1919 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1919 to Wales and its people.

← 1918 1917 1916 1915 1914 1919 in Wales → 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1919 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Edward
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Evan Rees (known by the bardic name Dyfed)

Events

• 1 January – Surgeon John Lynn-Thomas receives a knighthood in the New Year Honours.[1]
• 13 January – The Red flag is hoisted during a mutiny on HMS Kilbride at Milford Haven.[2]
• 4–5 March – Kinmel Park Riots by Canadian troops at Kinmel Camp, Bodelwyddan. Five men are killed and 28 injured.[3]
• 31 March – Submarine HMS H52 is launched at Pembroke Dock; commissioned on 16 December, she is the last Welsh-built fighting ship to enter the Royal Navy.[4]
• 10 May – Philanthropist Sir William James Thomas is created Baronet Thomas of Ynyshir.[5]
• 14 May – The University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, establishes probably the world's first Chair in International Politics, endowed by David Davies and his sisters in honour of Woodrow Wilson, with Alfred Eckhard Zimmern as first professor.[6]
• 6 June – A race riot breaks out in Newport, Monmouthshire.
• 11 June – Three people are killed in a 4-day race riot in Cardiff.[7]
• 27 June – William James Thomas (Trethomas), coalowner and philanthropist, and James Cory, Cardiff shipowner and philanthropist, are both created baronets.[8]
• 10 July – Coalition Liberal candidate David Matthews wins the Swansea East by-election following the death of Thomas Jeremiah Williams MP.
• 4 August – Death of Thomas Francis Roberts, Principal of the University College of Wales, Aberystwyth, since 1891; he is succeeded by John Humphreys Davies.
• 25 August – Fire destroys the Waterloo Hydro, Aberystwyth's largest hotel.[9]
• 20 December – Six seamen drown while returning to their ship by boat at Milford Haven.[10]
• unknown dates
  • The Welsh Church (Temporalities) Act 1919 is passed.
  • U.S. chemical company Monsanto enters a partnership with the Graesser chemical works at Cefn Mawr.
  • John Sankey chairs the commission that recommends nationalisation of the coal industry.

Arts and literature

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Corwen)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – D. Cledlyn Davies, "Y Proffwyd"[11]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – William Williams (Crwys)

New books

• Sir Joseph Alfred Bradney – Noctes Flandricae
• William Evans (Wil Ifan) – Dail Iorwg
• David Rees Griffiths – Ambell Gainc[12]
• John Cowper Powys – After My Fashion (unpublished until 1980)
• W. Llewelyn Williams – The Making of Modern Wales

Music

• The Final and Interim Reports of the Adult Education Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction, 1918-1919 notes that "The population of both industrial and rural Wales offers the finest possible material for musical culture, though up to the present such culture has been confined within somewhat narrow limits."[13]

Film

• Ivor Novello appears in his first film: The Call of the Blood.

Sport

• Boxing – Jimmy Wilde goes on a tour of the US, taking on all contenders.
• Quoits – Wales defeat England 219 – 203 at the Custom House in London.
• Rugby union – Wales lose to a touring New Zealand Army team.

Births

• 17 February (in Washington, Co. Durham) – Jonah Jones, sculptor, writer and educationist (died 2004)
• 18 March – Menna Gallie née Humphreys, novelist and translator (died 1990)[14]
• 15 April – Emyr Humphreys, writer[15] (died 2020)
• 22 May – Glyn Davies, economist (died 2003)
• 16 June – Morys Bruce, 4th Baron Aberdare (died 2005)[16]
• 16 July – Harold Rubens, pianist and human rights activist (died 2010, in London)[17]
• 14 September – Kelvin Thomas, conductor, composer, singer and writer (died 2019) [18]
• 17 October – Wyn Griffiths, footballer (died 2006)
• 22 October – Abdulrahim Abby Farah, Somali diplomat and politician (died 2018 in the United States)[19]
• 12 December – Cliff Davies, Wales international rugby player (died 1967)
• 27 December – Brinley Rees, academic (died 2004)[20]

Deaths

• 2 January – Arthur Gould, Wales international rugby captain, 54
• 3 January – James Hills-Johnes, Victoria Cross recipient, 85[21]
• 24 February – Edward Bishop, Wales international rugby player, 54
• 27 February – Robert Harris, Welsh-born painter, 69
• 12 June – Thomas Jeremiah Williams, Coalition Liberal Member of Parliament (MP) for Swansea East, 47
• 13 July – Theo Harding, Wales international rugby player, 59
• 26 July
  • Griffith Hugh Jones (Gutyn Arfon), composer[22]
  • Richard Hughes Williams (Dic Tryfan), writer, 41[23]
• 4 August – Thomas Francis Roberts, academic, 58[24]
• 27 September – Adelina Patti, singer, 76
• 15 October – Arthur Owen Vaughan (Owen Rhoscomyl), novelist, 56[25]
• 3 December – Volney Rogers, Welsh-American lawyer, 73[26]

References

1. "Central Chancery of the Orders of Knighthood" (PDF). Edinburgh Gazette. 10 January 1919. Retrieved 13 December 2020.
2. Tony Cliff (1979). Lenin. Pluto Press. ISBN 978-0-86104-023-0.
3. Jason Wilson (6 November 2012). Soldiers of Song: The Dumbells and Other Canadian Concert Parties of the First World War. Wilfrid Laurier Univ. Press. p. 219. ISBN 978-1-55458-883-1.
4. Derek Walters (2004). The History of the British 'U' Class Submarine. Casemate Publishers. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-84415-131-8.
5. Roll of the Baronets. Adlard & Son. 1975. p. 74.
6. "The Legacy of One Man's Vision". Aberystwyth University, Department of International Politics. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
7. Susan Kingsley Kent (15 January 2009). Aftershocks: The Politics of Trauma in Britain, 1918-1931. Palgrave Macmillan. p. 51. ISBN 978-1-4039-9333-5.
8. "No. 31427". The London Gazette. 1 July 1919. p. 8221.
9. The Builder. 1919. p. 252.
10. The Scottish Law Review and Sheriff Court Reports. William Hedge and Company. 1921. pp. 240–244.
11. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
12. Gomer Morgan Roberts. "GRIFFITHS, DAVID REES ('Amanwy'; 1882-1953), poet and writer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 4 October 2018.
13. The 1919 Report: The Final and Interim Reports of the Adult Education Committee of the Ministry of Reconstruction, 1918-1919. Department of Adult Education, University of Nottingham. 1980.
14. "Menna Gallie". Writers plaques. Literature Wales. Retrieved 27 January 2015.
15. "Emyr Humphreys at 100: Swansea University hosts symposium". Swansea University. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
16. David Lewis Jones. "Bruce, Morys George (1919-2005), politician and sportsman". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
17. Karen Price (8 May 2010). "Tributes to pianist Harold Rubens". Wales Online. Retrieved 4 July 2019.
18. Richard Mills (20 June 2019). "Bath musical 'legend' who was 'singing right until his last breath' dies aged 99". Somerset Live. Retrieved 15 January 2021.
19. Who's who in the United Nations and Related Agencies. Arno Press. 1975. Retrieved 19 May 2015.
20. Ceri Davies. "Rees, Brinley Roderick (1919-2004), classical scholar, educationist and university college principal". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
21. Herbert Johnes Lloyd-Johnes. "Hills-Johnes, Sir James (1833-1919), general". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
22. Robert David Griffith. "Jones, Griffith Hugh (Gutyn Arfon; 1849-1919), musician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
23. Edward Morgan Humphreys. "Williams, Richard Hughes (Dic Tryfan; 1878?-1919), journalist and short story writer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
24. Thomas Iorwerth Ellis. "Roberts, Thomas Francis (1860-1919), principal, University College, Aberystwyth". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 June 2019.
25. William Llewelyn Davies. "Vaughan, Arthur Owen (Owen Rhos-comyl; 1863?-1919), adventurer and author". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 May 2019.
26. Joseph Green Butler (Jr.) (1921). History of Youngstown and the Mahoning Valley, Ohio. American Historical Society. p. 207.