1944 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1944 to Wales and its people.

← 1943 1942 1941 1940 1939 1944 in Wales → 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s 1960s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1944 in The United Kingdom England Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – vacant
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• Archbishop of Wales
  • Charles Green, Bishop of Bangor (died 7 May)
  • David Prosser, Bishop of St David's (elected)
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Crwys

Events

• 22 January - Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports for the BBC from the Battle of Anzio.[1]
• 23 January - An RAF Halifax bomber crashes in the Elan Valley, killing nine crew.
• 28 March - Cardiff Blitz: Nine people are killed in an air raid on Cardiff.
• 11 April - An RAF Lancaster bomber crashes near Llanwrtyd Wells, killing eight crew.
• 16 August - Lt. Tasker Watkins leads a bayonet charge at Barfour in Normandy, winning the Victoria Cross for his courage.[2]
• 17 October - The first "Welsh Day" debate takes place in the House of Commons (UK).
• 10 December - American Liberty ship Dan Beard is torpedoed off Strumble Head, resulting in the deaths of 29 crew.[3]
• 20 December - An American B-24 Liberator plane crashes into the sea off Anglesey, killing eight crew.
• Plaid Cymru transfers its head office from Caernarfon to Cardiff.
• Morgan Phillips becomes Secretary of the Labour Party (UK), a position he will hold until 1961.[4]
• Sir Thomas Williams Phillips becomes permanent secretary of the new government ministry created to implement the national insurance system.
• Sir David Brunt is awarded the royal medal of the Royal Society for his work in meteorology.
• Politician Goronwy Owen and naval architect Llewellyn Soulsby are knighted.[5]

Arts and literature

• 2 October - Dylan Thomas is best man at the wedding of his friend and fellow poet Vernon Watkins in London - but fails to turn up.
• BBC commentator Alun Williams marries Perrie Hopkin Morris, daughter of Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Llandybie)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - D. Lloyd Jenkins
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - J. M. Edwards
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

New books

English language

• Rhys Davies – Black Venus
• Fred Hando - The Pleasant Land of Gwent[6]
• Jack Jones - The Man David
• Alun Lewis - The Last Inspection
• Sir Percy Emerson Watkins - A Welshman Remembers
• Sir Ifor Williams - Lectures on early Welsh Poetry

Welsh language

• Thomas Rowland Hughes - William Jones
• Edward Morgan Humphreys - Ceulan y Llyn Du[7]
• T. H. Parry-Williams - O'r Pedwar Gwynt[8]

New drama

• James Kitchener Davies - Meini Gwagedd[9]
• Emlyn Williams - The Druid's Rest

Music

• Harry Parr Davies - Jenny Jones (musical)
• Grace Williams - Sea Sketches

Film

• The Halfway House, starring Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns and Rachel Thomas, is set in Wales.

Broadcasting

• August - Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports on the liberation of Paris for BBC radio.
• Launch of the Noson Lawen series on BBC radio.

Visual arts

• Polish-born expressionist painter Josef Herman begins 11 years living and working in Ystradgynlais.

Sport

• Boxing - Syd Worgan beats Tommy Davies for the vacant Welsh featherweight title.[10]
• Football - The first post-war match between Wales and England ends in a 1 - 0 victory for Wales.

Births

July:Glenys Kinnock

October:Mandy Rice-Davies

December:Deke Leonard

• 21 January - Peter Rodrigues, footballer
• 17 February - Karl Jenkins, composer[11]
• 1 March – Dai Morgan Evans, English-born archaeologist (died 2017)[12]
• 6 March – Billy Raybould, Wales international rugby player
• 12 March – Tammy Jones, singer
• 24 March
  • Mary Balogh, novelist
  • Steve Jones, biologist[13]
• 31 March – Myfanwy Talog, actress (died 1995)
• 4 April – Ronnie Rees, footballer
• 8 April – Hywel Bennett, actor (died 2017)[14]
• 15 April – Dave Edmunds, musician
• 16 April – Llew Smith, politician
• 5 May
  • Roger Rees, actor (died 2015 in the United States)
  • John Rhys-Davies, actor
• 20 May – Kathrin Thomas, magistrate[15]
• 3 June – Dilwyn John, footballer
• 11 June – Alan Howarth, Baron Howarth of Newport, politician
• 16 June – Brian Protheroe, English-born singer and actor of Welsh parentage
• 7 July – Glenys Kinnock, politician[16]
• 7 July – Angharad Rees, actress (died 2012)[17]
• 31 July
  • Endaf Emlyn, TV presenter, musician and director
• Betty Williams, politician
• 9 October - Desmond Barrit, actor
• 21 October - Mandy Rice-Davies, socialite (died 2014)[18]
• 6 November - Gerallt Lloyd Owen, poet (died 2014)[19]
• 14 November - Eurfyl ap Gwilym, economist and politician
• 29 November - Gareth Wardell, politician[20]
• 18 December - (Roger) Deke Leonard, rock musician (died 2017)[21]
• 24 December– Meirion Pennar, translator and son of Pennar Davies (died 2010)[22]

Deaths

May:Charles Green

• 8 January - John Newell Evans, Welsh-born farmer and politician in Canada, 97[23]
• 11 January - Richard Powell, Wales international rugby player, 79
• 5 March - Alun Lewis, poet, 28 (accidentally shot)
• 20 March - William Retlaw Williams, lawyer and historian, 80?
• 31 March - Talfryn Evans, cricketer, 29
• 7 May - Charles Green, Bishop of Monmouth, Bishop of Bangor and Archbishop of Wales, 79
• 17 May - John Lloyd Morgan, lawyer and MP, 83[24]
• 24 May - Sir Herbert Williams-Wynn, 7th Baronet, politician, 83
• 27 May - Griffith Hartwell Jones, academic, 85[25]
• June - Dai Davies, footballer, 63/64
• 16 June - David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, philanthropist and MP, 64[26]
• 25 June - James Atkin, Baron Atkin, judge, 76
• 5 August - Maurice Turnbull, cricketer, 38 (killed in action)[27]
• 5 August - Ethel Lina White, crime novelist, 68
• 20 September - Oliver Morris, rugby player and footballer, 27 (killed in action)[28]
• 21 September - Bob Jones, rugby union player, 69
• 25 September - David Davies, 2nd Baron Davies, 29 (killed in battle)[29]
• 30 September- David Harris Davies, Wales international rugby union player, 66[30]
• 5 October - Laura Evans-Williams, singer, 61[31]
• 27 October - Clem Lewis, rugby player, 54
• 19 November - Watkin Williams, Bishop of Bangor, 99
• 8 December - Sir William Jenkins, MP for Neath, 73

See also

• 1944 in Northern Ireland

References

1. Robert Niemi (2006). History in the Media: Film and Television. ABC-CLIO. p. 110. ISBN 978-1-57607-952-2.
2. John Griffith Williams. "Watkins, Sir Tasker (1918-2007), barrister and judge". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
3. Reference Wales. University of Wales Press. 1994. p. 242. ISBN 978-0-7083-1234-6.
4. Mary Auronwy James. "Phillips, Morgan Walter (1902-1963), general secretary of the Labour Party". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
5. Mary Auronwy James. "Soulsby, Sir Llewellyn Thomas". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2 May 2019.
6. Antiquarian Book Monthly Review. ABMR Publications. 1985. p. 273.
7. Meic Stephens (April 1986). The Oxford companion to the literature of Wales. Oxford University Press. p. 272.
8. John Buchanan-Brown (1953). Cassell's Encyclopaedia of World Literature: Biographies L-Z. Morrow. p. 292.
9. Poetry Wales. C. Davies. 1981. p. 40.
10. Coal; the NCB Magazine. 1952.
11. John Chilton (1 May 2004). Who's Who of British Jazz: 2nd Edition. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 193. ISBN 978-0-8264-2389-4.
12. Howard Williams (17 April 2017). "Dai Morgan Evans obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 29 April 2017.
13. Anon (2011). "Jones, Prof. (John) Stephen". Who's Who. ukwhoswho.com (online Oxford University Press ed.). A & C Black, an imprint of Bloomsbury Publishing plc. (subscription or UK public library membership required) (subscription required)
14. Anthony Hayward (4 August 2017). "Hywel Bennett obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 3 February 2020.
15. "Birthdays today". The Telegraph. 20 May 2013. Retrieved 16 May 2014. Mrs Kathrin Thomas, Lord–Lieutenant for Mid Glamorgan, 69
16. "Politician Glenys Kinnock of Holyhead". North Wales Daily Post. 19 April 2013. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
17. "BBC News - Poldark actress Angharad Rees dies from cancer". Bbc.co.uk. 21 July 2012. Retrieved 2012-07-21.
18. Harris M. Lentz III (30 April 2015). Obituaries in the Performing Arts, 2014. McFarland. p. 288. ISBN 978-0-7864-7666-4.
19. "Gerallt Lloyd Owen wedi marw". BBC Cymru Fyw (in Welsh). 15 July 2014. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
20. Guide to the House of Commons. Times Books. 1983.
21. Michael Heatley (26 March 2017). "Deke Leonard obituary". The Guardian. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
22. Steve Dube (18 December 2010). "Academic and poet Meirion Pennar dies at 65". Western Mail. Retrieved 19 December 2010.
23. "Vital Event Death Registration". BC Archives. Retrieved 2011-08-27.
24. Thomas Mardy Rees. "Morgan, John Lloyd (1861-1944), county court judge". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 19 September 2019.
25. "Rev. Dr. G. H. Jones". The Times. 30 May 1944. p. 6.
26. Mosley, Charles, ed. (2003). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage & Knighthood (107 ed.). Burke's Peerage & Gentry. pp. 1049–1050. ISBN 0-9711966-2-1.
27. John Stern; Marcus Williams (7 January 2014). The Essential Wisden: An Anthology of 150 Years of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack. A&C Black. p. 942. ISBN 978-1-4081-7896-6.
28. "True Heroes Remembered". therhinos.co.uk. 31 December 2014. Archived from the original on 14 January 2015. Retrieved 1 January 2015.
29. Debrett's Peerage, Baronetage, Knightage, and Companionage. Kelly's Directories. 1973.
30. David Davies player profile Scrum.com
31. Thomas Iorwerth Ellis. "EVANS-WILLIAMS, LAURA (1883-1944), singer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 23 January 2019.