1949 in Wales

Incumbents

• Archbishop of Wales
  • David Prosser, Bishop of St David's (retired)
  • John Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff (elected)
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Wil Ifan

Events

• Easter - Urdd Gobaith Cymru holds its first "Celtic camp".
• April - The government decides to establish an Advisory Council for Wales.
• 20 May - Council for Wales and Monmouthshire first meets, with Huw T. Edwards as its first chairman.
  • June - Meteorologist David Brunt is knighted.
• 12 June - Britain's first all-world Muslim conference is held in Cardiff.
• 21 September
  • The first comprehensive school in Wales is opened in Holyhead, Anglesey.
  • A meteorite falls through the roof of the Prince Llewelyn Hotel, Beddgelert.
  • John Morgan is enthroned as Archbishop of Wales.
• 4 November - Cwmbran is designated as the first New Town in Wales under powers of the New Towns Act 1946.
• 26 December - The Gwyn Nicholls memorial gates at Cardiff Arms Park are officially opened.
• date unknown
  • Closure of the granite quarry at Llanbedrog, the last in the town.
  • Sale of Bron-y-garth, Porthmadog, ancestral home of Sir Lewis Casson.
  • Bodnant Garden is donated to the National Trust.
  • Gwynfor Evans is elected to Merionethshire County Council.
  • Jack Jones spends three months in the USA promoting the Moral Re-Armament Movement.

Arts and literature

• May - Dylan and Caitlin Thomas settle at the Boat House, Laugharne.
• Geraint Evans stars in The Marriage of Figaro at Covent Garden.
• Huw Menai is granted a civil list pension.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Dolgellau)
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Roland Jones, "Y Graig"
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - John Tudor James, "Meirionnydd"
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

New books

English language

• Dannie Abse - After Every Green Thing
• Stan Awbery - Labour's Early Struggles in Swansea
• David James Davies - Towards an Economic Democracy
• Cledwyn Hughes - A Wanderer in North Wales
• Arthur Leach - Charles Norris of Tenby and Waterwynch
• Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor - Newfoundland at the Cross Roads
• Thomas Mardy-Jones - Character, Coal and Corn – the Roots of British Power
• Bertrand Russell - Authority and the Individual
• Gwyn Thomas - All Things Betray Thee

Welsh language

• Aneirin Talfan Davies - Gwyr Llen
• Richard Davies (Isgarn) - Caniadau Isgarn (posthumously published)
• John Daniel Vernon Lewis - Bydd melys fy myfyrdod: detholiad o lyfr y Salmau
• Kate Roberts - Stryd y Glep
• Louie Myfanwy Thomas
  • as Jane Ann Jones - Y bryniau pell
  • as Ffanni Llwyd - Diwrnod yw ein bywyd (submitted to National Eisteddfod; published 1954)
• William Nantlais Williams - Emynau'r daith

Music

• Ivor Novello - King's Rhapsody
• Grace Williams - Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes - first recording, made by London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mansel Thomas (first recording of any work by a female Welsh composer)

Film

• Blue Scar, starring Kenneth Griffith and Rachel Thomas
• The Last Days of Dolwyn, starring Emlyn Williams, Richard Burton and Hugh Griffith
• Yr Etifeddiaeth (The Heritage), documentary by Geoff Charles and John Roberts Williams, depicting traditional ways of life in rural North Wales, with narration by Cynan; the first film to be made in the Welsh language
• The Fruitful Year, a promotional film about Wales, commissioned by the Post Office National Savings
• The Road to Yesterday, travelogue made for troops serving abroad

Broadcasting

• January - Glyn Griffiths writes: "It would be advisable now for Wales to weigh in with its campaign of aggravation and persuasion to get a Welsh Radio Corporation."

Sport

• Football - John Charles joins Leeds United
• Netball - The Welsh team plays its first international matches, against Scotland and England
• Rugby Union
  • 26 March - France beats Wales 5–3 at the Stade Colombes in Paris
  • 26 December - Rhys Gabe officially opens the Gwyn Nicholls Memorial Gates at Cardiff Arms Park.
• Steeplechasing - The first Welsh Grand National to be run at Chepstow Racecourse is won by Dick Francis riding Fighting Line.

Births

• 1 January - Sue Jones-Davies, actress, singer and local politician
• 7 February - Martin Daunton, historian and academic
• 2 March - J. P. R. Williams, rugby player (died 2024)
• 5 March - Mike Gwilym, actor
• 9 March - Neil Hamilton, politician
• 22 March - John Toshack, footballer and football manager
• 14 April - Dennis Bryon, rock drummer (died 2024)
• 22 May
  • Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, politician
  • Derek Quinnell, rugby player
• 5 June - Ken Follett, novelist
• 11 June - Tom Pryce, racing driver (killed in racing accident 1977)
• 14 June - Alan Evans, darts player (died 1999)
• 23 June - Hilary Boyd, novelist
• 16 July - Angharad Rees, actress (died 2012)
• 15 August - Richard Deacon, sculptor and academic
• 25 August (in Oxford) - Martin Amis, novelist
• 24 October - Nick Ainger, politician
• 29 October - Alun Ffred Jones AM, politician
• 18 November - William Graham AM, politician
• 15 December (in Epsom) - Jane Hutt AM, politician
• date unknown
  • Anthony O'Donnell, actor
  • M. J. Trow, writer

Deaths

• 20 January - Artie Moore, wireless operator (born 1887)
• 21 January
  • J. H. Thomas, politician, 72
  • Rowley Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 85
• 7 March - T. Gwynn Jones ("Tir-na-Nog"), poet and journalist, 77
• 20 April - Sir Evan Davies Jones, 1st Baronet, civil engineer and politician, 90
• 21 April - Sir Alfred Thomas Davies, civil servant, 88
• 27 April - Evan Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar, poet and occulist, 55
• 1 May - Horace Lyne, Wales international rugby player and WRU president, 88
• 3 May - David John Tawe Jones, composer, 64
• 8 May - Abel J. Jones, teacher, writer and public servant
• 6 June - Walter E. Rees, Secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union, 86
• 3 July - William McCutcheon, Wales international rugby player, 78/79
• 23 July - John Bodvan Anwyl (Bodfan), lexicographer, 74
• 10 August - William Jones Williams, public servant, 86
• 26 August - Edgar Chappell, sociologist, 70
• 1 September - Dr Teddy Morgan, Welsh international rugby player, 69
• 24 October - T. Rowland Hughes, author, 46
• 9 November - William Dowell, Wales dual code rugby international, 64
• 16 December - George Maitland Lloyd Davies, pacifist politician, 59

References

References

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2. National Library of Wales. (1947). "Annual Report - National Library of Wales".
3. Corfe, Robert. (2009). "Land of the Olympians: papers from the enlightened far north". Arena.
4. Great Britain. Council for Wales and Monmouthshire. (1950). "A Memorandum by the Council on Its Activities". H.M. Stationery Office.
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13. (17 November 2019). "Winners of the Crown".
14. "Winners of the Prose Medal".
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42. William Llewelyn Davies. "Chappell, Edgar Leyshon (1879-1949), sociologist, a pioneer of town and village redevelopment, and writer". National Library of Wales.
43. John Ellis Meredith. "Davies, George Maitland Lloyd (1880-1949), Calvinistic Methodist minister and apostle of peace". National Library of Wales.