# 1949 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1949 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Archbishop of Wales
** David Prosser, Bishop of St David's (retired)
** John Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff (elected)
* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Wil Ifan

## Events

* Easter - Urdd Gobaith Cymru holds its first "Celtic camp".
* April - The government decides to establish an Advisory Council for Wales.
* 20 May - Council for Wales and Monmouthshire first meets, with Huw T. Edwards as its first chairman.
** June - Meteorologist David Brunt is knighted.
* 12 June - Britain's first all-world Muslim conference is held in Cardiff.
* 21 September
** The first comprehensive school in Wales is opened in Holyhead, Anglesey.
** A meteorite falls through the roof of the Prince Llewelyn Hotel, Beddgelert.
** John Morgan is enthroned as Archbishop of Wales.
* 4 November - Cwmbran is designated as the first New Town in Wales under powers of the New Towns Act 1946.
* 26 December - The Gwyn Nicholls memorial gates at Cardiff Arms Park are officially opened.
* date unknown
** Closure of the granite quarry at Llanbedrog, the last in the town.
** Sale of Bron-y-garth, Porthmadog, ancestral home of Sir Lewis Casson.
** Bodnant Garden is donated to the National Trust.
** Gwynfor Evans is elected to Merionethshire County Council.
** Jack Jones spends three months in the USA promoting the Moral Re-Armament Movement.

## Arts and literature

* May - Dylan and Caitlin Thomas settle at the Boat House, Laugharne.
* Geraint Evans stars in The Marriage of Figaro at Covent Garden.
* Huw Menai is granted a civil list pension.

### Awards

* National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Dolgellau)
** National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Roland Jones, "Y Graig"
** National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - John Tudor James, "Meirionnydd"
** National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

### New books
#### English language

* Dannie Abse - After Every Green Thing
* Stan Awbery - Labour's Early Struggles in Swansea
* David James Davies - Towards an Economic Democracy
* Cledwyn Hughes - A Wanderer in North Wales
* Arthur Leach - Charles Norris of Tenby and Waterwynch
* Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor - Newfoundland at the Cross Roads
* Thomas Mardy-Jones - Character, Coal and Corn – the Roots of British Power
* Bertrand Russell - Authority and the Individual
* Gwyn Thomas - All Things Betray Thee

#### Welsh language

* Aneirin Talfan Davies - Gwyr Llen
* Richard Davies (Isgarn) - Caniadau Isgarn (posthumously published)
* John Daniel Vernon Lewis - Bydd melys fy myfyrdod: detholiad o lyfr y Salmau
* Kate Roberts - Stryd y Glep
* Louie Myfanwy Thomas
** as Jane Ann Jones - Y bryniau pell
** as Ffanni Llwyd - Diwrnod yw ein bywyd (submitted to National Eisteddfod; published 1954)
* William Nantlais Williams - Emynau'r daith

### Music

* Ivor Novello - King's Rhapsody
* Grace Williams - Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes - first recording, made by London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mansel Thomas (first recording of any work by a female Welsh composer)

## Film

* Blue Scar, starring Kenneth Griffith and Rachel Thomas
* The Last Days of Dolwyn, starring Emlyn Williams, Richard Burton and Hugh Griffith
* Yr Etifeddiaeth (The Heritage), documentary by Geoff Charles and John Roberts Williams, depicting traditional ways of life in rural North Wales, with narration by Cynan; the first film to be made in the Welsh language
* The Fruitful Year, a promotional film about Wales, commissioned by the Post Office National Savings
* The Road to Yesterday, travelogue made for troops serving abroad

## Broadcasting

* January - Glyn Griffiths writes: "It would be advisable now for Wales to weigh in with its campaign of aggravation and persuasion to get a Welsh Radio Corporation."

## Sport

* Football - John Charles joins Leeds United
* Netball - The Welsh team plays its first international matches, against Scotland and England
* Rugby Union
** 26 March - France beats Wales 5–3 at the Stade Colombes in Paris
** 26 December - Rhys Gabe officially opens the Gwyn Nicholls Memorial Gates at Cardiff Arms Park.
* Steeplechasing - The first Welsh Grand National to be run at Chepstow Racecourse is won by Dick Francis riding Fighting Line.

## Births

* 1 January - Sue Jones-Davies, actress, singer and local politician
* 7 February - Martin Daunton, historian and academic
* 2 March - J. P. R. Williams, rugby player (died 2024)
* 5 March - Mike Gwilym, actor
* 9 March - Neil Hamilton, politician
* 22 March - John Toshack, footballer and football manager
* 14 April - Dennis Bryon, rock drummer (died 2024)
* 22 May
** Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, politician
** Derek Quinnell, rugby player
* 5 June - Ken Follett, novelist
* 11 June - Tom Pryce, racing driver (killed in racing accident 1977)
* 14 June - Alan Evans, darts player (died 1999)
* 23 June - Hilary Boyd, novelist
* 16 July - Angharad Rees, actress (died 2012)
* 15 August - Richard Deacon, sculptor and academic
* 25 August (in Oxford) - Martin Amis, novelist
* 24 October - Nick Ainger, politician
* 29 October - Alun Ffred Jones AM, politician
* 18 November - William Graham AM, politician
* 15 December (in Epsom) - Jane Hutt AM, politician
* date unknown
** Anthony O'Donnell, actor
** M. J. Trow, writer

## Deaths

* 20 January - Artie Moore, wireless operator (born 1887)
* 21 January
** J. H. Thomas, politician, 72
** Rowley Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 85
* 7 March - T. Gwynn Jones ("Tir-na-Nog"), poet and journalist, 77
* 20 April - Sir Evan Davies Jones, 1st Baronet, civil engineer and politician, 90
* 21 April - Sir Alfred Thomas Davies, civil servant, 88
* 27 April - Evan Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar, poet and occulist, 55
* 1 May - Horace Lyne, Wales international rugby player and WRU president, 88
* 3 May - David John Tawe Jones, composer, 64
* 8 May - Abel J. Jones, teacher, writer and public servant
* 6 June - Walter E. Rees, Secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union, 86
* 3 July - William McCutcheon, Wales international rugby player, 78/79
* 23 July - John Bodvan Anwyl (Bodfan), lexicographer, 74
* 10 August - William Jones Williams, public servant, 86
* 26 August - Edgar Chappell, sociologist, 70
* 1 September - Dr Teddy Morgan, Welsh international rugby player, 69
* 24 October - T. Rowland Hughes, author, 46
* 9 November - William Dowell, Wales dual code rugby international, 64
* 16 December - George Maitland Lloyd Davies, pacifist politician, 59