1949 in Wales

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

Incumbents

*Prince of Wales - "vacant"
*Princess of Wales - "vacant"
*Archbishop of Wales - John Morgan
*Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Wil Ifan

Events

*May - Dylan and Caitlin Thomas settle at the Boat House, Laugharne.
*September 21 - A meteorite falls through the roof of the Prince Llewelyn Hotel, Beddgelert.
*December 26 - The Gwyn Nicholls memorial gates at Cardiff Arms Park are officially opened.
*Gwynfor Evans is elected to Merionethshire County Council.
*Closure of the granite quarry at Llanbedrog.
*Meteorologist David Brunt is knighted.
*Sale of Bron-y-garth, Porthmadog, ancestral home of Sir Lewis Casson.
*Council of Wales and Monmouthshire is formed, with Huw T. Edwards as its first chairman.
*Urdd Gobaith Cymru holds its first "Celtic camp".
*Jack Jones spends three months in the USA promoting the Moral Re-Armament Movement.

Arts and literature

*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
*National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - John Tudor James
*National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - "withheld"

New books

*Dannie Abse - "After Every Green Thing"
*Stanley Stephen Awbery - "Labour's Early Struggles in Swansea"
*Aneirin Talfan Davies - "Gwyr Llen"
*David James Davies - "Towards an Economic Democracy"
*Richard Davies (Isgarn) - "Caniadau Isgarn" (posthumously published)
*Cledwyn Hughes - "A Wanderer in North Wales"
*Jane Ann Jones - "Y bryniau pell"
*Arthur Leach - "Charles Norris of Tenby and Waterwynch"
*John Daniel Vernon Lewis - "Bydd melys fy myfyrdod: detholiad o lyfr y Salmau"
*Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor - "Newfoundland at the Cross Roads"
*Thomas Mardy-Jones - "Character, Coal and Corn — the Roots of British Power"
*Kate Roberts - "Stryd y Glep"
*Bertrand Russell - "Authority and the Individual"
*Gwyn Thomas – "All Things Betray Thee"
*William Nantlais Williams - "Emynau'r daith"

Music

*Ivor Novello - "King's Rhapsody"

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 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

*

port

*Football - John Charles joins Leeds United
*Netball - The Welsh team plays its first international matches, against Scotland and England
*Rugby Union
**March 26 France beats Wales 5–3 at the Stade Colombes in Paris.
**December 26 - Rhys Gabe officially opens the "Gwyn Nicholls Memorial Gates" at Cardiff Arms Park.

Births

*March 2 - J. P. R. Williams, rugby player
*March 5 - Mike Gwilym, actor
*March 9 - Neil Hamilton, former politician
*March 22 - John Toshack, footballer and football manager
*May 22 - Ieuan Wyn Jones, politician
**Derek Quinnell, rugby player
* [June 5] - Ken Follett, novelist
*June 14 - Alan Evans, darts player (died 1999)
*October 24 - Nick Ainger, politician
*October 29 - Alun Ffred Jones, AM, politician
*November 18 - William Graham, politician
*December 15 - Jane Hutt, politician (in Epsom)

Deaths

*January 15 - Stanley Bligh, barrister and landowner (born 1870)
*January 20 - Artie Moore, wireless operator (born 1887)
*January 21 - Jimmy Thomas, politician, 72
*March 7 - T. Gwynn Jones ("Tir-na-Nog"), poet and journalist, 77
*April 20 - Sir Evan Davies Jones, 1st Baronet, civil engineer and politician, 90
*April 21 - Sir Alfred Thomas Davies, civil servant, 88
*April 27 - Evan Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar, 55
*May - Horace Lyle, President of the Welsh Rugby Union, 88
*May 3 - David John Tawe Jones, composer, 64
*May 8 - Abel J. Jones, teacher, writer and public servant
*July 23 - John Bodvan Anwyl (Bodfan), lexicographer, 74
*August 10 - William Jones Williams, public servant, 86
*August 26 - Edgar Chappell, sociologist, 70
*September 1 - Dr Teddy Morgan, Welsh international rugby player, 69
*October 24 - T. Rowland Hughes, author, 46
*November 9 - William Dowell, Wales dual code rugby international, 64
*December 16 - George Maitland Lloyd Davies, pacifist politician, 59