1943 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1943 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Archbishop of Wales – Charles Green, Bishop of Bangor
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Crwys

Events

• 19 January - Three-year-old twins Neil and Jacqueline Coleby die of exposure on the slopes of Caerneddau; despite an extensive search their bodies are not found until 24 January.
• 29 January - In the by-election for the University of Wales parliamentary seat vacated by Ernest Evans, there are three notable candidates. W. J. Gruffydd, a former vice-president of Plaid Cymru who has subsequently joined the Liberal Party, triumphs over Plaid's Saunders Lewis. One of the other candidates is Alun Talfan Davies.
• March - Rocky Marciano is among US servicemen posted to South Wales.
• August - Tenovus Cancer Care is founded in Cardiff as Tenovus, initially funding a wide range of projects in the local area; it becomes the leading cancer charity in Wales.
• 23 October - David Lloyd George marries his long-term mistress and secretary, Frances Stevenson, at Guildford register office.
• Sir Percy Thomas is elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects for the second time - the second person ever to achieve this.

Arts and literature

• August - Soprano Ceinwen Rowlands gives the first performance of a Welsh translation of Felix Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Bangor.
• The Welsh National Opera company is founded in Cardiff as an amateur company.
• Dame Laura Knight paints Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Newport.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Caernarfon)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - David Emrys James
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Dafydd Owen
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

New books

English language

• Idris Davies - The Angry Summer: A Poem of 1926
• Margiad Evans - Autobiography
• William Evans (Wil Ifan) - A Quire of Rhymes
• R. T. Jenkins - Orinda
• Eiluned Lewis - The Captain's Wife

Welsh language

• Rhys Davies - Pobl a Phethau
• Sir Emrys Evans - Ewthaffron: Criton (translation from Plato)
• Alwyn D. Rees - Adfeilion

Music

• Harry Parr-Davies - The Lisbon Story (musical, opened in the West End 17 June 1943)
• Arwel Hughes - Anatiomaros
• W. S. Gwynn Williams - Tosturi Duw (God's Mercy)

Film

• Ray Milland stars in Forever and a Day and The Crystal Ball.
• Drama documentary The Silent Village, filmed in 1942 at Cwmgiedd near Ystradgynlais by Humphrey Jennings, is released.

Broadcasting

• 4 September – Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports from a bomber over Berlin for BBC Radio.

Births

• 13 January – Lorna Sage, academic, literary critic and writer (died 2001)
• 1 February – Rosemarie Frankland, beauty queen (died 2000)
• 9 February – Ryland Davies, operatic tenor (died 2023)
• 11 February – Win Griffiths MP, politician
• 28 February – John Davies, bishop of St Asaph
• 3 March <small>(in London)</small> – Aeronwy Thomas, literary figure (died 2009)
• 1 April <small>(in Derby)</small> – Dafydd Wigley MP, politician
• 9 April – Clive Sullivan, rugby league footballer (died 1985)
• 16 April <small>(in Norwich)</small> – Ruth Madoc (née Llewellyn), actress and singer (died 2022)
• 17 April – Elinor Bennett, harpist
• 26 April – Leon Pownall, actor and director (died 2006)
• 27 April
• David Hughes, footballer
• Gwyn Prosser MP, politician
• 6 June – Sir Terry Matthews, entrepreneur
• 5 July – Roy Evans, footballer (died 1969)
• 7 July – Robert East, actor
• 19 July – Beth Morris, actress (died 2018)
• 2 August – Alun Michael MP, politician
• 17 August – John Humphrys, radio and TV journalist
• 24 August – Dafydd Iwan, musician and politician
• 10 September – Shân Legge-Bourke, born Elizabeth Shân Bailey, landowner
• 27 September – Max Boyce, entertainer
• 18 October <small>(in London)</small> – Dai Jones, Welsh-language broadcaster (died 2022)
• 15 November – Derec Llwyd Morgan, academic
• 16 November – Val Lloyd AM, politician
• 22 December – Gareth Morgan, organizational theorist
• 28 December – Joan Ruddock MP, politician and campaigner
• 30 December – Geraint Talfan Davies, journalist and executive
• date unknown
• John Beard, painter
• Christine Evans, poet
• Gareth Griffiths, academic

Deaths

• 9 January – William Llewellyn Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 70
• 12 January – Selwyn Biggs, Wales international rugby player and Glamorgan cricketer, 70
• 24 January – Glyndwr Michael, homeless man whose body was used in Operation Mincemeat, 34 (pneumonia)
• 31 January – Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, physician, 85
• 7 February <small>(in London)</small> – Clara Novello Davies, singer, 71
• 6 March <small>(in Trevelin)</small> – John Daniel Evans, pioneer in Patagonia, 81
• 23 March – Commander John Wallace Linton, VC, 37 (killed in action)
• 28 March – Ben Davies, operatic tenor, 85
• 12 April – Arthur Lloyd James, phonetician, 58 (suicide)
• 17 April – Alice Gray Jones (Ceridwen Peris), author, 90
• 8 September – Dai Lewis, Wales international rugby player, 76
• 15 September – David Samuel, Wales international rugby player
• 24 September – Billy Douglas, Wales international rugby player, 80
• 15 October – Sir Thomas Artemus Jones, judge and Welsh language campaigner, 72
• 29 October – Frank Hancock, Wales international rugby union international, 84
• 17 November – Bertrand Turnbull, Olympic hockey player, 56
• 10 December – Ivor Morgan, Wales international rugby union player, 59
• 27 December – Arthur O'Bree, Glamorgan cricketer, 57 (killed in action)

See also

• 1943 in Northern Ireland

References