Lloyd George salute site, Llandudno promenade


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On St David’s Day (1 March) 1915, David Lloyd George took the salute here as thousands of soldiers paraded past. He’s wearing a bowler hat in the photo of the event, below.

photo of lloyd george llandudno 1915

When the First World War started in August 1914, it was peak holiday season in Llandudno. Holidaymakers packed their suitcases and went home. This proved to be an economic disaster, and the council came under immense pressure to respond. It was a great relief to local businesses when it was announced that Llandudno would be home to five battalions of the newly formed Welsh Army Corps, an all-Welsh division championed by Lloyd George, who was the local MP and Chancellor of the Exchequer (later Prime Minister).

Some 6,000 men of the Royal Welsh Fusiliers were billeted in Llandudno while training between November 1914 and September 1915. Most of them saw their first major action in July 1916. Days after the first troops went ‘over the top’ on the first day of the Battle of the Somme, the Welshmen were tasked with capturing the overgrown woodland at Mametz. The first attack ended in failure.

The next assault, three days later began at dawn and was preceded by a heavy artillery barrage against German positions. Still, many were cut down by machine gun and rifle fire as they crossed the open fields. After fierce fighting, the Welsh troops took the wood and the 38th (Welsh) Division (the newly renamed Welsh Army Corps) was removed from the front line. The division suffered severe casualties with 565 men killed in less than a week. See the footnotes for more about Mametz.

The heavy losses at Mametz affected Lloyd George, who commissioned a painting from Christopher Williams called ‘The Welsh at Mametz’. It has belonged to the National Museum of Wales since 1920. Two other paintings by Christopher Williams, one of which depicts Lloyd George in a group, are in Royal Caernarfon Town Council's art collection.

With thanks to John Lawson-Reay, of the Llandudno & Colwyn Bay History Society, and Adrian Hughes, of the Home Front Museum, Llandudno

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Footnotes: More about Mametz and Llandudno

The village of Mametz, including many of its dwellings and much of its infrastructure, was destroyed in the fighting. At the end of the war, Llandudno adopted the village and through a series of fundraising events amassed over 9,000 francs to restore the water supply. So grateful were the French villagers that the mayor, Monsieur Baudet, came to Wales to thank the residents personally for their generosity. At a civic reception, he told the audience about the destruction of his home village, of the starving community and of farmers struggling to cultivate the land around the deep shell craters in the pockmarked countryside. He also spoke of the perils of ploughing up live ordnance and, worse, the bodies of the fallen.