THE Royal Mail has said that Hedd Wyn will not appear on a collection of stamps to commemorate the events of 1917 in the First World War, despite an open letter being signed by dozens of academics and prominent Welsh language and eistedd­fod figures.

The letter called on Moya Greene, chief executive at the Royal Mail, to “reconsider immediately” the decision to exclude Hedd Wyn – born Ellis Humphrey Evans – in the collection.

The Trawsfynydd poet (pictured) was killed on the first day of the bloody Battle of Passchendaele in 1917 and posthumously awarded the bard’s chair at that year’s National Eisteddfod.

The letter, signed by famous names including actor Michael Sheen, dramatist Sion Eirian and novelists Catrin Dafydd, Dafydd Huws and William Owen Roberts, as well as several chief poets, archdruids and National Eisteddfod prose winners, said the undersigned “regret Royal Mail’s refusal to issue a commemorative stamp for the soldier poet Hedd Wyn”.

“We believe that iss­uing a stamp is very important because he died before winning the Chair in the National Eisteddfod in Birkenhead and because he’s a symbol of the losses which affected nearly every family in Wales and the rest of Britain from 1914 to 1918 and afterwards,” the letter added.

“We note that Ireland has issued a commemorative stamp for Francis Ledwidge, the poet who died the same day as Hedd Wyn in the same battle and is buried near him in Artillery Wood Cemetery.”

The Royal Mail said that the final decision on who would appear on the commemorative stamps was made in 2015 – adding that the company chose the story of another Welshman to appear in the stamp collection, that of Cardigan man Private Lemuel Thomas Rees.

During the Battle of Passchendaele, an exploding German shell landed close by, and although Rees was hit, he was saved by the small Bible that he kept in his breast pocket.

Royal Mail announced the final line-up for the six stamps back in July.

They feature a shattered poppy; a line from Dead Man’s Dump by Isaac Rosenberg; nurses Elsie Knocker and Mairi Chisholm; Dry Docked for Scaling and Painting by Edward Wadsworth; the Tyne Cot Cemetery in Belgium; and Private Rees’ Bible.

The collection of stamps has been on sale since July.