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IT IS SELDOM THAT AN AGITATION OF THIS SORT IS ENTIRELY FRUITLESS. One thing at least was perfectly clear to all Welshmen as result of the Blue Books: they realised the force of Kay Shuttleworth's contention that there would never be any real improvement in education until Wales had a good supply of trained teachers, and trained teachers implied Training Colleges. Hitherto, Welsh teachers for the British Schools had been trained at the Borough Road Training College, London, and trained at very little expense to themselves. They paid six shillings a week for their instruction, their board and lodging, their washing and their medical attention. The Borough Road Training College, however, was becoming too full to admit them all, and 35 schools in North Wales alone had had to close because of a shortage of trained teachers, while others had failed to earn grants because they were in the charge of uncertificated teachers. Some teachers were trained at Bala College, but they were not enough, and the only solution was to open a Normal College in Wales itself. Reference has already been made to the founding of the Brecon Normal School in 1846, but its life was very short, for it depended entirely on voluntary subscriptions. The Church in this matter, as in the provision of schools, was already in the field. On the initiative of the Rev. Thomas Thomas, Vicar of Caernarvon, a Normal department was formed in the National. School at Caernarvon in 1846; it moved into temporary premises of its own and with its own Principal in 1849; in 1856 it became a residential college for North Wales and in 1894 it moved to Bangor. Its successor is now known as St. Mary's Training College for Women Teachers. In South Wales, Carmarthen Training College was opened in 1848, very largely as a result of the labours of Bishop Thirlwall and the Welsh Education Committee which had been formed two years earlier to encourage the growth of National Schools.
In April, 1856 Hugh Owen and some of his friends convened a meeting at Bangor to discuss, among other things, the question of a Training College for North Wales. All present were very enthusiastic, and after another meeting had been held at Rhyl the following July it was resolved to establish a College at Bangor. John Phillips once again undertook the arduous task of arousing interest in the project among the Welsh people and of collecting subscriptions, and as a result of his tireless journeys in all parts of Wales and in Liverpool, Manchester and London, the sum of £11,500 was raised to meet a Government grant of £2,000. All the leading religious bodies contributed in varying degrees, the Calvinistic Methodists leading the way with £10,786 6s. 3d. The College was first opened in temporary buildings in the vestry of Tŵrgwyn C. M. Chapel, Bangor in 1858, and later in two dwelling- houses. In August 1862, the new buildings were ready, with accommodation for 40 students, and, very fittingly, Bangor Normal College started on its career with John Phillips as its Principal.
