1920 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1920 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 Hinds
  • Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Lloyd Tyrell-Kenyon, 4th Baron Kenyon Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Henry Gladstone, later Baron Gladstone^[5]
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Sir Osmond Williams, 1st Baronet^[6]
• 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 – Arthur Walsh, 3rd Baron Ormathwaite^[7]
• Archbishop of Wales – Alfred George Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph^[8] (elected 7 April 1920)^[9]

Events

• 22 January - Grant of the royal charter founding the University of Wales, Swansea.^[10]
• 31 March - The Welsh Church Act 1914 and Welsh Church (Temporalities) Act 1919 come into force, resulting in the creation of the Church in Wales^[11] after disestablishment, and appointment of the first Archbishop of Wales. The new Diocese of Monmouth is created.
• September - Report of the departmental committee on the organisation of secondary education in Wales, chaired by William Napier Bruce.
• 9 November - In a notorious murder trial at Carmarthen, solicitor Harold Greenwood is found not guilty of poisoning his wife.^[12]
• 3 December - Five crew members from the Rhoscolyn lifeboat are lost off Llanddwyn, Anglesey.^[13]
• 21 December - 1920 Rhondda West by-election: William John retains the seat for Labour after the resignation of William Abraham.
• Mortimer Wheeler becomes Director of the National Museum of Wales.
• More people are employed in the coal industry in Wales in this year than ever before or since.
• Opening of the Queen's Dock at Swansea Docks.^[14]
• Explorer Edgeworth David and civil servant George Lewis Barstow are knighted.
• Hugh Evan-Thomas becomes an admiral.
• Sale of the Downing Hall estate at Whitford, the former home of Thomas Pennant.

Arts and literature

• January - Y Winllan is launched, with Edward Tegla Davies as editor.^[15]
• Ifan ab Owen Edwards becomes editor of the children’s paper, Cymru’r Plant, originally launched by his father Owen Morgan Edwards.
• Controversy arises when T. H. Parry-Williams is appointed to the new Chair of Welsh Language at the University of Wales, because of his history of pacifism.^[16]
• Margaret Haig Thomas launches the periodical Time and Tide.^[17]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Barry)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld^[18]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - James Evans

New books

• Caradoc Evans - My Neighbours^[19]
• John Jenkins (Gwili) - Poems^[20]
• Thomas Mardy Rees - Difyrwch Gwyr Morgannwg^[21]
• Thomas Frederick Tout - The Captivity and Death of Edward of Caernarvon^[22]

Music

• Evan Thomas Davies becomes the first director of music at University of Wales, Bangor.
• Margaret Hughes sings at the Aeolian Hall under her stage name of "Leila Megane".

Film

• Ivor Novello appears in Miarka: The Daughter of the Bear^[23]

Broadcasting

• 22 March - A full duplex commercial service begins operating from the Towyn radio receiving station, and C. S. Franklin develops an improved anti-interference antenna design.

Sport

• Rugby Union
  • 17 January - In a 19-5 win over England, Jerry Shea achieves the first international scoring "Full House"; try, penalty goal, conversion and drop goal. A feat not repeated until 1950.^[24]
  • 17 February - Wales beat France 6 - 5 at the Stade Colombes in Paris

Births

• 16 January – Walley Barnes, footballer (d. 1975)
• 23 February – Ron Berry, writer (d. 1997)^[25]
• 25 March – Arthur Lever, international footballer (d. 2004)
• 12 April – The Cox Twins, music hall entertainers (d. (Frank) 2007 and (Fred) 2013)
• 5 May – Sir Glanmor Williams, historian (d. 2006)^[26]
• 7 May – Tommy Davies, middleweight boxer (d. 1998)
• 13 May – Gareth Morris, flautist, brother of Jan Morris (d. 2007)^{[27] [28]}
• 12 July – Howell Witt, bishop in Australia (d. 1998)
• 6 September – Trevor Morris, football player and manager (d. 2003)
• 7 September – Harri Webb, poet (d. 1994)^[29]
• 24 September – Gweneth Lilly, writer and teacher (d. 2004)^[30]
• 8 October – Frank Herbert, science fiction novelist of Welsh ancestry (d. 1986)
• 31 October – Dick Francis, jockey and crime novelist (d. 2010)^[31]
• 10 November – Peter Philp, antiques expert and dramatist (d. 2006)
• 11 November – Roy Jenkins, politician (d. 2003)^[32]
• 20 November – Len Blyth, Wales international rugby player (d. 1995)
• 2 December – George Edwards, international footballer (d. 2008)
• 23 December – Tommy Best, footballer (d. 2018)
• 18 December – Merlyn Rees, politician (d. 2006)^[33]

Deaths

• 11 January – Pryce Pryce-Jones, entrepreneur, 85^[34]
• 16 January – Evan Rowland Jones, politician, 79^[35]
• 21 February – Anna Thomas (Morfudd Eryri), poet and campaigner for the Eisteddfod, 81
• March – John Thomas, footballer, age unknown^[36]
• 11 March – Daniel James (Gwyrosydd), poet, 73^[37]
• 14 March – Owen Owen, educationist, 69/70^[38]
• 5 May – Robert Bryan, poet and composer, 61
• 15 May – Owen Morgan Edwards, historian and educationist, 61^[39]
• 5 June – Rhoda Broughton, novelist, 79^[40]
• 7 June – Hugh Ellis-Nanney, politician, 75^[41]
• 9 August – Samuel Walker Griffith, prime minister of Queensland, 75
• 1 September – Frederick Rutherfoord Harris, politician, 64^[42]
• 30 November – John Meredith, Wales national rugby player, 57

See also

• 1920 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: Ivor Bulmer-Thomas. Gladstone of Hawarden: A Memoir of Henry Neville, Lord Gladstone of Hawarden. Murray. 1936. 197.
6. Davies . Sir William Llewelyn . s-WILL-BRO-1800 . Williams family, of Bron Eryri, later called Castell Deudraeth, Meirionnydd. 30 January 2020.
7. Obituary, The Times, 15 March 1937
8. [Who's Who (UK)#Who Was Who|''Who was Who 1897–2007'']
9. Book: Owen , Eluned E. . 1961 . The Later Life of Bishop Owen . Llandyssul . Gomerian Press . 434.
10. Web site: Swansea University marks 90th anniversary. BBC News. 22 January 2010. 29 May 2019.
11. Book: Norman Doe. The Law of the Church in Wales. 2002. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-1748-8. 5.
12. Book: Colin Wilson. Patricia Pitman. Encyclopedia of Murder. 1962. G.P. Putnam's sons. 240.
13. Book: Ken Radford. Tales of North Wales. 1982. Skilton & Shaw. 978-0-284-98614-6. 26.
14. Book: George Augustus Nokes. John Francis Gairns. The Railway Year Book. 1925. Railway Publishing Company, Limited. 176.
15. Book: National Library of Wales. Annual Report. 1969. 34.
16. Book: Kenneth O. Morgan. Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880-1980. registration. 1981. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-821736-7. 182.
17. Book: Michelle Elizabeth Tusan. Women Making News: Gender and Journalism in Modern Britain. 2005. University of Illinois Press. 978-0-252-03015-4. 220.
18. Web site: Winners of the Chair. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
19. Book: Evans, Caradoc . My neighbours . Planet . Aberystwyth . 2005 . 9780954088156 . 183.
20. Book: Conran, Anthony . Frontiers in Anglo-Welsh poetry . University of Wales Press . Cardiff . 1997 . 9780708313954 . 177.
21. Book: Harvard University. Library. Celtic literatures: classification schedule, classified listing by call number, chronological listing, author and title listing. 1970. Distributed by the Harvard University Press.
22. Book: Hutchison, Harold . Edward II . Stein and Day . New York . 1972 . 9780812814484 . 141.
23. Book: Claude Summers. The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater. 24 April 2012. Cleis Press. 978-1-57344-875-8. 188.
24. Book: Dai Smith. Gareth Williams. Fields of Praise: The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union, 1881-1981. 1 January 1980. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-0766-3.
25. Web site: Obituary: Ron Berry . https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/obituaries/obituary--ron-berry-1252238.html . 1 May 2022 . subscription . live . The Independent . Stephens, Meic . 24 July 1997 . 28 December 2010.
26. Web site: Sir Glanmor Williams. 25 March 2006. D Ben Rees. The Guardian. 20 January 2019.
27. Web site: Gareth Morris. 10 March 2007. The Telegraph. 20 January 2019.
28. Book: Priests and Prelates: The Daily Telegraph Clerical Obituaries. 23 June 2006. A&C Black. 978-0-8264-8100-9. 196.
29. Web site: Obituary: Harri Webb. https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220501/https://www.independent.co.uk/news/people/obituary-harri-webb-1566453.html . 1 May 2022 . subscription . live. 23 October 2011. The Independent. 9 October 2021.
30. News: Rees. D. Ben. David Benjamin Rees. 20 April 2004. Gweneth Lilly. The Guardian. 20 April 2021.
31. News: Nikkhah . Roya . Dick Francis interview for Even Money . . 1 September 2009 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20090905182401/https://www.telegraph.co.uk/culture/books/authorinterviews/6121481/Dick-Francis-interview-for-Even-Money.html . 5 September 2009.
32. Book: Campbell, John . Roy Jenkins : a well-rounded life . Vintage Books . London . 2015 . 9780099532620 . 9.
33. Web site: Lord Merlyn-Rees. 5 January 2006. Edward Pearce. The Guardian. 20 January 2019.
34. s3-PRYC-PRY-1834. Pryce-Jones, Sir Pryce (Pryce Jones until 1887; 1834-1920), pioneer of mail order business. Maurice Richards. National Library of Wales. 9 February 2021.
35. ‘JONES, Major Evan Rowland’, Who Was Who, A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc, 1920–2015; online edn, Oxford University Press, 2014 ; online edn, April 2014 http://www.ukwhoswho.com/view/article/oupww/whowaswho/U198598 (subscription required)
36. Book: Denis Clarebrough & Andrew Kirkham . Sheffield United Who's Who . Hallamshire Press . 2008. 314 . 978-1-874718-69-7.
37. https://biography.wales/article/s-JAME-DAN-1847. James, Daniel (Gwyrosydd; 1847-1920), poet. David Myrddin Lloyd. National Library of Wales. 18 March 2020.
38. Web site: Owen, Owen (1850 - 1920), first chief inspector of the Central Welsh Board for Intermediate Education in Wales . Jones. Edgar William . Welsh Biography Online . . 9 February 2021.
39. Web site: Edwards, Sir Owen Morgan (1858-1920), man of letters. Robert Thomas Jenkins. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 23 September 2019.
40. Book: Marilyn Wood. Rhoda Broughton (1840-1920): Profile of a Novelist. 1993. Paul Watkins. 978-1-871615-34-0. 123.
41. L. G. Pine, The New Extinct Peerage 1884-1971: Containing Extinct, Abeyant, Dormant and Suspended Peerages With Genealogies and Arms (London, U.K.: Heraldry Today, 1972), page 76.
42. Book: Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died During the Period .... 1929. A. & C. Black. 467.