1937 in Wales
Encyclopedia
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1937 to Wales
and its people
.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and its people
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
.
Incumbents
- Prince of WalesPrince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
- vacant - Princess of WalesPrincess of WalesPrincess of Wales is a British courtesy title held by the wife of The Prince of Wales since the first "English" Prince of Wales in 1283.Although there have been considerably more than ten male heirs to the throne, there have been only ten Princesses of Wales. The majority of Princes of Wales...
- vacant - Archbishop of WalesArchbishop of WalesThe post of Archbishop of Wales was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England , and disestablished...
- Charles Alfred Howell GreenCharles Alfred Howell GreenCharles Alfred Howell Green was the first bishop of the newly established diocese of Monmouth and subsequently Bishop of Bangor during which time he also served as Archbishop of Wales... - ArchdruidArchdruidThe Archdruid is the title used by the presiding official of the Gorsedd.The Archdruid presides over the most important ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod of Wales including the Crowning of the Bard, The Award of the Prose Medal and Chairing of the Bard. From 1932 only former winners of the...
of the National Eisteddfod of WalesNational Eisteddfod of WalesThe National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...
- J.J.John James Williams (J. J.)John James Williams , commonly known by his bardic name of "J.J.", was a Welsh poet and served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1936 to 1939.-References:...
Events
- 16 July - King George VIGeorge VI of the United KingdomGeorge VI was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth from 11 December 1936 until his death...
and Queen Elizabeth visit AberystwythAberystwythAberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
to open the new building at the National Library of WalesNational Library of WalesThe National Library of Wales , Aberystwyth, is the national legal deposit library of Wales; one of the Welsh Government sponsored bodies.Welsh is its main medium of communication...
. - 27 August - Saunders LewisSaunders LewisSaunders Lewis was a Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic, and political activist. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist and a founder of the Welsh National Party...
, Lewis ValentineLewis ValentineLewis Edward Valentine was a Welsh politician, Baptist pastor, author, editor, and Welsh-language activist.-Early life:Valentine was born in Llanddulas, Conwy, the son of Samuel Valentine, a limestone quarryman, and his wife Mary...
and D. J. Williams are released from Wormwood ScrubsWormwood ScrubsWormwood Scrubs, known locally as The Scrubs, is an open space located in the north-eastern corner of the London Borough of Hammersmith and Fulham in west London. It is the largest open space in the Borough, at 80 ha , and one of the largest areas of common land in London...
to the plaudits of nationalist supporters, having served a nine-month sentence for the arson attack on the Penrhos "bombing school". - The South Wales Regional Council of Labour is formed.
- The UrddUrdd Gobaith Cymrudde|200px|thumb|The Urdd logoUrdd Gobaith Cymru, literally, the Welsh League of Hope, but normally translated as the Welsh League of Youth, or merely referred to as the Urdd, is a Welsh-medium youth movement with over 1,500 branches and over 50,000 members...
launches the first Welsh books campaign.
Arts and literature
- James Gomer Berry becomes chairman of Kemsley Newspapers Ltd.
- The Prose Medal is awarded for the first time at the National Eisteddfod.
Awards
- National Eisteddfod of WalesNational Eisteddfod of WalesThe National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...
(held in MachynllethMachynllethMachynlleth is a market town in Powys, Wales. It is in the Dyfi Valley at the intersection of the A487 and the A489 roads.Machynlleth was the seat of Owain Glyndŵr's Welsh Parliament in 1404, and as such claims to be the "ancient capital of Wales". However, it has never held any official...
)
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - T. Rowland Hughes
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - J. M. Edwards
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - J. O. Williams
New books
- Ambrose BebbAmbrose BebbWilliam Ambrose Bebb was a Welsh author and politician.Ambrose Bebb was the son of diarist Edward Hughes Bebb, and the father of noted Welsh rugby international Dewi Bebb...
- Y Ddeddf Uno 1536 - David JonesDavid Jones (poet)David Jones CH was both a painter and one of the first generation British modernist poets. As a painter he worked chiefly in watercolor, painting portraits and animal, landscape, legendary and religious subjects. He was also a wood-engraver and designer of inscriptions. As a writer he was...
- In Parenthesis - Eiluned LewisEiluned LewisEiluned Lewis was a Welsh novelist, poet and journalist.She was born in Newtown, Montgomeryshire in Wales. She was educated at Levana School, Wimbledon, and Westfield College London. She had a long period of work on the Sunday Times, becoming assistant editor...
& Peter Lewis - The Land of Wales - T. J. MorganT. J. MorganThomas John Morgan , better known as T. J. Morgan, was a Welsh academic.He was born in the village of Glais, near Swansea, and he studied at Swansea University.In 1926, he met his future wife at the National Eisteddfod of Wales...
- Dal Llygoden Ac Ysgrifau Eraill - John Cowper PowysJohn Cowper Powys-Biography:Powys was born in Shirley, Derbyshire, in 1872, the son of the Reverend Charles Francis Powys , who was vicar of Montacute, Somerset for thirty-two years, and Mary Cowper Johnson, a descendent of the poet William Cowper. He came from a family of eleven children, many of whom were also...
- Morwyn: or The Vengeance of God - Ernest RhysErnest RhysErnest Percival Rhys was an English writer, best known for his role as founding editor of the Everyman's Library series of affordable classics. He wrote essays, stories, poetry, novels and plays...
- Song of the Sun
Broadcasting
- 1 February - A new transmitter is opened at Penmon, Anglesey, to bring the West and Wales Regional ProgrammeBBC Regional ProgrammeThe BBC Regional Programme was a UK radio network which operated from the end of the 1920s until the outbreak of World War II in 1939.-Foundation:...
to North Wales. - 4 July - Following the alteration of frequencies at the BBC's WashfordWashfordWashford is a small village on the Washford River in the English county of Somerset. It is within the civil parish of Old Cleeve and is best known as the site of Cleeve Abbey, one of the best-preserved medieval monasteries in England...
transmitter to enable it to radiate separate regional services for Wales and the West of England, a new Welsh Regional Programme begins, broadcast from Washford and Penmon on 804 kHz.
Sport
- BilliardsBilliardsCue sports , also known as billiard sports, are a wide variety of games of skill generally played with a cue stick which is used to strike billiard balls, moving them around a cloth-covered billiards table bounded by rubber .Historically, the umbrella term was billiards...
- Horace Coles wins the World Amateur Billiards Championship. - BoxingBoxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
- 15 March - Tommy FarrTommy FarrThomas George Farr was one of the most famous Welsh and British boxers of all time. Born in Clydach Vale, Wales and nicknamed "the Tonypandy Terror", he became British and Empire heavyweight champion on 15 March 1937. Prior to 1936, he had boxed in the light heavyweight division in which he was...
wins the British and Commonwealth heavyweight titles. - 30 August - Farr loses on points to Joe LouisJoe LouisJoseph Louis Barrow , better known as Joe Louis, was the world heavyweight boxing champion from 1937 to 1949. He is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all time...
.
- 15 March - Tommy Farr
Births
- 8 January - Shirley BasseyShirley BasseyDame Shirley Bassey, DBE , is a Welsh singer. She found fame in the late 1950s and was "one of the most popular female vocalists in Britain during the last half of the 20th century"...
, singer - 22 January - Ryan DaviesRyan DaviesRyan Davies was a popular Welsh entertainer of the 1960s and 1970s. He was born in the Carmarthenshire village of Glanamman in the Black Mountain, Wales, and was educated in Bangor and at the Central School of Speech and Drama. His first professional appearance was in the National Eisteddfod of...
, entertainer (died 1977) - 24 January - Trevor EdwardsTrevor EdwardsLeonard Trevor Edwards was a Wales international football player. A defender, he played his club football for Charlton Athletic. He was part of the Wales squad for the 1958 FIFA World Cup in Sweden. In the sixties he emigrated to Australia, where he played for Sydney Hakoah, Melita Eagles and...
, footballer - 13 March - Martin Thomas, Baron Thomas of GresfordMartin Thomas, Baron Thomas of GresfordDonald Martin Thomas, Baron Thomas of Gresford, OBE, QC is a British Liberal Democrat politician.Educated at Grove Park Grammar School, Wrexham, and at Peterhouse, Cambridge University, he graduated with an LLB in Law and an MA in Classics. He practiced as a solicitor in Wrexham from...
, politician - 21 March - Ann ClwydAnn ClwydAnn Clwyd Roberts is a Welsh Labour Party politician who has been the Member of Parliament for Cynon Valley since 1984.-Early life:Ann Clwyd is the daughter of Gwilym Henri Lewis and Elizabeth Ann Lewis...
, politician - 27 May - Danny HarrisDanny Harris (rugby)Daniel "Danny" John Edward Harris is a former Welsh rugby union and professional rugby league footballer of the 1950s and 1960s. He was born in Penygraig, and has played rugby union at representative level for Wales, and at club level for Pontypridd RFC, and Cardiff RFC, playing at Lock, i.e...
, rugby player - 8 June
- Gillian ClarkeGillian ClarkeGillian Clarke is a Welsh poet, playwright, editor, broadcaster, lecturer and translator from Welsh.-Life:Clarke was born in Cardiff and brought up in Cardiff and Penarth, though for part of the Second World War she was in Pembrokeshire...
, poet - John WilliamsJohn Williams (snooker referee)John Williams is a retired Welsh snooker referee. He presided over eleven World Championship finals, including the 1985 final between Dennis Taylor and Steve Davis.-Early life:...
, snooker referee
- Gillian Clarke
- 14 August - Brian CurvisBrian CurvisBrian Nancurvis , who fought under the name Brian Curvis as a professional, was a boxer from Swansea, Wales who was active from 1959 to 1966. He fought as a Welterweight, becoming British welterweight champion in 1960. He retired as undefeated champion and is the only welterweight to have won two...
, Welterweight boxer - 7 September - Clive EvertonClive EvertonClive Everton , is a Welsh veteran BBC snooker commentator, journalist and author. He began his BBC career on the radio, but has been commentating on the television from the 1978 World Championship through to the present...
, snooker commentator - 30 September - Gary HockingGary HockingGary Stuart Hocking was a Grand Prix motorcycle road racing world champion from Rhodesia who raced in the late 1950s and early 1960s.- Early life :...
, motorcycle road racer - 5 October - Iwan EdwardsIwan EdwardsIwan Edwards, CM , is a celebrated Canadian choral conductor. Over a forty year span he has founded and conducted several notable choirs and thrilled audiences...
, choral conductor (in Canada) - 6 October - David MorganDavid Morgan (cricket administrator)Frederick David Morgan OBE is a cricket administrator who is the former president of the International Cricket Council. He had previously held positions as chairman of the England and Wales Cricket Board and Glamorgan County Cricket Club....
, cricket administrator - 30 October - Brian PriceBrian Price (rugby player)Brian Price is a former Wales international rugby union player. He was born in Bargoed and originally played club rugby played for St...
, rugby player - 8 December - Malcolm PriceMalcolm PriceMalcolm John Price is a Welsh former dual-code international rugby union and professional rugby league footballer of the 1950s and '60s who at representative level has played rugby union for British Lions, and Wales, and at club level for Pontypool RFC, playing at Centre, i.e...
, rugby player - 30 December - Saunders DaviesSaunders DaviesFrancis James Saunders Davies was the Anglican Bishop of Bangor from 2000 until 2004.Davies was educated at the University College of North Wales and Selwyn College, Cambridge. Ordained in 1964, he began his ministry as a curate at Holyhead before being appointed a minor canon of Bangor Cathedral...
, Anglican bishop - 31 December - Sir Anthony HopkinsAnthony HopkinsSir Philip Anthony Hopkins, KBE , best known as Anthony Hopkins, is a Welsh actor of film, stage and television...
, actor - date unknown
- Trebor EdwardsTrebor EdwardsTrebor Edwards is a Welsh tenor, best known to Welsh-speaking audiences.Edwards was born in Denbigh and became a farmer at Corwen before beginning his recording career in 1974. He has won five gold discs and sold over 200,000 records - huge success for a Welsh language performer...
, singer - Prys MorganPrys MorganPrys Morgan FRHistS FSA FLSW is a Welsh historian.He was born in Cardiff, the son of academic T. J. Morgan. Like his brother, Rhodri Morgan, Prys Morgan was educated at Whitchurch Grammar School and St John's College, Oxford. He then joined the teaching staff of the University of Wales, Swansea,...
, historian
- Trebor Edwards
Deaths
- 15 January - Arthur CheethamArthur CheethamArthur Cheetham was an English-born film-maker who became the first of his profession to be based in Wales. His legacy is a collection of eight surviving films, including the oldest extant British football 'short' from 1898...
, pioneering film maker - 2 February - Hugh IngledewHugh IngledewHugh Murray Ingledew was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff. Ingledew also played cricket for Glamorgan and was instrumental as a solicitor, in helping the local Cardiff cricket and rugby clubs purchase the Cardiff Arms Park in 1922.-Rugby career:Ingledew...
, Wales international rugby player, 71 - 21 April - Kenneth Morris, Theosophist writer, 57
- 28 April - Frederick Edward GuestFrederick Edward GuestFrederick Edward Guest CBE DSO PC , often known as Freddie Guest, was a British politician best known for being Chief Whip of Prime Minister David Lloyd George's Coalition Liberal Party between 1917 and 1921. He was also Secretary of State for Air between 1921 and 1922...
, politician, 61 - 18 May - Idwal JonesIdwal Jones (writer)Idwal Jones was both a novelist and non-fiction writer at the turn of the twentieth century. Jones focused a lot of his writing on the beauty and population boom in California and the west....
, schoolmaster, poet and dramatist, 41 - 20 May - Walter DavisWalter Davis (footballer)Walter Otto Davis was a Welsh professional footballer who played at centre forward for Millwall for ten years in the 1910s. He also made five appearances for the Welsh national team.-Football career:...
, footballer, 48 (drowned) - 5 June - Owen Cosby Philipps, 1st Baron KylsantOwen Cosby Philipps, 1st Baron KylsantOwen Cosby Philipps, 1st Baron Kylsant was a British businessman and politician, later jailed for producing a document with intent to deceive.-Background:...
, shipping magnate, 74 - 22 July - Alfred George EdwardsAlfred George EdwardsAlfred George Edwards was elected the first Archbishop of the disestablished Church in Wales.The son of a priest of the Church of England, Edwards was born in Llanymawddwy in Gwynedd. He studied at Jesus College, Oxford before being appointed Warden of Llandovery College in 1875...
, former Archbishop of WalesArchbishop of WalesThe post of Archbishop of Wales was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England , and disestablished...
, 88 - 23 October - Stephen ThomasStephen Thomas (rugby player)Stephen Thomas was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Llanelli and Gowerton. Thomas played for Wales on three occasions during the 1890 and 1891 Home Nations Championships.- Rugby career :...
, Wales international rugby player, 72 - 1 November - William AlexanderWilliam Alexander (rugby player)William "Billy" Alexander was a Welsh international rugby union prop who played club rugby for Llwynypia.-Club career:...
, Wales international rugby player, 63 - 25 November - David Lewis DaviesDavid Lewis DaviesDavid Lewis Davies was a British Labour Party politician. He was the Member of Parliament for Pontypridd from 1931 to 1937....
, politician, 64