1943 in Wales explained

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^[1]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Crwys^[2]

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.^[3]
• 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.^[4]
• 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.^[5]
• 23 October - David Lloyd George marries his long-term mistress and secretary, Frances Stevenson, at Guildford register office.^[6]
• Sir Percy Thomas is elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects for the second time - the second person ever to achieve this.^[7]

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.^[8]
• Dame Laura Knight paints Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Newport.^[9]

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^[10]
• 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^[11]

Music

• Harry Parr-Davies - The Lisbon Story (musical, opened in the West End 17 June 1943)^[12]
• Arwel Hughes - Anatiomaros^[13]
• 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.^[14]

Broadcasting

• 4 September – Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports from a bomber over Berlin for BBC Radio.^[15]

Births

• 13 January – Lorna Sage, academic, literary critic and writer (died 2001)^[16]
• 1 February – Rosemarie Frankland, beauty queen (died 2000)^[17]
• 9 February – Ryland Davies, operatic tenor (died 2023)
• 11 February – Win Griffiths MP, politician^[18]
• 28 February – John Davies, bishop of St Asaph
• 3 March (in London) – Aeronwy Thomas, literary figure (died 2009)^[19]
• 1 April (in Derby) – Dafydd Wigley MP, politician
• 9 April – Clive Sullivan, rugby league footballer (died 1985)
• 16 April (in Norwich) – Ruth Madoc (née Llewellyn), actress and singer (died 2022)^[20]
• 17 April – Elinor Bennett, harpist^[21]
• 26 April – Leon Pownall, actor and director (died 2006)
• 27 April
  • David Hughes, footballer
  • Gwyn Prosser MP, politician
• 6 June – Sir Terry Matthews, entrepreneur^[22]
• 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^[23]
• 10 September – Shân Legge-Bourke, born Elizabeth Shân Bailey, landowner
• 27 September – Max Boyce, entertainer
• 18 October (in London) – Dai Jones, Welsh-language broadcaster (died 2022)
• 15 November – Derec Llwyd Morgan, academic
• 16 November – Val Lloyd AM, politician^[24]
• 22 December – Gareth Morgan, organizational theorist
• 28 December – Joan Ruddock MP, politician and campaigner^[25]
• 30 December – Geraint Talfan Davies, journalist and executive
• date unknown
  • John Beard, painter^[26]
  • Christine Evans, poet^[27]
  • 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)^[28]
• 31 January – Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, physician, 85^[29]
• 7 February (in London) – Clara Novello Davies, singer, 71^[30]
• 6 March (in Trevelin) – John Daniel Evans, pioneer in Patagonia, 81^[31]
• 23 March – Commander John Wallace Linton, VC, 37 (killed in action)^[32]
• 28 March – Ben Davies, operatic tenor, 85^[33]
• 12 April – Arthur Lloyd James, phonetician, 58 (suicide)^[34]
• 17 April – Alice Gray Jones (Ceridwen Peris), author, 90^[35]
• 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^[36]
• 29 October – Frank Hancock, Wales international rugby union international, 84
• 17 November – Bertrand Turnbull, Olympic hockey player, 56^[37]
• 10 December – Ivor Morgan, Wales international rugby union player, 59
• 27 December – Arthur O'Bree, Glamorgan cricketer, 57 (killed in action)^[38]

See also

• 1943 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. Book: C. J. Litzenberger. Eileen Groth Lyon. The Human Tradition in Modern Britain. 2006. Rowman & Littlefield. 978-0-7425-3735-4. 92.
2. Web site: Williams, William. Welsh Biography Online. National Library of Wales. 5 October 2021.
3. Web site: Missing Coleby twins remembered 75 years after deaths. George. Herd. BBC News. 2018-05-25. 2018-05-27.
4. Web site: Boxer proves Welsh archive's biggest hit. 1 May 2008. Robin Turner. WalesOnline. 16 July 2019.
5. Web site: About us. Tenovus. Cardiff. 2017-12-08.
6. Book: Dermot J. T. Englefield. Janet Seaton. Isobel White. Facts about the British prime ministers: a compilation of biographical and historical information. registration. 1995. H.W. Wilson Co.. 978-0-8242-0863-9. 238.
7. Book: Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (London, England). The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. 1946. The Society. 4.
8. Book: Michael Kennedy. Joyce Bourne. The Concise Oxford Dictionary of Music. Oxford University Press. 2004. 9780198608844. 789.
9. Web site: A Gun Girl – Ruby Loftus – Dame Laura Knight's Newport commission. Wartime Newport: The Home Front. 2015-01-28. https://web.archive.org/web/20160318192932/http://www.wartimenewport.virtuallyhere.co.uk/pages.php?page_id=54. 2016-03-18. dead.
10. Book: Stephens, Meic . The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales . Oxford University Press . Oxford Oxfordshire New York . 1986 . 9780192115867 . 195.
11. Book: John Cowper Powys. Iorwerth Cyfeiliog Peate. Letters 1937-54. University of Wales Press. 1974. 57.
12. Book: Catalog of Copyright Entries: Musical compositions. Library of Congress, Copyright Office. 1943. 1513.
13. Web site: Arwel Hughes - Anatiomaros. ArkivMusic. 23 January 2019. 12 January 2020. https://web.archive.org/web/20200112072321/http://www.arkivmusic.com/classical/album.jsp?album_id=596035. dead.
14. Web site: The Silent Village (1943). Berry, Dave . BFI Screen Online. 6 August 2010.
15. Web site: "Raid on Berlin": Actuality recording of a Royal Air Force (RAF) bombing raid over Berlin, Germany on 4 September 1943.. Australian War Memorial. 23 January 2019.
16. Web site: Lorna Sage. 13 January 2001. Jon Cook. The Guardian. 23 January 2019.
17. Book: Harris M. Lentz. Obituaries in the Performing Arts. McFarland & Company. 2000. 83.
18. News: Win Griffiths. 21 October 2002.
19. Web site: Aeronwy Thomas Ellis. 9 August 2009. Andrew Lycett. The Guardian. 4 May 2022.
20. Web site: Ruth Madoc, actress who found fame as the lovelorn Yellowcoat Gladys in the hit sitcom Hi-de-Hi! – obituary. 10 December 2022. The Telegraph. 10 December 2022.
21. Book: Elster . Robert J. . International Who's Who in Classical Music 2008 . 2008 . . London . 978-1-85743-455-2 . 67-68 . 24th . registration .
22. Web site: Terry Matthews: A well-connected Celt. 28 October 2000. David Gow. The Guardian. 23 January 2019.
23. Book: Who's who in European Politics. Bowker-Saur. 1990. 313.
24. Book: 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.U44405 . Lloyd, Valerie, (Born 16 Nov. 1943), Member (Lab) Swansea East, National Assembly for Wales, Sept. 2001–2011 . Who's Who . 2007 .
25. Book: Dod's Parliamentary Companion. 2007. Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Limited. 978-0-905702-66-7. 290.
26. Web site: John Beard born 1943. Tate. 2 March 2024.
27. Book: Lloyd, David . The urgency of identity : contemporary English-language poetry from Wales . TriQuarterly Books . Evanston, Ill . 1994 . 9780810150324 . 239.
28. Web site: CWGC Casualty Details . . 2011 . 23 February 2011.
29. Book: The Eugenics Review. 1941. Eugenics Education Society. 129.
30. Book: The Encyclopedia Americana: The International Reference Work. 1962. Americana Corporation of Canada. 546.
31. Web site: Evans, John Daniel (1862-1943), a pioneer in Patagonia. Richard Bryn Williams. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 15 March 2019.
32. Web site: Commander John Wallace Linton. CWGC. 10 December 2022.
33. Web site: Davies, Benjamin ('Ben'; 1858-1943), singer. Robert David Griffith. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 15 March 2019.
34. Professor A. Lloyd James: An Authority on Phonetics . Obituaries . 2 April 1943 . 7. 49510 . E.
35. Web site: Ceridwen Peris. Davies. Margaret Beatrice. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 15 March 2019.
36. Web site: Jones, Sir Thomas Artemus (1871-1943), journalist, judge and historian. Frank Price Jones. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 15 March 2019.
37. Web site: Olympics at Sports-Reference.com > Athletes > Bertrand Turnbull. https://web.archive.org/web/20200418042039/https://www.sports-reference.com/olympics/athletes/tu/bertrand-turnbull-1.html. dead. 2020-04-18.
38. Web site: Flying Officer Arthur O'Bree. CWGC. 2 March 2024.