1952 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1952 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Archbishop of Wales – John Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Cynan

Events

• 10 January – An Aer Lingus Douglas DC-3 aircraft on a flight from London to Dublin crashes in Snowdonia, killing twenty passengers and three crew members.^{[1] [2]}
• 29 February – The Pembrokeshire Coast National Park is established.^[3]
• June – Pennar Davies is inaugurated as Principal of Swansea Memorial College.^[4]
• 5 July – Six miners are killed in a mining accident at Point of Ayr colliery in north Wales.
• 11 August – A Royal Air Force Avro Anson trainer aircraft crash lands on the track of the Snowdon Mountain Railway killing its three aircrew.^[5]
• 3 September – Somali-born Mahmood Hussein Mattan is the last person to be hanged in Cardiff Prison, having been convicted of the 6 March murder of Lily Volpert in Tiger Bay. This becomes the first case considered by the Criminal Cases Review Commission, and in 1998 the conviction is ruled to have been wrongful.^[6]
• 8 October – David Grenfell becomes Father of the House following the retirement of Hugh O'Neill.^[7]
• 19 October – A small Welsh republican group, Y Gweriniaethwyr, make an unsuccessful attempt to blow up the water pipeline leading from the Claerwen dam in mid Wales to Birmingham.^[8]
• 23 October – Opening of Claerwen reservoir, the first engagement carried out in Wales by Elizabeth II since her accession as Queen of the United Kingdom.^[9] She first sets foot in Wales as monarch at Llandrindod railway station.^[10]
• date unknown – Lake Bala bursts its banks and floods many parts of the Vale of Edeirnion.^[11]

Arts and literature

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Aberystwyth)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – John Evans, "Dwylo"^[12]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – withheld^[13]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – Owen Elias Roberts, "Cyfrinachau Natur"^[14]

New books

English language

• A. H. Dodd – Studies in Stuart Wales^[15]
• Jack Jones – Lily of the Valley
• Bertrand Russell – The Impact of Science on Society
• Richard Vaughan – Moulded in Earth
• Raymond Williams – Drama from Ibsen to Eliot

Welsh language

• Islwyn Ffowc Elis – Cyn Oeri'r Gwaed^[16]
• T. J. Morgan – Y Treigladau a’u Cystrawen^[17]
• John Dyfnallt Owen – Rhamant a Rhyddid^[18]
• R. Williams Parry – Cerddi'r Gaeaf^[19]

Drama

• Saunders Lewis – Gan Bwyll^[20]

Fine arts

• Gwendoline Davies bequeaths a large part of her art collection to the National Museum of Wales, including Renoir's La Parisienne.^[21]

Music

• David Wynne – Symphony no. 1

Recordings

• Dylan Thomas records a collection of five of his poems, including Fern Hill and Do not go gentle into that good night, along with the short prose A Child's Christmas in Wales for Caedmon Audio in New York.

Film

• Richard Burton co-stars in My Cousin Rachel, his first U.S. film.

Broadcasting

• 12 March – Tommy Cooper's TV series, It's Magic, begins its run.
• 15 August – Wenvoe transmitting station begins broadcasting 405-line VHF BBC Television to south Wales and the west of England on Band I channel 5 (66.75 MHz).^[22]
• 26 August – Hit radio series Welsh Rarebit transfers to television.

Sport

• Rugby union – Wales win their fifth Grand Slam.
• Summer Olympics – Harry Llewellyn wins a gold medal in the team showjumping competition, riding Foxhunter.

Births

• 9 January – Mike Watkins, Wales international rugby captain
• 24 January – Tony Villars, footballer^[23] (d. 2020)
• 13 February – Graham Drury, motorcycle speedway rider (d. 2024)^[24]
• 12 March – Chris Needs, radio presenter (d. 2020)
• 22 March – David Jones, politician^[25]
• 3 April – Philip Jenkins, academic and Mastermind champion
• 16 April – Bob Humphrys, sports broadcaster (d. 2008)
• 21 April – Cheryl Gillan, politician, Secretary of State for Wales (d. 2021)^[26]
• 5 May – Andrew Davies AM, politician
• 3 June – David Richards, entrepreneur and businessman
• 12 June – Jed Williams, jazz journalist
• 12 August – Robert Minhinnick, poet^[27]
• 7 September – Irene James AM, politician
• 18 October – Hilary Bevan Jones, television producer
• 17 November – David Emanuel, fashion designer^[28]
• 20 November – Karen Sinclair, politician
• date unknown – Menna Elfyn, poet

Deaths

• 8 January – Arthur Lewis, photographer, 66^[29]
• 3 March – John Emlyn Emlyn-Jones, shipowner and politician, 63^[30]
• 15 April – Idris Lewis, conductor and composer, 62^[31]
• 25 April (in Broadstairs) – Sir John Milsom Rees, surgeon, 86^[32]
• 14 May – Elizabeth Jane Lloyd, Mrs Louis Jones, academic, 63^[33]
• 31 May – Ifor Leslie Evans, academic, 55^[34]
• 22 August – Llewela Davies, pianist and composer, 81^[35]
• 25 August – James Kitchener Davies, poet, dramatist and nationalist, 50^[36]
• 23 October – Windham Wyndham-Quin, 5th Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, politician, 95^[37]
• 24 October – Ivor Llewellyn Brace, judge, 54^[38]
• 28 October (in Sydney) – Billy Hughes, London-born Prime Minister of Australia, 90^[39]
• 9 November – George Herbert, 4th Earl of Powis, 88^[40]
• 11 November – Sir William Llewelyn Davies, national librarian, 65^[41]
• 28 November – Ernie George, Wales international rugby player, c.81
• 2 December – Tom Jackson, Wales international rugby player, 82
• 15 December (in London) – Sir William Goscombe John, sculptor, 92^[42]
• 26 December (in London) – Lyn Harding, actor, 85^[43]
• 31 December – John Cledwyn Davies, politician, 83^[44]

See also

• 1952 in Northern Ireland

Notes and References

1. A. H.. Yates. Airflow over Mountains. Flight. 1953-01-02. 63. 2293. 2–3. 2012-04-23.
2. News: Kevin. White. 60th anniversary of Aer Lingus disaster. Caernarfon and Denbigh Herald. 2012-01-26. 2012-04-23.
3. Web site: Celebrating 70 Years of Pembrokeshire Coast National Park. Campaign for National Parks. en. 3 March 2024.
4. Book: Meic Stephens. The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales. registration. April 1986. Oxford University Press. 165.
5. News: 3 R.A.F. Men Killed On Flight To Cardiff. Liverpool Echo. 1952-08-11. 6.
6. Book: Davies, Roy. Crogi ar Gam? Hanes Llofruddiaeth Lily Volpert. Llandysul. Gwasg Gomer. 2000. 1859029000.
7. Web site: North Antrim 1950-1970 . www.ark.ac.uk . 2 June 2021.
8. Web site: Gethin. Gruffydd. Welsh Republican Movement 1946–1956: Time Line. Alternative Welsh Nationalist Archive. 13 February 2007. 2010-09-08.
9. News: Claerwen Dam Opened By The Queen: Birmingham's Link With Wales. The Times. London. 1952-10-24. 4. 52451.
10. Web site: The Station. Powys Built Heritage. 2013-03-05. https://web.archive.org/web/20120809093629/http://www.powys.gov.uk/index.php?id=5371&L=0. 2012-08-09. dead.
11. Book: Reference Wales. 1994. University of Wales Press. 978-0-7083-1234-6. 256.
12. Web site: Winners of the Chair. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 17 November 2019.
13. Web site: Winners of the Crown. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 17 November 2019.
14. Web site: Winners of the Prose Medal. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 7 November 2019.
15. Book: The Agrarian History of England and Wales: 1500-1640, edited by Joan Thirsk. 1967. Cambridge University Press. 978-0-521-06617-4. 120.
16. Book: T. Robin Chapman. Islwyn Ffowc Elis. 20 July 2000. University of Wales Press. 18.
17. Book: Professor of Sociolinguistics Peter Trudgill. Language in the British Isles. 17 May 1984. CUP Archive. 978-0-521-28409-7. 277.
18. Book: John Dyfnallt Owen. Rhamant a rhyddid. 1952. Llyfrau Cyrmaeg.
19. Book: Kenneth O. Morgan. Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880-1980. registration. 1981. Oxford University Press. 978-0-19-821736-7. 364.
20. Book: Who was who: A Companion to Who's Who, Containing the Biographies of Those who Died. registration. 1981. A. & C. Black. 978-0-7136-3336-8. 446.
21. Book: Sumner, Ann. Colour and Light: Fifty Impressionist and Post-Impressionist Works at the National Museum of Wales. 2005. National Museum of Wales. Cardiff. 0-7200-0551-5. 120.
22. Book: Pawley, Edward. 1972. BBC Engineering 1922–1972. 374. BBC Publications. 0-563-12127-0.
23. Book: Hayes, Dean . The Who's Who of Cardiff City . Breedon Books . 2006 . 193 . Derby . 1-85983-462-0.
24. Web site: Graham Drury. British Speedway. 2024-01-26. 2024-01-31.
25. 10.1093/ww/9780199540884.013.45567. Jones, Rt Hon. David (Ian), (born 22 March 1952), PC 2012; MP (C) Clwyd West, since 2005. Who's Who. 2007.
26. Web site: Cheryl Gillan . 18 October 2002 . BBC . 8 April 2019.
27. Book: David T. Lloyd. Writing on the Edge: Interviews with Writers and Editors of Wales. 1997. Rodopi. 90-420-0248-4. 154.
28. Book: Richard Harrison Martin. Contemporary Fashion. 1995. St. James Press. 978-1-55862-173-2. 142.
29. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1858-1966, 1973-1995
30. Book: Who's who in Commerce and Industry. 1953. Marquis Who's Who.
31. Williams . Huw . Lewis, Idris (1889–1952), Musician . s2-LEWI-IDR-1889 . 11 August 2018 . 2001.
32. Book: The Illustrated London News. 1952. Illustrated London News & Sketch Limited.
33. s2-JONE-LOU-1889. Jones, Elizabeth Jane Louis (born Elizabeth Jane Lloyd; 1889-1952), scholar. Elizabeth Eirliw Louis (Bethan) Jones. yes. 19 April 2021.
34. s2-EVAN-LES-1897. EVANS, IFOR (IVOR) LESLIE. Edward Lewis Ellis. yes. 3 May 2017.
35. England & Wales, National Probate Calendar (Index of Wills and Administrations), 1952
36. s2-DAVI-KIT-1902. Davies, James Kitchener (1902-1952), poet, dramatist and nationalist. Gwilym Tudur. yes. 15 October 2019.
37. Book: Franklin Henry Hooper. Walter Yust. Britannica book of the year. registration. 1953. Encyclopaedia Britannica, inc..
38. Web site: Index entry. 16 August 2019. FreeBMD. ONS.
39. News: Family Notices . . 35,836 . New South Wales, Australia . 29 October 1952 . 24 . National Library of Australia.
40. Book: National Library of Wales. Annual Report Presented by the Council to the Court of Governors. 1951. National Library of Wales. 11.
41. s2-DAVI-WIL-1887. Davies, Sir William (Llewelyn) (1887–1952), librarian. 2001. Tibbott. Gildas. yes. 19 April 2021.
42. s2-JOHN-GOS-1860. John, Sir William Goscombe (1860-1952), sculptor and medallist. Paul Joyner. yes. 15 October 2019.
43. Book: John Willis' Theatre World. 1952. Crown Publishers. 225.
44. Book: Michael Stenton. Stephen Lees. Who's who of British Members of Parliament: A Biographical Dictionary of the House of Commons Based on Annual Volumes of Dod's Parliamentary Companion and Other Sources. 1976. Harvester Press. 978-0-85527-325-5. 91.