Neha Patil (Editor)

1939 in Wales

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Centuries:
  
18th 19th 20th 21st

Decades:
  
1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1939 to Wales and its people.

Contents

Incumbents

  • Prince of Wales - vacant
  • Princess of Wales – vacant
  • Archbishop of Wales – Charles Green, Bishop of Bangor
  • Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales
  • J.J. (outgoing)
  • Crwys (incoming)

    • Events

  • March–November - Aneurin Bevan is temporarily expelled from the Labour Party.
  • 27 April - Ely Racecourse in Cardiff closes.
  • 1 June - The submarine HMS Thetis sinks during trials in Red Wharf Bay, Anglesey. 99 men are lost.
  • Late August - Most paintings evacuated from the National Gallery in London to Wales.
  • 3 September - World War II
  • Declaration of war by the United Kingdom on Nazi Germany following the German invasion of Poland on 1 September.
  • Jimmy Young, temporarily resident in Wales, attempts to join the army; on being rejected as too young, he joins the Royal Air Force instead.
  • The first war-time civilian evacuees arrive in Wales.
  • De Havilland opens an aircraft factory at Broughton, Flintshire.
  • The Urdd establishes Ysgol Gymraeg yr Urdd, the first-ever Welsh-medium primary school, at Aberystwyth. In its first year the school consists of just seven pupils and one teacher, Norah Isaac.
  • A government report shows that seven of the thirteen Welsh counties have the highest incidence of tuberculosis in the whole of England and Wales.
  • George Maitland Lloyd Davies becomes President of the pacifist group Heddychwyr Cymru.
  • Talybont Reservoir in the Brecon Beacons is completed to supply Newport.

    • Arts and literature

  • August - For the first time ever, both chair and crown are withheld at the National Eisteddfod.
  • 4 October - Poets Lynette Roberts and Keidrych Rhys marry.
  • John Roberts Williams becomes editor of Y Cymro.

    • Awards

  • National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Denbigh
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - withheld
  • National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - John Gwilym Jones

    • English language

  • B. L. Coombes - These Poor Hands
  • Richard Llewellyn - How Green Was My Valley
  • Howard Spring - Heaven Lies About Us

    • Welsh language

  • D. Gwenallt Jones - Ysgubau'r Awen
  • David James Jones - Hanes Athroniaeth: Y Cyfnod Groegaidd
  • Moelona - Ffynnonlloyw
  • Caradog Prichard - Terfysgoedd Daear

    • Music

  • William Ifor Jones makes his debut as conductor of the Bach Choir of Bethlehem.
  • Ivor Novello - The Dancing Years
  • Grace Williams - Four Illustrations for the Legend of Rhiannon

    • Film

  • Ray Milland stars in Hotel Imperial and Beau Geste.

    • Welsh language film

  • Efaciwis a Ricriwtio (World War II propaganda film)

    • Broadcasting

  • At the outbreak of war, the BBC was to transmit a unified service, including programs in the Welsh language. One of the few Welsh-language broadcasts to survive is a daily bulletin of world news at 5 pm. It was broadcast before the daily news in English at 6pm.
  • The BBC radio comedy series It's That Man Again begins its ten-year run. For most of the war it is broadcast from the BBC Wales studios in Bangor, Caernarvonshire, north Wales, where the BBC's Light Entertainment Department is temporarily based.

    • Sports

  • Rugby union
  • 4 February – Leslie Manfield (one of only four players to represent Wales both before and after World War II) gains his first senior cap in the match between Wales and Scotland.

    • Births

  • 11 January - Phil Williams, politician (died 2003)
  • 1 February - Cynog Dafis, politician
  • 16 February - David Griffiths, portrait painter
  • 8 March - Robert Tear, operatic tenor (died 2011)
  • 16 March - Kenny Morgans, footballer
  • 29 March - Ronnie Williams, actor and comedian (died 1997)
  • 7 April - Keith Bradshaw, Wales international rugby player
  • 8 June - Norman Davies, historian
  • 17 June - Donald Anderson, Baron Anderson of Swansea, politician
  • 21 July - Frank Rankmore, footballer
  • 24 September - Steve Gammon, footballer
  • 29 September - Rhodri Morgan, First Minister of Wales
  • 10 October - Neil Sloane, mathematician
  • 8 November - Meg Wynn Owen, actress

    • Deaths

  • 27 January - Lewis Jones, miners' leader and novelist, 41
  • 17 March - Owen Badger, Wales national rugby player, 67
  • 24 March - Gwyn Nicholls, rugby player, 64
  • 23 April - Morgan Jones, sitting MP for Llanelli, 52
  • 29 April - Timothy Rees, Bishop of Llandaff, 64
  • 14 June - Ivor Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne, politician, 66
  • 29 June - Henry Stuart Jones, academic, 72
  • 9 July - Charles Nicholl, Wales international rugby union player, 69
  • 18 September - Gwen John, artist, 63
  • 21 September - Sir John Lynn-Thomas, surgeon, 78
  • 26 September - Leif Jones, politician, 77
  • 7 November - Gwenllian Morgan, local politician
  • 2 December - Llewelyn Powys, writer, 55

    • References

    1939 in Wales Wikipedia
    (Text) CC BY-SA