1916 in Wales

1916 in Wales
Other years
1913 \| 1914 \| 1915 << All >> 1917 \| 1918 \| 1919
1916 in: The United Kingdom • Ireland • Scotland
Other events of 1916

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1916 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

Prince of Wales - Edward, Prince of Wales, son of King George V of the United Kingdom
Princess of Wales - vacant
Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales - Dyfed

Events

1 January – The Port Eynon lifeboat capsizes and three crew members die.
2 February – Submarine HMS J4 is launched at Pembroke Dock.
7 February – The Roman Catholic archdiocese of Cardiff is established.
3 March – Light cruiser HMS Cambrian is launched at Pembroke Dock.
31 May – 1 June – Hugh Evan-Thomas distinguishes himself in the Battle of Jutland; he is later knighted.
4 July – Royal Welch Fusiliers Lieutenant Siegfried Sassoon attacks a German trench single-handed, and records the outcome in his memoirs.
7–12 July – The 38th (Welsh) Division loses so many men in the Mametz Wood action during the Battle of the Somme that it is unable to re-group for a year.
12 July – Railway worker James Dally is awarded the Edward Medal by King George V for his actions in saving a colleague from falling from the Crumlin Viaduct.
October – T. E. Lawrence is sent into the desert to report on the Arab nationalist movements.
7 November– Charles Evans Hughes loses narrowly to Woodrow Wilson in the United States presidential election.
November – Christopher Williams visits the scene of the Welsh losses at Mametz Wood and later paints his famous The Welsh at Mametz Wood at the request of David Lloyd George.
7 December – David Lloyd George is the first (and, to date, the only) Welshman to become Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.
7 December – David Alfred Thomas is created Baron Rhondda. He is appointed President of the Local Government Board.
The Royal laryngologist John Milsom Rees is knighted.
The National Library of Wales at Aberystwyth is brought into use.

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Aberystwyth)
- Chair - J. Ellis Williams
- Crown - withheld

New books

Llewelyn Powys and John Cowper Powys - Confessions of Two Brothers
Richard Hughes Williams (Dic Tryfan) - Tair Stori Fer

Film

Edmund Gwenn makes his screen debut in The Real Thing at Last.

Sport

Boxing: on 14 February Jimmy Wilde wins the British flyweight title at Liverpool.

Births

26 February - Joan Strothers (later Lady Curran), scientist (died 1999)
2 March - Eddie Watkins, rugby player (died 1995)
29 April - William Squire, actor (died 1989)
1 May - Glenn Ford, Welsh-Canadian actor (died 2006)
6 May - Ted Peterson, British baseball player (died 2005)
7 May - Huw Wheldon, broadcaster (died 1986)
8 May - Sylvia Sleigh, painter (died 2010)
22 May - Rupert Davies, actor (died 1976)
3 July - Nigel Heseltine, writer (died 1995)
23 August - Willie Davies, Wales international rugby union and league player (died 2002)
29 August - Rhydwen Williams, poet, novelist and minister (died 1997)
13 September - Roald Dahl, novelist (died 1990)
14 September - Cledwyn Hughes, politician (died 2001)
31 October - Stan Trick, cricketer (died 1995)
date unknown - W. J. Gruffydd (Elerydd), poet and Archdruid (died 2011)

Deaths

12 March - Llywarch Reynolds, solicitor and Celtic scholar, 72
14 March - Lou Phillips, Wales international rugby player, 38 (killed in action)
18 March - David Cuthbert Thomas ("Dick Tiltwood"), soldier, 21 (killed in action)
14 April - Charlie Pritchard, Wales international rugby player, 32 (killed in action)
May - John Griffiths, mathematician, 78?
5 June - James Williams, footballer, 32 (killed in action)
26 June - Henry Allan Rolls, heir presumptive to 2nd Baron Llangattock, 44
27 June - Sarah Jane Rees (Cranogwen), writer and temperance activist, 78
7 July (killed in action at Mametz)
- Dick Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 32
- Johnnie Williams, Wales international rugby player, 34
14 July - David Watts Wales international rugby player, 30 (killed in action)
30 July - Eveline Willett Cunnington, social reformer in New Zealand, 67
3 September - Horace Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 26 (killed in action)
11 September - Thomas Lemuel James, Welsh-American banker and U.S. Postmaster-General (born 1831)
28 September (in Bath, Somerset) - Richard Thomas, industrialist, 78
7 October - Leigh Richmond Roose, footballer, 38 (killed in action)
11 October - David Richard Thomas, historian, 83
31 October - John Maclean Rolls, 2nd Baron Llangattock, 46 (killed in action)
14 November - William Davies, footballer, 61