# 1943 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1943 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Archbishop of Wales – Charles Green, Bishop of Bangor
* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Crwys

## Events

* 19 January - Three-year-old twins Neil and Jacqueline Coleby die of exposure on the slopes of Caerneddau; despite an extensive search their bodies are not found until 24 January.
* 29 January - In the by-election for the University of Wales parliamentary seat vacated by Ernest Evans, there are three notable candidates. W. J. Gruffydd, a former vice-president of Plaid Cymru who has subsequently joined the Liberal Party, triumphs over Plaid's Saunders Lewis. One of the other candidates is Alun Talfan Davies.
* March - Rocky Marciano is among US servicemen posted to South Wales.
* August - Tenovus Cancer Care is founded in Cardiff as Tenovus, initially funding a wide range of projects in the local area; it becomes the leading cancer charity in Wales.
* 23 October - David Lloyd George marries his long-term mistress and secretary, Frances Stevenson, at Guildford register office.
* Sir Percy Thomas is elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects for the second time - the second person ever to achieve this.

## Arts and literature

* August - Soprano Ceinwen Rowlands gives the first performance of a Welsh translation of Felix Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Bangor.
* The Welsh National Opera company is founded in Cardiff as an amateur company.
* Dame Laura Knight paints Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Newport.

### Awards

* National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Caernarfon)
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - David Emrys James
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Dafydd Owen
* National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

### New books
#### English language

* Idris Davies - The Angry Summer: A Poem of 1926
* Margiad Evans - Autobiography
* William Evans (Wil Ifan) - A Quire of Rhymes
* R. T. Jenkins - Orinda
* Eiluned Lewis - The Captain's Wife

#### Welsh language

* Rhys Davies - Pobl a Phethau
* Sir Emrys Evans - Ewthaffron: Criton (translation from Plato)
* Alwyn D. Rees - Adfeilion

### Music

* Harry Parr-Davies - The Lisbon Story (musical, opened in the West End 17 June 1943)
* Arwel Hughes - Anatiomaros
* W. S. Gwynn Williams - Tosturi Duw (God's Mercy)

### Film

* Ray Milland stars in Forever and a Day and The Crystal Ball.
* Drama documentary The Silent Village, filmed in 1942 at Cwmgiedd near Ystradgynlais by Humphrey Jennings, is released.

## Broadcasting

* 4 September – Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports from a bomber over Berlin for BBC Radio.

## Births

* 13 January – Lorna Sage, academic, literary critic and writer (died 2001)
* 1 February – Rosemarie Frankland, beauty queen (died 2000)
* 9 February – Ryland Davies, operatic tenor (died 2023)
* 11 February – Win Griffiths MP, politician
* 28 February – John Davies, bishop of St Asaph
* 3 March (in London) – Aeronwy Thomas, literary figure (died 2009)
* 1 April (in Derby) – Dafydd Wigley MP, politician
* 9 April – Clive Sullivan, rugby league footballer (died 1985)
* 16 April (in Norwich) – Ruth Madoc (née Llewellyn), actress and singer (died 2022)
* 17 April – Elinor Bennett, harpist
* 26 April – Leon Pownall, actor and director (died 2006)
* 27 April
** David Hughes, footballer
** Gwyn Prosser MP, politician
* 6 June – Sir Terry Matthews, entrepreneur
* 5 July – Roy Evans, footballer (died 1969)
* 7 July – Robert East, actor
* 19 July – Beth Morris, actress (died 2018)
* 2 August – Alun Michael MP, politician
* 17 August – John Humphrys, radio and TV journalist
* 24 August – Dafydd Iwan, musician and politician
* 10 September – Shân Legge-Bourke, born Elizabeth Shân Bailey, landowner
* 27 September – Max Boyce, entertainer
* 18 October (in London) – Dai Jones, Welsh-language broadcaster (died 2022)
* 15 November – Derec Llwyd Morgan, academic
* 16 November – Val Lloyd AM, politician
* 22 December – Gareth Morgan, organizational theorist
* 28 December – Joan Ruddock MP, politician and campaigner
* 30 December – Geraint Talfan Davies, journalist and executive
* date unknown
** John Beard, painter
** Christine Evans, poet
** Gareth Griffiths, academic

## Deaths

* 9 January – William Llewellyn Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 70
* 12 January – Selwyn Biggs, Wales international rugby player and Glamorgan cricketer, 70
* 24 January – Glyndwr Michael, homeless man whose body was used in Operation Mincemeat, 34 (pneumonia)
* 31 January – Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, physician, 85
* 7 February (in London) – Clara Novello Davies, singer, 71
* 6 March (in Trevelin) – John Daniel Evans, pioneer in Patagonia, 81
* 23 March – Commander John Wallace Linton, VC, 37 (killed in action)
* 28 March – Ben Davies, operatic tenor, 85
* 12 April – Arthur Lloyd James, phonetician, 58 (suicide)
* 17 April – Alice Gray Jones (Ceridwen Peris), author, 90
* 8 September – Dai Lewis, Wales international rugby player, 76
* 15 September – David Samuel, Wales international rugby player
* 24 September – Billy Douglas, Wales international rugby player, 80
* 15 October – Sir Thomas Artemus Jones, judge and Welsh language campaigner, 72
* 29 October – Frank Hancock, Wales international rugby union international, 84
* 17 November – Bertrand Turnbull, Olympic hockey player, 56
* 10 December – Ivor Morgan, Wales international rugby union player, 59
* 27 December – Arthur O'Bree, Glamorgan cricketer, 57 (killed in action)