1915 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1915 to Wales and its people.

← 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1915 in Wales → 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1915 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

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

Events

• January - A memorial to Captain Robert Falcon Scott, in the form of a model lighthouse, is erected on an island in Roath Park Lake, commemorating the support given to Scott's expedition by the people of Cardiff.[1]
• 26 February - The Welsh Guards regiment is created.
• 4 April - Three German prisoners-of-war escape from an internment camp at Llansannan in Denbighshire, but are quickly recaptured.[2]
• 25 April - At Gallipoli, Able Seaman William Charles Williams of Chepstow helps secure lighters on HMS River Clyde under continuous fire. He is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross - the first such award made to a member of the Royal Navy in World War I.[3]
• 7 May - When RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German torpedo, notable survivors include David Alfred Thomas, Viscount Rhondda and tenor Gwynn Parry Jones.[4]
• 26 July - The Glamorganshire Canal closes between Abercynon and Pontypridd.[5]
• 11 September - The first branch of the Women's Institute in Britain opens at Llanfair PG, Anglesey.
• 1 October - For his conduct at the Battle of Hooge, Lt. Rupert Price Hallowes of Port Talbot is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
• November - The 38th (Welsh) Division is posted to France.
• 15 November - Sir James Cory, 1st Baronet, becomes MP for Cardiff, following the death in action of the previous incumbent, Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart.
• 25 November - In the Merthyr Tydfil by-election, caused by the death of Keir Hardie, Charles Stanton becomes Independent Labour Party MP for Merthyr.
• 4 December - First submarine to be launched at Pembroke Dock, HMS J3.
• Welshmen continue to enlist for military service in World War I, including architect Percy Thomas, who joins the Artists' Rifles.
• Sir William Rice Edwards becomes surgeon-general of Bengal.

Arts and literature

• Gomer Berry and William Ewart Berry become owners of The Sunday Times.
• Clough Williams-Ellis marries Amabel Strachey.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Bangor)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - T. H. Parry-Williams, "Eryri"[6]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - T. H. Parry-Williams

New books

English language

• Caradoc Evans - My People: Stories of the Peasantry of West Wales[7]
• John Gwenogvryn Evans (ed.) - Poems from the Book of Taliesin, amended and translated
• Arthur Machen - The Great Return[8]
• John Cowper Powys - Wood and Stone

Welsh language

• William Evans (Wil Ifan) - Dros y Nyth
• Eluned Morgan - Plant yr Haul

Music

• David Roberts - Y Tant Aur (2nd edition)
• William Penfro Rowlands - "Blaenwern" (hymn tune), in Henry H. Jones' Cân a Moliant

Film

• The Birth of a Nation directed by Welsh-descended D. W. Griffith.

Sport

• Boxing - Llew Edwards wins the British and Commonwealth featherweight titles.

Births

• 16 January - David Davies, 2nd Baron Davies of Llandinam (died 1944)
• 11 February - Mervyn Levy, artist (died 1996)[9]
• 20 February - Mary Jones, actor (died 1990)
• 25 March - Dorothy Squires, singer (died 1998)[10]
• 2 April - Patrick Gibbs, RAF Wing Commander, author and film critic (died 2008)
• 9 April - Bill Clement, Welsh international rugby player and Secretary of the WRU (died 2007)
• 13 May - Hrothgar John Habakkuk, economic historian (died 2002)
• 4 June - David Bell, writer and curator (died 1959)
• 1 July - Alun Lewis, poet (died on active service 1944)
• 3 July - Ifor Owen, illustrator (died 2007)
• 30 August - Lillian May Davies, later Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland, fashion model and Swedish princess (died 2013)
• 4 September - Roland Mathias, poet and critic (died 2007)[11]
• 10 September - Geraint Bowen, poet and Archdruid
• 22 September - Thomas Williams, politician (died 1986)
• 23 September - John Samuel Rowlands, GC (died 2006)
• 11 October - T. Llew Jones, writer
• 10 November - Leslie Manfield, Wales international rugby union player (died 2006)
• 26 December - Keidrych Rhys, poet and journalist (died 1987)

Deaths

• 6 January - Owen Roberts, educator, 79
• 24 January - Charles Taylor, naval officer and Wales rugby international, 51 (killed in action)[12]
• 30 January - Thomas Benbow Phillips, pioneer settler, 85
• 21 March - Edward Pegge, Wales international rugby player, 50
• 25 April - William Charles Williams, posthumous Victoria Cross recipient, 34 (killed in action)
• 6 June - John Lloyd, political reformer, 81 [13]
• 31 July - Billy Geen, soldier and Wales international rugby union player, 24 (killed in action)[14]
• 4 September - David Gwynne-Vaughan, botanist, 44[15]
• 7 September - Robert Lewis-Lloyd, rower and barrister, High Sheriff of Radnorshire, 79
• 26 September - Keir Hardie, Scottish-born serving MP for Merthyr Tydfil (Labour) and pacifist, 59 (died in Scotland)[16]
• 27 September - Richard Garnons Williams, soldier and Wales international rugby union player, 59 (killed in action)[17]
• 30 September - Rupert Price Hallowes, posthumous Victoria Cross recipient, 34 (killed in action)[18]
• 2 October - Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, Scottish-born British Army officer and serving MP for Cardiff (Unionist), 32 (killed in action)[19]
• 22 November - Llewellyn John Montfort Bebb, Principal of St David's College, Lampeter, 53[20]
• 29 November - Rachel Davies (Rahel o Fôn), Baptist preacher, 69[21]
• 10 December - David Jenkins, composer, 66
• 17 December - Sir John Rhys, philologist, 75[22]

References

1. Morgannwg: Transactions of the Glamorgan History Society. 1988. p. 50.
2. Gary Dobbs (31 March 2015). Cardiff and the Valleys in the Great War. Pen and Sword. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-4738-5778-0.
3. CWGC casualty record.
4. John Bourne (June 2002). Who's Who in World War I. Routledge. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-134-76752-6.
5. Cardiff Naturalists' Society (1971). Reports and Transactions. p. 14.
6. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
7. David T. Lloyd (1997). Writing on the Edge: Interviews with Writers and Editors of Wales. Rodopi. p. 7. ISBN 90-420-0248-4.
8. S. T. Joshi (1 January 2003). The Weird Tale. Wildside Press LLC. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-8095-3122-6.
9. Levy, Ceri (17 May 1996). "Obituary: Mervyn Levy". The Independent. London. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
10. Harris M. Lentz (1998). Obituaries in the Performing Arts. McFarland & Company. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-7864-0748-4.
11. Sam Adams (17 October 2007). "Roland Mathias". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
12. Robin Turner (25 May 2014). "World War One: The Wales rugby internationals who died on the battlefield". WalesOnline. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
13. Robert Thomas Jenkins. "LLOYD, JOHN (1833-1915), political reformer and antiquary". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
14. Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. George S. Maddick. June 1915. p. 673.
15. Robert Thomas Jenkins. "GWYNNE-VAUGHAN, DAVID THOMAS (1871-1915), botanist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
16. "James Keir Hardie (1856-1915)". BBC History. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
17. Archaeologia Cambrensis. W. Pickering. 1916. p. 358.
18. Paul Oldfield (30 September 2016). Victoria Crosses on the Western Front - 1917 to Third Ypres: 27 January–27 July 1917. Pen & Sword Books Limited. pp. 803–. ISBN 978-1-4738-8488-5.
19. The Scots Law Times. W. Green & Son. 1921. p. 132.
20. Thomas Iorwerth Ellis. "BEBB, LLEWELLYN JOHN MONTFORD (1862-1915), cleric". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
21. Robert (Bob) Owen. "Davies, Rachel (Rahel o Fôn; 1846-1915), lecturer and preacher". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
22. Ifor Williams. "Rhys, Sir John (1840-1915), Celtic scholar". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 15 August 2019.