Skip to content
Skip to navigation menu

100 Facts - Opening of the Main Building

100 Facts

  1. The Principal of the College when Main Building opened was Ernest Howard Griffiths, who held the post from 1901 – 1918. Like John Viriamu Jones before him, Griffiths was a physicist.
  2. The opening of Main Building, as well as being extensively covered in the Western Mail and other local papers, also received coverage in a wide number of English papers, including the London Standard, the London Times, the London Daily Telegraph, the London Daily Mail, and the Manchester Guardian.
  3. Among the dignitaries attending and taking part in Main Building’s opening ceremony were the Marquis of Bute, Lord Ninian Stuart, Viscount Tredegar, the Countess of Plymouth, Lady Windsor-Clive, the Worshipful Master (Mr Keddan Ray Fletcher) & members of the Court of the Drapers’ Company, and the Lord Mayor of Cardiff.
  4. The opening ceremony actually began away from Main Building, with an impressive procession of hundreds of staff, current and former students, from the old Newport Road buildings.
    5. 1909 Opening Ceremony Programme

    1909 Opening Ceremony Programme

  5. The procession was headed by the Chief Constable on horseback and great crowds lined the route through Queen Street, Park Place, King Edward’s Avenue, and College Road.
  6. For the official opening, the President’s arrival was announced by a fanfare of trumpets. He then proceeded to unlock the door of Main Building with a key presented to him by the architect.
  7. The Drapers’ Library was declared officially open by the Master of the Drapers’, who also unveiled a tablet by Lord Tredegar commemorating the gifts of that body.
  8. The gold key used by the Master of the Drapers in the opening ceremony is still held in the University’s Special Collections and Archives.
  9. A Latin Ode and a Welsh Ode were written for the Opening of the New Building in 1909. The words of the Welsh Ode were by Dyfed, then Archdruid; those of the Latin Ode by D.A. Slater, Professor of Latin; the music of both by Dr David Evans, then Lecturer in Music, and later the first Professor of Music in the College.
  10. The Welsh Ode featured at the beginning of the ceremony and proceedings were brought to a close by the singing of the Latin Ode and a rousing rendition of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers).
  11. The evening after the formal opening, the Earl and Countess of Plymouth hosted a reception in the Library. The Council Chamber was designated the ‘conversation room’ and guests were entertained by music, lantern slide shows and dramatic performances.