1912 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1912 to Wales and its people.

← 1911 1910 1909 1908 1907 1912 in Wales → 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1912 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales - Edward
• Princess of Wales - vacant
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Dyfed

Events

• 9 February - Alfred Thomas is created Baron Pontypridd.[1]
• 1 March - A national coal miners' strike begins, led in Wales by Vernon Hartshorn and Noah Ablett, among others.[2]
• 15 April - Wireless operator Artie Moore of Gelligroes near Blackwood, hears a distress signal from RMS Titanic.[3]
• 22 April - Denys Corbett Wilson leaves Goodwick, Pembrokeshire, to make the first manned flight fully across the Irish Sea in a time of 1 hour 40 minutes.
• 26 April - Vivian Hewitt of Bodfari in Denbighshire makes a manned flight across the Irish Sea, from Holyhead to Dublin.[4]
• 28 May - A major demonstration in favour of disestablishment takes place in Swansea.
• 25 June - King George V and Queen Mary arrive for a 4-day visit to Cardiff onboard HMY Victoria and Albert (built Pembroke Dock 1899). On 26 June the royal couple lay the foundation stone of the National Museum Cardiff (it does not open to the public until 1927).[5]
• 27 June - King George V and Queen Mary travel by train via Pontypridd for a controversial visit to Merthyr Tydfil.[6]
• 1 August - Chemist Humphrey Owen Jones marries a colleague, Muriel Gwendolen Edwards. A fortnight later the couple, both keen climbers, are killed in a fall while on their honeymoon in the Alps.
• 17 September - Welsh immigrant workers play a major part in organizing the coal miners' strike in Vancouver Island, Canada.
• The Welsh Health Service Insurance Commission is established.
• Sir David Brynmor Jones becomes a member of the Privy Council.
• Dan yr Ogof caves are discovered by brothers Jeff and Tommy Morgan.[7]
• Sir Ellis Ellis-Griffith becomes chairman of the Welsh Parliamentary Liberal Party.
• Clough Williams-Ellis receives his first major architectural commission, for the remodelling of Llangoed Hall.
• First coal raised from Bedwas Navigation Colliery.
• A drill hall is built in the Pen-dre area of Tywyn for the Territorial Army (the 7th Battalion the Royal Welsh Fusiliers). The hall, subsequently known as Neuadd Pendre, is renovated 100 years after its construction with grants from various sources[8] and houses a 3-manual 9-rank Wurlitzer Organ originally installed in a cinema in Woolwich.[9]

Arts and literature

• The Welsh colony in Chubut launches its own newspaper.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales - held in Wrexham
  • Chair and Crown - T. H. Parry-Williams (the first time both major prizes were won by the same person)[10]

New books

English language

• Stanley Bligh - The Art of Conversation
• Rhoda Broughton - Between Two Stools
• A. G. Edwards - Landmarks in the History of the Welsh Church[11]
• Miners' Unofficial Reform Committee - The Miners' Next Step [12]
• T. M. Rees - Welsh Painters
• Bertha Thomas - Stranger Within The Gates (collection of short stories)

Welsh language

• Edward Tegla Davies - Hunangofiant Tomi[13]
• Thomas Williams (Brynfab) - Pan Oedd Rhondda'n Bur[14]

Music

• Thomas Carrington - Concwest Calfari[15]
• Sir Henry Walford Davies - Song of St Francis (cantata)
• David Vaughan Thomas - A Song for St. Cecilia's Day

Film

• The Belle of Bettws-y-Coed[16]
• The Pedlar of Penmaenmawr[17]
• The Smuggler's Daughter of Anglesea[17]
• The Witch of the Welsh Mountains[17]

Sport

• Boxing:
  • January - Freddie Welsh dislocates his neck in a bout of wrestling, rendering him unable to compete.
  • 3 June - Jim Driscoll wins the European featherweight title.
  • 16 December - Freddie Welsh wins the Commonwealth lightweight title.
• Football
  • Cardiff City F.C. win the Welsh Cup - the first time a club from south Wales has done so.
  • Swansea Town play their first match at the Vetch Field.
• Rugby league - Ebbw Vale RLFC fold after five seasons, ending the first attempt to bring rugby league to Wales.
• Rugby union
  • 14 December - The South African touring team defeats Wales 3-0 at Cardiff Arms Park.
  • 26 December - Swansea RFC defeat the South African touring team 3-0 at St Helen's, Swansea.

Births

• 5 March - Enoch Mort, footballer (died 1999)
• 17 March - Brenda Chamberlain, artist and poet (died 1971)[18]
• 27 March - James Callaghan, English Labour politician, Prime Minister of the U.K., M.P. for Cardiff (died 2005)[19]
• 29 April - Elvet Jones, Wales and British Lions rugby international (died 1989)
• 29 May - David Jenkins, librarian of National Library of Wales (died 2002)
• 30 May - Hugh Griffith, actor (died 1980)[20]
• 8 June - Billy Bassett, footballer (died 1977)
• 16 June - Enoch Powell, English Conservative politician, Welsh scholar (died 1998)
• 29 June - Valerie Davies, swimmer (died 2001)
• 1 September - Gwynfor Evans, Plaid Cymru politician (died 2005)[21]
• 20 October - William R. P. George, solicitor and poet (died 2006)
• 15 November - Arthur Granville, footballer (died 1987)
• 20 November
  • Arthur Rees, Wales rugby international and police Chief Constable (died 1998)
  • Wilf Wooller, Wales rugby international and Glamorgan cricket captain (died 1997)
• 12 December - Daniel Jones, composer (died 1993)
• 13 December - Garfield Hopkin Hughes, academic (died 1969)
• 20 December - Sir Morien Morgan, aeronautics engineer (died 1978)

Deaths

memorial to Edgar Evans, Rhossili

• 25 January – Augusta Mostyn, artist and philanthropist, 81[22]
• 29 January – Dai Evans, Wales international rugby player[23]
• 17 February – Edgar Evans, explorer, 35[24]
• 6 April – Eleazar Roberts, writer and musician, 87
• 15 April – David John Bowen, boxer, 20 (sinking of the Titanic)
• 18 April – Walter Clopton Wingfield, lawn tennis inventor, 78 [25]
• 18 May – Richard Grosvenor, MP for Flintshire 1861-1886, 75[26]
• 23 July – Abel Thomas, lawyer and politician, 63/64[27]
• 25 July – Griffith John, missionary, 80
• 31 July – Ellis Pierce, writer and bookseller, 71[28]
• 12 August - Humphrey Owen Jones, chemist, 34 (climbing accident)
• 29 August (in Haslemere) - James Cholmeley Russell, railway entrepreneur, 71
• 21 September – William T. Davies, Welsh-born Lieutenant Governor of Pennsylvania, 80
• 24 September – John Rolls, 1st Baron Llangattock, politician, 75[29]
• 30 October – Walter W. Thomas, architect, 63
• 18 November – Edward Thomas (Cochfarf), local politician, 59
• 4 December – Phoebe Davies, actress, 48[30]

References

1. "No. 28579". The London Gazette. 9 February 1912. p. 972.
2. Mike Kelly (26 March 2012). "Nostalgia: 100th anniversary of the national miners' strike". The Journal. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
3. Martin Wade (15 April 2016). "How Blackwood man, Arthur 'Artie' Moore, heard the Titanic's radio call for help". South Wales Argus. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
4. Rhodri Barker (1 September 2010). "North Wales pilot made first Holyhead-Dublin flight". Daily Post. Retrieved 18 December 2018.
5. The Municipal Year Book and Public Services Directory. Municipal Publications Limited. 1913. p. 49.
6. Deborah Fisher (1 September 2010). Royal Wales. University of Wales Press. p. 91. ISBN 978-0-7083-2312-0.
7. John Davies; Nigel Jenkins; Menna Baines (2008). The Welsh Academy encyclopaedia of Wales. University of Wales Press. p. 130. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
8. Neuadd Pendre Social Centre.
9. The Tywyn Wurlitzer Archived 2012-10-08 at the Wayback Machine.
10. Dafydd R. Johnston (1 February 2017). The Literature of Wales. University of Wales Press. p. 140. ISBN 978-1-78683-023-4.
11. David A. Dowland (1997). Nineteenth-century Anglican Theological Training: The Redbrick Challenge. Clarendon Press. p. 229. ISBN 978-0-19-826929-8.
12. Ben Curtis (15 May 2013). The South Wales Miners: 1964-1985. University of Wales Press. p. 3. ISBN 978-0-7083-2612-1.
13. John Davies; Nigel Jenkins; Menna Baines (2008). The Welsh Academy encyclopaedia of Wales. University of Wales Press. p. 198. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
14. Welsh Bibliographical Society (1973). The Journal of the Welsh Bibliographical Society. Welsh Bibliographical Society. p. 43.
15. Arthur Mee (1921). Who's who in Wales. Western Mail Limited. p. 42.
16. Scott Palmer (1988). British Film Actors' Credits, 1895-1987. McFarland. ISBN 978-0-89950-316-5.
17. Paul Newland (1 September 2016). British Rural Landscapes on Film. Manchester University Press. p. 106. ISBN 978-1-5261-0468-7.
18. Jill Piercy, Brenda Chamberlain: Artist and Writer (Parthian Books 2013). ISBN 9781906998233
19. McKie, David (28 March 2005). "Obituary: Lord Callaghan". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2018.
20. Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel; Menna, Baines; Lynch, Peredur I., eds. (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. p. 335. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
21. Patrick Hannan (22 April 2005). "Gwynfor Evans". The Guardian. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
22. Mosley, Charles, editor. Burke's Peerage and Baronetage, 106th edition, 2 volumes. Crans, Switzerland: Burke's Peerage (Genealogical Books) Ltd, 1999. volume 1, page 19
23. Dai Evans player profile Scrum.com
24. Robin Turner (28 November 2014). "Blue plaque unveiled near Rhossili Bay for polar explorer Edgar Evans more than 100 years after his death". WalesOnline. Retrieved 29 April 2019.
25. Richard William Cox; Wray Vamplew; Grant Jarvie (2000). Encyclopedia of British Sport. ABC-CLIO. p. 222. ISBN 978-1-85109-344-1.
26. "Lord Stalbridge". Obituaries. The Times (39903). London. 20 May 1912. col B, p. 10.
27. Nottingham Evening Post, 23 July 1912: Death of Mr Able Thomas
28. Evan David Jones. "Piers, Ellis (Elis o'r Nant; 1841-1912), author of historical romances and bookseller". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 26 September 2019.
29. Obituary, The Times 25 September 1912
30. Phoebe Davies Dies - New York Times; December 5, 1912; pg. 11