1920 in Wales

← 1919 1918 1917 1916 1915 1920 in Wales → 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1920 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Edward
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• Archbishop of Wales – Alfred George Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph (from 31 March)
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Dyfed

Events

• 22 January - Grant of the royal charter founding the University of Wales, Swansea.[1]
• 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[2] 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.[3]
• 3 December - Five crew members from the Rhoscolyn lifeboat are lost off Llanddwyn, Anglesey.[4]
• 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.[5]
• 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.[6]
• 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.[7]
• Margaret Haig Thomas launches the periodical Time and Tide.[8]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Barry)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld[9]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - James Evans

New books

• Caradoc Evans - My Neighbours
• John Jenkins (Gwili) - Poems
• Thomas Mardy Rees - Difyrwch Gwyr Morgannwg[10]
• Thomas Frederick Tout - The Captivity and Death of Edward of Caernarvon

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[11]

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.[12]
  • 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 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)[13]
• 7 May – Tommy Davies, middleweight boxer (d. 1998)
• 13 May – Gareth Morris, flautist, brother of Jan Morris (d. 2007)[14]
• 6 September – Trevor Morris, football player and manager (d. 2003)
• 7 September – Harri Webb, poet (d. 1994)
• 8 October – Frank Herbert, science fiction novelist of Welsh ancestry (d. 1986)
• 31 October – Dick Francis, jockey and crime novelist (d. 2010)
• 10 November – Peter Philp, antiques expert and dramatist (d. 2006)
• 11 November – Roy Jenkins, politician (d. 2003)
• 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)[15]

Deaths

• 11 January – Pryce Pryce-Jones, entrepreneur, 85
• 16 January – Evan Rowland Jones, politician, 79[16]
• 21 February – Anna Thomas (Morfudd Eryri), poet and campaigner for the Eisteddfod, 81
• March – John Thomas, footballer, age unknown[17]
• 11 March – Daniel James (Gwyrosydd), poet, 73[18]
• 5 May – Robert Bryan, poet and composer, 61
• 15 May – Owen Morgan Edwards, historian and educationist, 61[19]
• 5 June – Rhoda Broughton, novelist, 79
• 7 June – Hugh Ellis-Nanney, politician, 75[20]
• 9 August – Samuel Walker Griffith, prime minister of Queensland, 75
• 1 September – Frederick Rutherfoord Harris, politician, 64
• 30 November – John Meredith, Wales national rugby player, 57

References

1. "Swansea University marks 90th anniversary". BBC News. 22 January 2010. Retrieved 29 May 2019.
2. Norman Doe (2002). The Law of the Church in Wales. University of Wales Press. p. 5. ISBN 978-0-7083-1748-8.
3. Colin Wilson; Patricia Pitman (1962). Encyclopedia of Murder. G.P. Putnam's sons. p. 240.
4. Ken Radford (1982). Tales of North Wales. Skilton & Shaw. p. 26. ISBN 978-0-284-98614-6.
5. George Augustus Nokes; John Francis Gairns (1925). The Railway Year Book. Railway Publishing Company, Limited. p. 176.
6. National Library of Wales (1969). Annual Report. p. 34.
7. Kenneth O. Morgan (1981). Rebirth of a Nation: Wales, 1880-1980. Oxford University Press. pp. 182. ISBN 978-0-19-821736-7.
8. Michelle Elizabeth Tusan (2005). Women Making News: Gender and Journalism in Modern Britain. University of Illinois Press. p. 220. ISBN 978-0-252-03015-4.
9. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
10. Harvard University. Library (1970). Celtic literatures: classification schedule, classified listing by call number, chronological listing, author and title listing. Distributed by the Harvard University Press.
11. Claude Summers (24 April 2012). The Queer Encyclopedia of Music, Dance, and Musical Theater. Cleis Press. p. 188. ISBN 978-1-57344-875-8.
12. Dai Smith; Gareth Williams (1 January 1980). Fields of Praise: The Official History of the Welsh Rugby Union, 1881-1981. University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-0766-3.
13. D Ben Rees (25 March 2006). "Sir Glanmor Williams". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
14. "Gareth Morris". The Telegraph. 10 March 2007. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
15. Edward Pearce (5 January 2006). "Lord Merlyn-Rees". The Guardian. Retrieved 20 January 2019.
16. ‘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 (subscription required)
17. Denis Clarebrough & Andrew Kirkham (2008). Sheffield United Who's Who. Hallamshire Press. p. 314. ISBN 978-1-874718-69-7.
18. David Myrddin Lloyd. "James, Daniel (Gwyrosydd; 1847-1920), poet". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 18 March 2020.
19. Robert Thomas Jenkins. "Edwards, Sir Owen Morgan (1858-1920), man of letters". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 23 September 2019.
20. 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.