1947 in Wales
Encyclopedia
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1947 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...
- David Lewis Prosser - 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 :...
- CrwysWilliam Williams (Crwys)William Williams , better known by his bardic name of "Crwys", was a Welsh poet in the Welsh language. He served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1939 to 1947....
Events
- 1 January - Nationalisation of the coal miningCoal miningThe goal of coal mining is to obtain coal from the ground. Coal is valued for its energy content, and since the 1880s has been widely used to generate electricity. Steel and cement industries use coal as a fuel for extraction of iron from iron ore and for cement production. In the United States,...
industry under the new National Coal BoardNational Coal BoardThe National Coal Board was the statutory corporation created to run the nationalised coal mining industry in the United Kingdom. Set up under the Coal Industry Nationalisation Act 1946, it took over the mines on "vesting day", 1 January 1947...
. - 1 March - Opening of Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant, Llanelli (first Welsh-medium school).
- March - Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh DaltonHugh DaltonEdward Hugh John Neale Dalton, Baron Dalton PC was a British Labour Party politician who served as Chancellor of the Exchequer from 1945 to 1947, when he was implicated in a political scandal involving budget leaks....
inadvertently reveals some of the contents of his Budget while on his way to the House to deliver his speech, effectively finishing his political career. - 3 April - A British ship, the 1,580 ton Stancliffe, runs aground off SharpnessSharpnessSharpness is an English port in Gloucestershire, one of the most inland in Britain, and eighth largest in the South West. It is on the River Severn at , at a point where the tidal range, though less than at Avonmouth downstream , is still large .The village of Sharpness is pronounced with the...
loaded with 3,000 tons of timber. Local shipyard engineer, Ivor Langford, manages to cut the vessel in two and sail both parts down to Cardiff DocksCardiff DocksCardiff Docks is a port in south Cardiff, Wales. At its peak, the port was one of the largest dock systems in the world with a total quayage of almost...
. There the two halves are joined together and the ship sails again under the new name of . - 23 April - Wreck of the SamtampaSamtampaSS Samtampa was a 7,219 ton steamship wrecked on Sker Point, off Porthcawl and Kenfig, Wales, in the Bristol Channel on 23 April 1947...
on Sker rocks and loss of the MumblesMumblesMumbles or The Mumbles is an area and community in Swansea, Wales which takes its name from the adjacent headland stretching into Swansea Bay...
lifeboatLifeboat (rescue)A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
, Edward, Prince of Wales. - 13 December - Royal Naval Air Station Dale, Pembrokeshire, closes.
- Founded in this year were:
- Age Concern Cymru
- Steel Company of WalesSteel Company of WalesThe Steel Company of Wales Ltd was a Welsh steel and tinplate producer. It was formed in 1947 and absorbed into British Steel in 1967. The business now forms part of Corus, a subsidiary of Tata Steel....
- Wales Gas Board
- Sir Frederick John Alban becomes President of the Society of Incorporated Accountants and Chairman of the Welsh Hospitals Board.
- David Brynmor Anthony is awarded the Médaille de Vermeil de la Reconnaissance Française by the government of FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
. - Ifan ab Owen EdwardsIfan ab Owen EdwardsSir Ifan ab Owen Edwards , was a Welsh academic, writer and film-maker, best known as the founder of Urdd Gobaith Cymru, the Welsh League of Youth....
is knighted.
Arts and literature
- Caradog PrichardCaradog PrichardCaradog Prichard was a Welsh poet and novelist writing in Welsh. His daughter, Mari Prichard, was married to the late Humphrey Carpenter....
begins writing for the Daily Telegraph. - First Cerdd DantCerdd dantCerdd Dant or Canu Penillion is the art of vocal improvisation over a given melody in Welsh musical tradition. It is an important competition in eisteddfodau. The singer or choir sings a counter melody over a harp melody.Cerdd Dant is a unique tradition of singing lyrics over a harp accompaniment...
festival is held. - The BBC Welsh Chorus is formed.
Awards
- National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Colwyn BayColwyn Bay- Demography :Prior to local government reorganisation on 1 April 1974 Colwyn Bay was a municipal borough with a population of c.25,000, but in 1974 this designation disappeared leaving five separate parishes, known as communities in Wales, of which the one bearing the name Colwyn Bay encompassed...
)
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - John Tudor James
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Griffith John Roberts
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld
New books
- William Ewart Berry - British Newspapers and their Controllers
- J. Eirian Davies - Awen y Wawr
- Jack JonesJack Jones (novelist)Jack Jones was a Welsh novelist and playwright who began writing in the 1930s.-Early years:Jack Jones was born in 1884 at Tai-Harri-Blawdd in Merthyr Tydfil, the son of a coal miner. He joined his father to work in the mine aged 12. At the age of 17 he joined the army and was posted to South...
- Off to Philadelphia in the Morning - Michael Gareth Llewelyn - White Wheat
- 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...
– Obstinate Cymric - Sir James Frederick Rees - Studies in Welsh history
- Elizabeth Watkin-JonesElizabeth Watkin-JonesElizabeth Watkin-Jones was a Welsh children's book author, who wrote in the Welsh language.-Life history:Watkin-Jones was born in Nefyn, Caernarfonshire as Elizabeth Parry, the only daughter of Jane and Henry Parry. Henry Parry was a sea captain who drowned in Iquique harbour in Chile without...
- Y Cwlwm Cêl and Y Dryslwyn
Sport
- Cricket - Wilf Wooller is appointed Captain-Secretary of Glamorgan CCC.
- Rugby UnionRugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
- 20 December - Wales beat Australia 6–0 at the National Stadium, Cardiff.
Births
- 22 February - Bleddyn WilliamsBleddyn WilliamsBleddyn Williams MBE , was a Welsh rugby union centre. He played in 22 internationals for Wales, captaining them five times, winning each time, and captained the British Lions in 1950 for some of their tour of Australia and New Zealand...
, rugby player - 12 March - Rod RichardsRod RichardsRoderick Richards was the Conservative Member of Parliament for Clwyd North West, in Wales, from 1992 to 1997, when he lost his seat in the Labour Party landslide...
, politician - 18 March - Roger Kenneth EvansRoger Kenneth EvansRoger Kenneth Evans is a British Conservative politician.Evans was elected Member of Parliament for Monmouth in 1992, winning the seat back from Labour's Huw Edwards who had defeated Evans in by-election the previous year. However, at the 1997 general election, Edwards retook the seat.Evans...
, politician - 27 April - Pete Ham, musician (died 1975)
- 1 June - Jonathan PryceJonathan PryceJonathan Pryce, CBE is a Welsh stage and film actor and singer. After studying at the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art and meeting his longtime partner English actress Kate Fahy in 1974, he began his career as a stage actor in the 1970s...
, actor - 12 June - Alwyn Pritchard, statistician
- 12 July - Gareth EdwardsGareth EdwardsGareth Owen Edwards CBE is a former Welsh rugby union footballer who played scrum-half and has been described by the BBC as "arguably the greatest player ever to don a Welsh jersey"....
, rugby player - 17 July - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
- 24 September (in LoughboroughLoughboroughLoughborough is a town within the Charnwood borough of Leicestershire, England. It is the seat of Charnwood Borough Council and is home to Loughborough University...
) - Mick BatesMick Bates (politician)Mick Bates is an Independent Liberal Democrat politician. He was Member of the National Assembly for Wales for Montgomeryshire between 1999 and 2011.-Background:...
AM, politician - 5 October - Phil CarradicePhil CarradicePhil Carradice , is a Welsh writer and broadcaster.Carradice was born in Pembroke Dock. He was educated at Cardiff College of Education and Cardiff University, and became a teacher and social worker. After several years as head of Headlands Special School in Penarth, near Cardiff, he retired from...
, writer and broadcaster - 16 October - Steve DerrettSteve DerrettStephen Clifford "Steve" Derrett is a Welsh former professional footballer and Wales international.-Career:...
, footballer - 16 October - Terry GriffithsTerry GriffithsTerrence "Terry" Griffiths OBE is a retired Welsh snooker player and current snooker coach and pundit. He won the World Championship in 1979 at the first attempt, and reached the 1988 final. He also won the Masters in 1980 and the UK Championship in 1982, making him one of seven players to have...
, snooker player - 29 October - Val FeldVal FeldVal Feld , was a Welsh Labour Party politician.-Background:Born in Bangor, Caernarvonshire, she was educated at the Abbey School in Malvern and in 1969 married John Feld, with whom she had two children. Worked as a journalist in London and in housing advice, working in Lancashire...
, politician (d. 2001) - 16 November - Vaughan Hughes, journalist
- 5 December - Don TouhigDon TouhigJames Donnelly Touhig, Baron Touhig, PC, KSS is a British Labour Co-operative politician from Wales. He was the Member of Parliament for Islwyn from 1995 until his retirement in 2010.-Early life:...
, politician - date unknown
- Douglas DaviesDouglas DaviesDouglas James Davies is Professor in the Study of Religion in the Department of Theology and Religion at the University of Durham. He is an authority in the history, theology and sociology of death. His fields of expertise also include anthropology, the study of religion, the rituals and beliefs...
, theologian
- Douglas Davies
Deaths
- 10 January - Lillie GoodissonLillie GoodissonLillie Elizabeth Goodisson née Price was a Welsh Australian nurse and a pioneer of family planning in New South Wales.Goodisson was born in Holyhead, Wales. She trained as a nurse and at age 19 married London physician Lawford David Evans. Soon after they moved to Auckland, New Zealand, where they...
, nurse, late 80s - 26 February - Percy PhillipsPercy Phillips (rugby player)Henry Percy Phillips OBE was a Welsh rugby union international fly-half who played club rugby for Newport. He won six caps for Wales and played in all three games of the 1893 Home Nations Championship which saw Wales lift the Triple Crown for the first time in the country's history.Outside rugby,...
OBE, Wales international rugby player and civil servant - 26 March - Charles Alexander HarrisCharles Alexander HarrisSir Charles Alexander Harris was a British colonial administrator, Governor of Newfoundland from 1917 to 1922.Harris graduated from Christ's College, Cambridge in 1878...
, governor of Newfoundland, 91 - 15 May - Arthur HardingArthur HardingArthur Flowers Harding was an English-born international rugby union player who played for and captained the Wales national team. Often called 'Boxer' Harding, he was a member of the winning Wales team who beat the 1905 touring All Blacks in a game considered one of the greatest in the history of...
, Wales international rugby union captain, 68 - 23 May - Richard Griffith (Carneddog), poet and journalist, 85
- 25 May - Samuel ClarkSamuel Clark (rugby player)Samuel Simmonds Clark was an English-born rugby union official and international rugby union full-back who played club rugby for Neath...
, rugby official and international rugby player - 20 June - Sir John Edward LloydJohn Edward LloydSir John Edward Lloyd , was a Welsh historian, the author of the first serious history of the country's formative years, A History of Wales from the Earliest Times to the Edwardian Conquest, 2 vols...
, historian, 86 - 30 June - Jerry SheaJerry SheaJeremiah "Jerry" Shea was a Welsh international dual-code rugby centre who played club rugby for Newport and Pill Harriers under the rugby union code and later represented Wigan Wasps as a rugby league player. Shea was an all round athlete, and was an accomplished swimmer and professional boxer...
, Welsh rugby union and rugby league player, 54 - 5 July - Jack EvansJohn William Evans (rugby player)John "Jack" William Evans was a Welsh rugby union forward who played club rugby for Blaina and international rugby for Wales...
Wales international rugby player, 72 - 7 July
- James Henry Howard, minister and writer, 70
- Johnny Basham, boxer, 56
- 23 July - David James JonesDavid James JonesDavid James Jones , was a Welsh philosopher and academic. He should not be confused with David James Jones , a contemporary writer....
, philosopher, 60 - 12 October - William BraceWilliam BraceWilliam Brace was a Welsh trade unionist and Labour politician. Born in Risca, in the coal-mining district of Monmouthshire, he was one of six children of Thomas and Anne Brace. Brace briefly attended school before starting work at the local colliery, aged 12...
, politician, 82 - 18 October - Alexander BlandAlexander BlandAlexander "Alec" Frederick Bland was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff. Bland won nine caps for Wales over a period of four years.-International career:...
, Wales international rugby player, 80 - 22 November - James J. DavisJames J. DavisJames John Davis was an American steel worker and Republican Party politician in Pittsburgh, Pennsylvania. He served as U.S. Secretary of Labor and represented Pennsylvania in the United States Senate...
, United States politician, 74 - 23 November - Sir George Lockwood MorrisGeorge Lockwood MorrisSir George Lockwood Morris, 8th Baronet was a Welsh industrialist and iron founder. As a youth he was also notable as an international rugby union forward who won five caps for Wales...
, industrialist and Welsh international rugby player, 88 - 15 December - Arthur MachenArthur MachenArthur Machen was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror...
, writer, 74 - 23 December - John SamuelJohn SamuelJohn Samuel was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Swansea and international rugby for Wales. He played just one game for Wales, notable for being selected alongside his brother David Samuel...
, Wales international rugby player