1916 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1916 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dyfed^[1]
  • Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Sir Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley, 12th Baronet Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 2nd Baron Glanusk^[2]
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – John Ernest Greaves^[3]
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Herbert Davies-Evans^[4]
  • Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John William Gwynne Hughes Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – William Cornwallis-West^[5]
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Henry Gladstone, later Baron Gladstone^[6]
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Sir Osmond Williams, 1st Baronet^[7]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Ivor Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen
  • • Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Sir Herbert Williams-Wynn, 7th Baronet Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – John Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Powlett Milbank^[8]
• Bishop of Bangor – Watkin Williams^[9]
• Bishop of Llandaff – Joshua Pritchard Hughes^[10]
• Bishop of St Asaph – A. G. Edwards (later Archbishop of Wales)^[11]
• Bishop of St Davids – John Owen^[12]

Events

• 1 January
  • The Port Eynon life-boat capsizes and three crew members die.
  • The Royal laryngologist John Milsom Rees is knighted.^[13]
• 8 January – The Apostolic Church in Wales is established.
• 2 February – Submarine is launched at Pembroke Dock.^[14]
• 7 February – The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Cardiff is established.
• 1 March – Transfer of the National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth into its purpose-built premises is completed.^[15]
• 3 March – Light cruiser HMS Cambrian is launched at Pembroke Dock.^[16]
• 31 May–1 June – Hugh Evan-Thomas distinguishes himself in the Battle of Jutland;^[17] he is later knighted.
• 1 June – Miners' wages in the South Wales Coalfield are increased by 15%.^[18]
• 11 June – Frongoch internment camp is used as a place of imprisonment for approximately 1,800 Irishmen involved with the Easter Rising.^[19]
• 4 July – Royal Welch Fusiliers Lieutenant Siegfried Sassoon attacks a German trench single-handed, and records the outcome in his memoirs.
• 7–12 July – The 38th (Welsh) Division loses so many men in the Mametz Wood engagement during the Battle of the Somme that it is unable to re-group for a year.
• 12 July – Railway worker James Dally is awarded the Edward Medal by King George V for his actions in saving a colleague from falling from the Crumlin Viaduct.
• July – Jimmy Thomas becomes General Secretary of the National Union of Railwaymen, which he had been instrumental in forming.
• October – T. E. Lawrence is sent into the desert to report on the Arab nationalist movements.
• 7 November – Charles Evans Hughes loses narrowly to Woodrow Wilson in the United States presidential election.
• November – Christopher Williams visits the scene of the Welsh losses at Mametz Wood and later paints his famous The Welsh at Mametz Wood at the request of David Lloyd George.^[20]
• 1 December – Government takes control of mines in the South Wales Coalfield.^[21]
• 2 December – Miners' wages in the South Wales Coalfield are again increased by 15%.^[22]
• 7 December
  • David Lloyd George is the first (and, as of a century later, only) Welshman to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.^[23]
  • David Alfred Thomas is created Baron Rhondda. He is appointed President of the Local Government Board.^[24]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Aberystwyth)
  • Chair - J. Ellis Williams, "Ystrad Fflur"^[25]
  • Crown - withheld

New books

• Llewelyn Powys and John Cowper Powys - Confessions of Two Brothers
• Richard Hughes Williams (Dic Tryfan) - Tair Stori Fer

Film

• 22 April – Edmund Gwenn makes his screen debut in The Real Thing at Last.

Sport

• Boxing

14 February – Jimmy Wilde wins the British flyweight title at Liverpool.

Births

• 26 February - Joan Strothers (later Lady Curran), scientist (died 1999)^[26]
• 2 March - Eddie Watkins, rugby player (died 1995)
• 1 May - Glenn Ford, Welsh-Canadian actor (died 2006)^[27]
• 6 May - Ted Peterson, British baseball player (died 2005)
• 7 May - Huw Wheldon, broadcaster (died 1986)^[28]
• 8 May - Sylvia Sleigh, painter (died 2010)^[29]
• 22 May - Rupert Davies, actor (died 1976)
• 3 July - Nigel Heseltine, writer (died 1995)^[30]
• 23 August - Willie Davies, Wales international rugby union and league player (died 2002)
• 29 August - Rhydwen Williams, poet, novelist and minister (died 1997)^[31]
• 13 September - Roald Dahl, novelist (died 1990)^[32]
• 14 September - Cledwyn Hughes, politician (died 2001)^[33]
• 24 September - W. J. Gruffydd (Elerydd), poet and Archdruid (died 2011)^[34]
• 31 October - Stan Trick, cricketer (died 1995)

Deaths

• 12 March - Llywarch Reynolds, solicitor and Celtic scholar, 72^[35]
• 14 March - Lou Phillips, Wales international rugby player, 38 (killed in action)^[36]
• 18 March - David Cuthbert Thomas ("Dick Tiltwood"), soldier, 21 (killed in action)^[37]
• 14 April - Charlie Pritchard, Wales international rugby player, 32 (killed in action)^[36]
• May - John Griffiths, mathematician, 79
• 5 June - James Williams, footballer, 32 (killed in action)
• 26 June - Henry Allan Rolls, younger brother and heir presumptive of 2nd Baron Llangattock, 44^[38]
• 27 June - Sarah Jane Rees (Cranogwen), writer and temperance activist, 78^[39]
• 7 July - Dick Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 32 (killed in action at Mametz Wood, during the Somme)
• 12 July - Johnnie Williams, Wales international rugby player, 34 (died of wounds received at Mametz, on the Somme)^[36]
• 14 July - David Watts, Wales international rugby player, 30 (killed in action)^[36]
• 30 July - Eveline Willett Cunnington, social reformer in New Zealand, 67
• 3 September - Horace Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 26 (killed in action)^[36]
• 11 September - Thomas Lemuel James, Welsh-American banker and U.S. Postmaster-General, 85^[40]
• 28 September (in Bath, Somerset) - Richard Thomas, industrialist, 78^[41]
• 7 October - Leigh Richmond Roose, footballer, 38 (killed in action)^[42]
• 11 October - David Richard Thomas, clergyman and historian, 83^[43]
• 31 October - John Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock, 46 (killed in action)^[44]
• 12 November - Sir Walter Morgan, 1st Baronet, banker and Lord Mayor of London, 85 ^[45]
• 14 November - William Davies, footballer, 61

See also

• 1916 in Ireland

Notes and References

1. Rhys . James Ednyfed . Rees, Evan (Dyfed; 1850-1923), Calvinistic Methodist minister, poet, and archdruid of Wales . s-REES-EVA-1850 . National Library of Wales . 2 August 2018 . 1959.
2. Book: Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland, Including All the Titled Classes. Dod. 1921. 356.
3. Book: National Museum of Wales. Adroddiad Blynyddol. The Museum. 1935. 3.
4. Book: The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Dalcassian Publishing Company. 1860. 443.
5. Book: Potter, Matthew . The concept of the 'master' in art education in Britain and Ireland, 1770 to the present . Routledge . Abingdon, Oxon . 2016 . 9781351545471 . 149.
6. Book: Ivor Bulmer-Thomas. Gladstone of Hawarden: A Memoir of Henry Neville, Lord Gladstone of Hawarden. Murray. 1936. 197.
7. Davies . Sir William Llewelyn . s-WILL-BRO-1800 . Williams family, of Bron Eryri, later called Castell Deudraeth, Meirionnydd. 30 January 2020.
8. Book: Whitaker's Almanack. Joseph Whitaker. Whitaker's Almanack. 1913. 847.
9. Book: Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1925. 2437.
10. s-HUGH-JOS-1807 . Hughes, Joshua (1807-1889), bishop . William Thomas . Havard . William Havard . 26 October 2021.
11. [Who's Who (UK)#Who Was Who|''Who was Who 1897–2007'']
12. s-OWEN-JOH-1854. Owen, John (1854-1926), bishop. Thomas Iorwerth Ellis. 1959. 19 March 2022.
13. s2-REES-MIL-1866. Rees, Sir John Milsom (1866-1952), surgeon and laryngologist. Emyr Wyn Jones. 2001. 18 June 2024.
14. Web site: HMAS J4 . Royal Australian Navy . 2011-03-13 .
15. Book: Jenkins, David. David Jenkins (librarian). A Refuge in Peace and War: The National Library of Wales to 1952. Aberystwyth. National Library of Wales. 2002. 1-86225-034-0. 168.
16. Book: Gray. Randal. Conway's All the World's Fighting Ships 1906–1921 . 1985 . Annapolis, Maryland. Naval Institute Press . 0-85177-245-5 . amp . Great Britain and Empire Forces. Antony. Preston. Antony Preston. 59.
17. Book: The Rules of the Game: Jutland and British Naval Command. Andrew Gordon. Andrew Gordon (naval historian). John Murray . 1996. London . 0-7195-5076-9.
18. News: The Miners' Wages. Western Mail. Cardiff. 1916-06-10. 4.
19. Web site: Frongoch. 2018-01-08.
20. Web site: Mametz Wood: The Welsh attack and its legacy. 4 July 2016. BBC News. 26 August 2018.
21. News: Government Takes Welsh Coal Mines. The New York Times. 1916-11-30. 1.
22. News: Miners' Wages. The Labour Voice. 1915-12-09. 2022-09-27. 1.
23. Book: Gilbert, Bentley . David Lloyd George: A Political Life: Organizer of Victory, 1912–1916 . Ohio State University Press . 1992.
24. South Wales Daily News, 4 July 1918
25. Web site: Winners of the Chair. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
26. 71958. Joan Elizabeth Curran, Lady Curran (1916–1999) . Bill . Fletcher . none.
27. Web site: Leading man Glenn Ford dies at 90. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/leading-man-glenn-ford-dies-at-90-414111.html . 1 May 2022 . subscription . live. 31 August 2006. The Independent. 26 August 2018.
28. Book: Journal of the Royal Society of Arts. 1985. Society. 340.
29. Book: Gaze. Delia. Dictionary of Women Artists. 2. Sleigh, Sylvia. Brown. Betty Ann. Fitzroy Dearborn Publishers. London. 1997. 1280–1281.
30. Book: D. H. Lawrence. The First 'Women in Love'. Cambridge University Press. 2002. 9780521007092. 464.
31. Book: Donald Evans. Rhydwen Williams. 16 December 1991. University of Wales Press. 6.
32. Philip Howard, "Dahl, Roald (1916–1990)", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004.
33. Web site: Jones. David Lewis. Cledwyn Hughes, Baron Cledwyn of Penrhos. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. 7 June 2019.
34. Web site: WJ Gruffydd: Writer who helped keep alive the Welsh tradition. 20 July 2011. The Independent. London. 11 May 2022.
35. s-REYN-OWA-1814. Reynolds, Jonathan Owain (Nathan Dyfed, 1814 - 1891), author. 1959. Williams. Edward Ivor . 10 March 2009.
36. Web site: World War One: The Wales rugby internationals who died on the battlefield. 25 May 2014. Robin Turner. WalesOnline. 14 October 2019.
37. 'Little Tommy': 16th June 1895 – 18th March 1916. Anne Marsh Penton. Siegfried's Journal. 9–17. Siegfried Sassoon Fellowship. 1758-5856.
38. Book: George Edward Cokayne. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom: Lindley to Moate. St. Catherine Press Limited. 1932. 99.
39. s-REES-JAN-1839. REES, SARAH JANE (Cranogwen; 1839-1916), schoolmistress, poet, editor, temperance advocate. 1959. National Library of Wales. William Llewelyn Davies. William Llewelyn Davies. 8 February 2019.
40. Book: Sobel, Robert . 1990-07-24 . Biographical Directory of the United States Executive Branch, 1774-1989 . Greenwood Publishing Group . 0-313-26593-3 . etal . registration .
41. s1-THOM-RIC-1838. THOMAS, RICHARD (1838-1916), industrialist. 1959. National Library of Wales. Watkin William Price. 8 February 2019.
42. Web site: Casualty Details. Reading Room. Manchester.
43. s-THOM-RIC-1833. Thomas, David Richard (1833 - 1916), cleric and historian . Jenkins. Robert Thomas. Robert Thomas Jenkins. 5 November 2008.
44. Obituary, The Times 2 November 1916; Issue 41314
45. s-MORG-VAU-1831. MORGAN, Sir WALTER VAUGHAN (1831-1916), lord mayor of London. 1959. National Library of Wales. Robert Thomas Jenkins. 8 February 2019.