1944 in Wales

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

Incumbents

*Prince of Wales - "vacant"
*Princess of Wales - "vacant"
*Archbishop of Wales - David Lewis Prosser
*Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Crwys

Events

*23 January - An RAF Halifax crashes in the Elan Valley, killing nine crew.
*28 March - 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 VC for his courage.
*17 October - The first "Welsh Day" debate takes place in the House of Commons.
*10 December - American Liberty ship "Dan Beard" is torpedoed off Strumble Head, resulting in the deaths of 29 crew.
*20 December - An American Liberator plane crashes into the sea off Anglesey, killing eight crew.
*Plaid Cymru transfers its head office from Caernarfon to Cardiff.
*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.
*Goronwy Owen and Llewellyn Thomas Gordon Soulsby are knighted.
*Dylan Thomas is best man at the wedding of his friend Vernon Watkins - but fails to turn up.

Arts and literature

*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

*Rhys Davies – "Black Venus"
*Thomas Rowland Hughes - "William Jones"
*Edward Morgan Humphreys - "Ceulan y Llyn Du"
*Alun Lewis - "The Last Inspection"
*Sir Percy Emerson Watkins - "A Welshman Remembers"
*Sir Ifor Williams - "Lectures on early Welsh Poetry"

New drama

*James Kitchener Davies - "Meini Gwagedd"
*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.

port

*Football - The first post-war match between Wales and England ends in a 1 - 0 victory for Wales.

Births

*21 January - Peter Rodrigues, footballer
*17 February - Karl Jenkins, composer
*24 March - Steve Jones, biologist
*8 April - Hywel Bennett, actor
*15 April - Dave Edmunds, musician
*5 May - John Rhys-Davies, actor
*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
*31 July - Endaf Emlyn, TV presenter, musician and director
*21 October - Mandy Rice-Davies, socialite
*29 November - Gareth Wardell, politician

Deaths

*5 March - Alun Lewis, poet
*7 May - Charles Alfred Howell Green, Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales
*16 June - David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, philanthropist and MP
*25 June - James Atkin, Baron Atkin, judge
*14 July - Albert de Belleroche, painter
*5 August - Maurice Turnbull, cricketer
*September - David Davies, 2nd Baron Davies (killed in battle)
*5 October - Laura Evans-Williams, singer
*8 December - Sir William Jenkins, MP for Neath
*"date unknown" - Ethel Lina White, crime novelist