1947 in Wales

1947 in Wales

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1947 in: The United Kingdom • Ireland

Other events of 1947

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1947 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales - vacant
• Princess of Wales - vacant
• Archbishop of Wales - David Lewis Prosser
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Crwys

Events

• 1 January - Nationalisation of the coal mining industry under the new National Coal Board.
• 1 March - Opening of Ysgol Gymraeg Dewi Sant, Llanelli (first Welsh-medium school).
• March - Chancellor of the Exchequer Hugh Dalton 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 Sharpness 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 Docks. There the two halves are joined together and the ship sails again under the new name of Gripfast.
• 23 April - Wreck of the Samtampa on Sker rocks and loss of the Mumbles lifeboat, Edward, Prince of Wales.
• 13 December - Royal Naval Air Station Dale, Pembrokeshire, closes.
• Founded in this year were:
  • Age Concern Cymru
  • Steel Company of Wales
  • 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 France.
• Ifan ab Owen Edwards is knighted.

Arts and literature

• Caradog Prichard begins writing for the Daily Telegraph.
• First Cerdd Dant festival is held.
• The BBC Welsh Chorus is formed.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Colwyn Bay)

• 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 Jones - Off to Philadelphia in the Morning
• Michael Gareth Llewelyn - White Wheat
• John Cowper Powys – Obstinate Cymric
• Sir James Frederick Rees - Studies in Welsh history
• Elizabeth Watkin-Jones - Y Cwlwm Cêl and Y Dryslwyn

Music

• David Wynne - Sonata No. 1 for keyboard

Film

• Edmund Gwenn stars in Miracle on 34th Street.

Sport

• Cricket - Wilf Wooller is appointed Captain-Secretary of Glamorgan CCC.
• Rugby Union
  • 20 December - Wales beat Australia 6–0 at the National Stadium, Cardiff.

Births

• 22 February - Bleddyn Williams, rugby player
• 12 March - Rod Richards, politician
• 18 March - Roger Kenneth Evans, politician
• 27 April - Pete Ham, musician (died 1975)
• 1 June - Jonathan Pryce, actor
• 12 June - Alwyn Pritchard, statistician
• 12 July - Gareth Edwards, rugby player
• 17 July - Camilla, Duchess of Cornwall
• 24 September (in Loughborough) - Mick Bates AM, politician
• 5 October - Phil Carradice, writer and broadcaster
• 16 October - Steve Derrett, footballer
• 16 October - Terry Griffiths, snooker player
• 29 October - Val Feld, politician (d. 2001)
• 16 November - Vaughan Hughes, journalist
• 5 December - Don Touhig, politician
• date unknown
  • Douglas Davies, theologian

Deaths

• 10 January - Lillie Goodisson, nurse, late 80s
• 26 February - Percy Phillips OBE, Wales international rugby player and civil servant
• 26 March - Charles Alexander Harris, governor of Newfoundland, 91
• 15 May - Arthur Harding, Wales international rugby union captain, 68
• 23 May - Richard Griffith (Carneddog), poet and journalist, 85
• 25 May - Samuel Clark, rugby official and international rugby player
• 20 June - Sir John Edward Lloyd, historian, 86
• 30 June - Jerry Shea, Welsh rugby union and rugby league player, 54
• 5 July - Jack Evans Wales international rugby player, 72
• 7 July
  • James Henry Howard, minister and writer, 70
  • Johnny Basham, boxer, 56
• 23 July - David James Jones, philosopher, 60
• 12 October - William Brace, politician, 82
• 18 October - Alexander Bland, Wales international rugby player, 80
• 22 November - James J. Davis, United States politician, 74
• 23 November - Sir George Lockwood Morris, industrialist and Welsh international rugby player, 88
• 15 December - Arthur Machen, writer, 74
• 23 December - John Samuel, Wales international rugby player