1918 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1918 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dyfed^[1]
  • Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Sir Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley, 12th Baronet Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 2nd Baron Glanusk^[2]
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – John Ernest Greaves^[3]
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Herbert Davies-Evans^[4]
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Hinds
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Lloyd Tyrell-Kenyon, 4th Baron Kenyon (from 24 January)
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Henry Gladstone, later Baron Gladstone^[5]
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Sir Osmond Williams, 1st Baronet^[6]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Ivor Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen
  • • Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Sir Herbert Williams-Wynn, 7th Baronet Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – John Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Powlett Milbank^[7] (until 30 January); Arthur Walsh, 3rd Baron Ormathwaite (from 5 April)^[8]
• Bishop of Bangor – Watkin Williams^[9]
• Bishop of Llandaff – Joshua Pritchard Hughes^[10]
• Bishop of St Asaph – A. G. Edwards (later Archbishop of Wales)^[11]
• Bishop of St Davids – John Owen^[12]

Events

• January – Coalowner, Liberal politician and Minister of Food Control David Alfred Thomas is created Viscount Rhondda; following his death on 3 July the title passes by special remainder to his daughter, the suffragette Margaret Mackworth.
• 26 January – An Irish steamship, the Cork, is torpedoed by a U-boat off Point Lynas in Anglesey. Twelve crew are killed.^{[13] [14]}
• 29 January – The steamship Ethelinda is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Twenty-six crew are killed.^[15]
• 4 February – The steamship Treveal is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Thirty-three people are killed.^[16]
• 5 February – The steamship Mexico City is torpedoed by a U-boat off South Stack, Holyhead. Twenty-nine crew are killed.^[17]
• March
  • Miners' leader A. J. Cook is imprisoned for sedition under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 for his public opposition to the war.^[18]
  • Submarines and are laid down at HM Dockyard Pembroke Dock; as with HMS L34 and L35 ordered later in the year, they will be cancelled in 1919 before completion.
• 2 March – The British submarine is rammed and sunk, having been mistaken for a U-boat, off Porthdinllaen. All twenty-six crew are killed.^[19]
• 7 March – The steamship Kenmare is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Twenty-six crew are killed.^[20]
• 7 April – The steamship Boscastle is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Eighteen crew are killed.^[21]
• 21 April – The steamship Landonia is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Twenty-one crew are killed.^[22]
• 9 May – The steamships Baron Ailsa and Wileysike are torpedoed by a U-boat off Pembrokeshire. Fourteen crew are killed.^{[23] [24]}
• 19 May – The German U-boat SM UB-119 is sunk, perhaps off Bardsey Island.^[25]
• 15 June – The steamship Strathnairn is torpedoed by a U-boat off Bishops and Clerks, Pembrokeshire. Twenty-one crew are killed.
• 22 August – The steamship Palmella is torpedoed by a U-boat off South Stack, Holyhead. Twenty-eight people are killed.^[26]
• 16 September – The steamship Serula is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Seventeen crew are killed.^[27]
• 18 September – The 38th (Welsh) Division is involved in the Battle of Epéhy.
• Autumn – Edward Thomas John (Liberal MP for East Denbighshire) defects to the Labour Party.
• 10 October – Three seamen are killed while returning to their ship by boat at Milford Haven.
• 14 October – The steamship Dundalk is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Twenty-one crew are killed.^[28]
• 11 November – Armistice Day. Able Seaman Richard Morgan, serving aboard, is the last Welshman – and perhaps the last Briton – to be killed on active service in the First World War, in the course of which over 40,000 Welsh people have lost their lives.
• 15 November – The British submarine is launched at Pembroke Dock.
• 14 December – United Kingdom general election:
  • For the first time, a woman stands as a parliamentary candidate in Wales: Millicent Mackenzie^[29] stands unsuccessfully for the University of Wales, itself a new parliamentary seat (which is won by Herbert Lewis).
  • Home Rule for Wales is included as a policy in the manifesto of the Labour Party.
  • William Brace becomes Labour MP for Abertillery.
  • Alfred Onions becomes Labour MP for Caerphilly.
  • John Hugh Edwards becomes Liberal MP for Neath, his previous constituency of Mid Glamorganshire having been abolished.
  • Sir Robert Thomas, 1st Baronet, becomes Liberal MP for Wrexham.
  • David Sanders Davies becomes Liberal MP for Denbigh, standing against Edward Thomas John.
• December – The beginning of the 1918 flu pandemic which lasts into the following year and kills about 10,000 people in Wales.

Arts and literature

• John Morris-Jones is knighted for his services to literature.^[30]
• August is fixed as the annual month of the National Eisteddfod of Wales.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Neath)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – John Thomas Job^[31]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – D. Emrys Lewis

New books

• W. H. Davies – A Poet's Pilgrimage^[32]
• David Delta Evans – The Rosicrucian
• Moelona – Rhamant y Rhos

Music

• Walford Davies is appointed director of music to the Royal Air Force.

Film

• The Life Story of David Lloyd George (drama, not shown publicly until 1996)

Sport

• Baseball – First records of the Grange Gasworks Ladies team playing in Cardiff.

Births

• 15 January – Billy Lucas, international footballer (died 1998)
• 6 March – Billy Hughes, footballer (died 1981)^[33]
• 7 May – Robert Davies, politician (died 1967)
• 9 May – Sir Kyffin Williams, artist (died 2006)^[34]
• 20 May – David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (died 1985)^[35]
• 24 May – Jack Edwards, soldier and activist (died 2006)^[36]
  • • 28 May James Eirian Davies, Methodist minister and poet (died 1998)^[37]
  • Mary Vaughan Jones, children's author (died 1983)^[38]
• 6 June – Susan Williams-Ellis, founder of Portmeirion Pottery (died 2007)^[39]
• 19 June – Ivor Griffiths, footballer (died 1993)
• 4 July – Tony Garrett, chairman of Imperial Tobacco (died 2017)
• 25 July – Dennis David, RAF ace (died 2000)^[40]
• 19 August – Dilys Elwyn Edwards, composer (died 2012)^[41]
• 19 September – Penelope Mortimer, writer (died 1999)^[42]
• 26 September – John Rankine, author (died 2013)
• 14 October – J. A. G. Griffith, lawyer and academic (died 2010)^[43]
• 19 October – Charles Evans, doctor and mountaineer (died 1995)^[44]
• 3 November – Glyn Williams, international footballer (died 2011)

Deaths

• 2 January – Rupert Morris, clergyman and teacher, 74^[45]
• 30 January – Powlett Milbank, Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire, 65
• 15 February – William Evans, judge, c.71
• 13 April
  • David Ffrangcon Davies, baritone, 62^[46]
  • Thomas Tannatt Pryce, VC recipient, 32 (killed in action)^[47]
• 24 May – Evan Williams, US-born tenor of Welsh parentage, 50 (blood poisoning)^[48]
• 3 July – David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, industrialist and politician, 62^[49]
• 13 September – Samuel Thomas Evans, MP, 59^[50]
• 21 September – Emily Charlotte Talbot, heiress, 78^[51]
• 27 September – Morfydd Llwyn Owen, composer, pianist and mezzo-soprano, 26 (medical complications)^[52]
• 15 October – William David Phillips, Wales international rugby player, 63
• 16 October – Robert Williams, architect and social campaigner, 70^[53]
• 4 November – Wilfred Owen, poet from the Welsh borders, 25 (killed in action)^[54]
• 25 November – William Griffith, mining engineer who worked with Cecil Rhodes, 65^[55]
• 30 November – Lewis Richards, footballer and barrister, 57^[56]
• 1 December
  • John Griffiths, artist, 81^[57]
  • Fred Perrett, Wales international rugby union player, 27 (died of wounds received in action)^[58]

See also

• 1918 in Ireland

Notes and References

1. Rhys . James Ednyfed . Rees, Evan (Dyfed; 1850-1923), Calvinistic Methodist minister, poet, and archdruid of Wales . s-REES-EVA-1850 . National Library of Wales . 2 August 2018 . 1959.
2. Book: Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland, Including All the Titled Classes. Dod. 1921. 356.
3. Book: National Museum of Wales. Adroddiad Blynyddol. The Museum. 1935. 3.
4. Book: The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Dalcassian Publishing Company. 1860. 443.
5. Book: Ivor Bulmer-Thomas. Gladstone of Hawarden: A Memoir of Henry Neville, Lord Gladstone of Hawarden. Murray. 1936. 197.
6. Davies . Sir William Llewelyn . s-WILL-BRO-1800 . Williams family, of Bron Eryri, later called Castell Deudraeth, Meirionnydd. 30 January 2020.
7. Book: Whitaker's Almanack. Joseph Whitaker. Whitaker's Almanack. 1913. 847.
8. Obituary, The Times, 15 March 1937
9. Book: Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1925. 2437.
10. s-HUGH-JOS-1807 . Hughes, Joshua (1807-1889), bishop . William Thomas . Havard . William Havard . 26 October 2021.
11. [Who's Who (UK)#Who Was Who|''Who was Who 1897–2007'']
12. s-OWEN-JOH-1854. Owen, John (1854-1926), bishop. Thomas Iorwerth Ellis. 1959. 19 March 2022.
13. Web site: Cork . Uboat.net . 25 October 2012.
14. Irish cross-channel boat sunk. . 29 January 1918 . 3 . 41699 . D .
15. Web site: Ethelinda . Uboat.net . 3 December 2012.
16. Web site: Treveal . Uboat.net . 10 October 2012.
17. Web site: Mexico City . Uboat.net . 25 October 2012.
18. Book: Martyn Ives. Reform, Revolution and Direct Action amongst British Miners: The Struggle for the Charter in 1919. 15 September 2016. BRILL. 978-90-04-32600-2. 163.
19. News: Ceremony for Armed Forces Day marks submarine tragedy. BBCNews. BBC. 1 July 2010 . 19 June 2010.
20. Web site: Kenmare . Uboat.net . 25 October 2012.
21. Web site: Boscastle . Uboat.net . 26 October 2012.
22. Web site: Landonia . Uboat.net . 23 October 2012.
23. Web site: Baron Ailsa . Uboat.net . 12 November 2012.
24. Web site: Wileysike . Uboat.net . 11 October 2012.
25. Web site: UB 119 . Uboat.net . 16 November 2012.
26. Web site: Palmella . Uboat.net . 13 November 2012.
27. Web site: Serala . Uboat.net . 11 November 2012.
28. Web site: Dundalk . Uboat.net . 22 October 2012.
29. Book: Cylchgrawn Llyfrgell Genedlaethol Cymru: The National Library of Wales Journal. 2003. 337.
30. Web site: Parry. Sir Thomas. Thomas Parry (author). MORRIS-JONES (formerly JONES), Sir JOHN (MORRIS) (1864-1929), scholar, poet, and critic. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. 1959.
31. Web site: Winners of the Chair. National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
32. Web site: Poet's Pilgrimage. Gwales. 5 December 2019.
33. Book: The Encyclopedia of Birmingham City Football Club 1875~2000 . Matthews, Tony . October 2000 . Britespot . Cradley Heath . 116 . 0-9539288-0-2.
34. s10-WILL-KYF-1918. WILLIAMS, Sir JOHN KYFFIN (1918-2006), painter and author. National Library of Wales. David Meredith. 8 February 2019.
35. Web site: Lord Harlech is dead at 66. New York Times. 27 January 1985. Barnaby J. Feder. 8 February 2019.
36. News: Obituary: Jack Edwards. The Daily Telegraph. 15 August 2006. 1 October 2016 . London.
37. s10-DAVI-EIR-1918. Davies, James Eirian (1918-1998), poet and minister. D. Ben Rees. 2015. 4 May 2023.
38. Book: The School Librarian. School Library Association. 2003. 94.
39. Web site: Susan Williams-Ellis. 30 November 2007. The Telegraph. 27 July 2020.
40. News: Gp Capt Dennis 'Hurricane' David. 21 May 2018. 8 September 2000.
41. s10-ELWY-DIL-1918. ELWYN-EDWARDS, DILYS (1918-2012), composer. National Library of Wales. Rhidian Griffiths. 8 February 2019.
42. Web site: Penelope Mortimer. The Guardian. 22 October 1999. Giles Gordon. 8 February 2019.
43. Martin Loughlin, 'John Griffith obituary', The Guardian (25 May 2010), retrieved 23 July 2019.
44. Robert Charles Evans 1918–1995, obituary by Michael Ward, Geographical Journal, Vol. 162, No. 2 (Jul., 1996), pp. 257–58
45. s-MORR-HUG-1843 . Morris, Rupert Hugh (1843 - 1918), cleric and antiquary . Jenkins. Robert Thomas. 2008-10-16.
46. Book: David Thomas Ffrangcon-Davies. The singing of the future. 1968. Pro Musica Press. 277.
47. Book: David Harvey. Monuments to Courage: 1917-1982. 1999. K. and K. Patience. 111.
48. News: Evan Williams Dies. Famous Oratorio Tenor Was a Coal Miner in His Youth . . May 25, 1918 . 12 January 2015.
49. Book: Great Britain. Parliament. House of Lords. Committee for Privileges. Margaret Haig Viscountess Rhondda: Proceedings and Minutes of Evidence Taken Before the Committee for Privileges. 1922. H.M. Stationery Office.
50. Book: Publication (London Topographical Society). London Topographical Record. 1931. 34.
51. Book: The New International Year Book. 1919. Dodd, Mead and Company. 446.
52. Book: Gerald Norris. A musical gazetteer of Great Britain & Ireland. June 1981. David & Charles. 978-0-7153-7845-8. 297.
53. WILLIAMS, ROBERT (1848 - 1918), architect, author and social reformer . s12-WILL-ROB-1848 . Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales . 7 September 2022 . 15 February 2022 . https://web.archive.org/web/20220215175026/https://biography.wales/article/s12-WILL-ROB-1848 . live .
54. Book: Philip Guest. Wilfred Owen: On the Trail of the Poets of the Great War. 12 August 1998. Pen and Sword. 978-0-85052-614-1. 118.
55. s-GRIF-WIL-1853. Griffith, William (1853-1918), mining engineer and author. Idwal Lewis. 1959. 6 April 2022.
56. Book: Venn . John . Alumni Cantabrigienses Part II Volume V . 1953 . Cambridge University Press . Cambridge . 288.
57. s-GRIF-JOH-1837. Griffiths, John (1837-1918), artist. Charles Heber Humphreys. 1959. 6 April 2022.
58. Web site: World War One: The Wales rugby internationals who died on the battlefield. 25 May 2014. Robin Turner. WalesOnline. 14 October 2019.