in October 1884. That actually was a fantastic day in the history of Bangor.
03:02
We had a great procession and we should remember that Bangor High Street is the longest high street in Wales.
03:08
So the culmination of the day was 3000 people, a cross-section of all people in the local society, and we were on the way.
03:15
This obviously is the foundation of the education that you are receiving here today.
03:25
And how many students were registered here back then?
03:30
Well, there were 58 in the first year. But the staggering statistic is that there were 19 women out of those 58.
03:34
And that was totally unheard of throughout education in the whole of the UK at the time.
03:42
And for this to happen, the little city of Bangor shows that we've always been on the forefront of education,
03:48
always thinking of new ideas and developing and evolving as we go along.
03:54
Do we know anything about those first female students?
03:59
We have a lot of information about them. Probably the most prominent one was Margaret Verney, a member of the Plas Rhianfa family on Anglesey.
04:02
She became the first woman graduate. But more important is that she gave 30 years of her life towards promoting women's education.
04:11
And she became a member of the university council, which she remains for for the next 30 years.
04:21
And she contributed greatly to the history of the University of Wales and to women's Eduication in the UK generally.
04:28
Hello, Sian. What can you tell us about the first principal and professors here? Who were the first to teach?
04:36
Well, how did a Hill, an Irishman of German descent.
04:43
Was the first principle here. And he played an important role in establishing the university for nearly 50 years.
04:46
He learned Welsh fluently. He had the vision for the for the college, and he established and bought new people around him.
04:55
And how did the university establish itself and develop financially?
05:02
Again, by making connections. We had people like William Rathbone, the Liverpool MP who became an MP for Caernarfonshire also.
05:07
But later on, as Lloyd George became more prominent and liberalism,
05:15
he pulled in very wealthy business people from Merseyside and also from all parts of North Wales and everybody contributed.
05:20
He started new subjects, a forestry, for example.
05:27
Also the classics came to Bangor with possibly more pioneering than anything was his contribution to agriculture,
05:31
because agriculture was obviously a prominent part of the life of everybody here in Gwynedd and Anglesey.
05:38
What a great way to end this, first in a series of films.
05:44
Thanks. Follow the next part of this fascinating story by joining us in part two.
05:48
The vision of 1884, the growth of the university and its buildings.

1
00:00:02,960 --> 00:00:09,950
This is Bangor University, one of the first universities built in Wales and now within the top five in the UK.

2
00:00:11,670 --> 00:00:16,080
I'm Mari studying childhood and youth studies here at Bangor University.

3
00:00:16,470 --> 00:00:25,380
And this is our second in our series of six films where we explore the history of Bangor University and how the vision of 1884 evolved.

4
00:00:26,190 --> 00:00:35,160
Here to take us on this fascinating journey is Gari Wyn a local historian, businessman and graduate from the Bangor University School of History.

5
00:00:35,520 --> 00:00:38,850
So what can you tell us about how this part of the story starts?

6
00:00:38,970 --> 00:00:49,710
Well, from 1884 onwards, the college gradually expanded from its base down there by the port in the old Penrhyn Hotel.

7
00:00:49,860 --> 00:01:00,870
We needed a bigger university going gradually from an University of 60 students gradually by about 1890 to about 600 students.

8
00:01:01,650 --> 00:01:05,670
All of a sudden, the rural communities called for a new college.

9
00:01:06,180 --> 00:01:17,040
Between 1884 and 1893, the college evolved and more prominent local people, local businesspeople,

10
00:01:17,040 --> 00:01:28,680
local farmers and the coming of Lloyd George as an MP in 1890 made it inevitable that before long a new grand university would have to be developed.

11
00:01:29,130 --> 00:01:35,910
We're now obviously standing beneath the climax of the progress which was going to be built by 1911.

12
00:01:36,210 --> 00:01:46,330
So we needed money. The college and the MP's, such as William Rathbone and Asquith in London, also was behind this a prime Minister to be before long.

13
00:01:46,350 --> 00:01:51,030
Was there large amounts of crowd funding?

14
00:01:51,180 --> 00:01:53,639
This all started with a man called Llew Tegid

15
00:01:53,640 --> 00:02:01,200
who was appointed as the chief fundraiser towards the building of the new college, and that started in about 1905.

16
00:02:01,380 --> 00:02:09,180
This culminated in 1907 with the actual unveiling of this stone by Edward VII, as you see, in July 1907.

17
00:02:09,330 --> 00:02:19,560
Underneath the stone as a matter of interest are the publications in the local press at the time celebrating the actual event underneath the stone.

18
00:02:19,740 --> 00:02:26,100
Further down here is the name of Henry Hare, the architect who was responsible for this magnificent piece of architecture,

19
00:02:26,400 --> 00:02:30,120
which can't really be compared to anything in the whole of the UK.

20
00:02:30,320 --> 00:02:36,300
Yes. Gosh, that's incredible. And here we are in the stunning Shankland Library.

21
00:02:36,600 --> 00:02:44,000
What can you tell us about this building Gari? Well, the structure of the building was paid for by the Royal Drapers' Society.

22
00:02:44,010 --> 00:02:48,690
Very apt considering that the woollen industry was so important for the people of this area.

23
00:02:49,020 --> 00:02:58,740
So they paid for the structure. A man called Owen Owens, who was a foremost department store business man from Liverpool and London.

24
00:02:58,980 --> 00:03:03,720
He paid for all the wood work which is made by with Austrian Oak.

25
00:03:04,230 --> 00:03:14,430
We also have a unique feature in the roof of all the coats of arms for the different counties and purchases of Wales between 1907 and 1911

26
00:03:14,430 --> 00:03:23,400
Thomas Shankland was given the task of creating a massive collection of the most valuable books and rarest books in the history of Wales.

27
00:03:23,700 --> 00:03:28,559
So we have just one totally unique, unbelievable building,

28
00:03:28,560 --> 00:03:37,470
which I don't think can be matched by any university anywhere across the world.

29
00:03:37,530 --> 00:03:44,160
So here we are inside the building. What exactly can you tell us about the history of this hall?

30
00:03:44,190 --> 00:03:49,320
Well, we need an hour to do it all Mari but as you can see, it's a really majestic building.

31
00:03:50,460 --> 00:04:00,390
Sir John Pritchard Jones who was given the Baronetcy award for his contribution financially of £15,000 to build this magnificent hall.

32
00:04:00,600 --> 00:04:06,509
And it was based really on an idea that it would then include a great hall

33
00:04:06,510 --> 00:04:12,649
and this was basically the Lloyd George's idea, because he did feel that if we were going to have such a fantastic building in Bangor

34
00:04:12,650 --> 00:04:16,480
as a new university that we would also need a great hall like they did

35
00:04:16,530 --> 00:04:23,960
in Balliol and Jesus College in Cambridge and as you can see, the building itself held 1500 people.

36
00:04:24,360 --> 00:04:34,679
We're standing on the balcony now around us, these oak panels from Austria, these great windows, the cultural arms of all of the countries of Wales,

37
00:04:34,680 --> 00:04:43,470
and possibly more interesting than anything, the first Great Hall in any university in the UK to have what they called electroliers.

38
00:04:44,550 --> 00:04:53,040
These lights were actually chandeliers infused with electricity and that is a really,

39
00:04:53,040 --> 00:04:59,160
really pioneering thing for any hall to have in Britain in in the 1911 period.

40
00:04:59,970 --> 00:05:06,900
Thanks again, Gari. It really does put a different perspective on these corridors that our students walk through daily.

41
00:05:08,010 --> 00:05:12,180
Join us next time when we discover more about this amazing university.