1944 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1944 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

• 23 January - An RAF Halifax bomber crashes in the Elan Valley, killing nine crew.
• 28 March - Nine people are killed in an air raid on Cardiff.
• 11 April - An RAF Lancaster bomber crashes near Llanwrtyd Wells, killing eight crew.
• 16 August - Lt. Tasker Watkins leads a bayonet charge at Barfour in Normandy, winning the Victoria Cross for his courage.
• 17 October - The first "Welsh Day" debate takes place in the House of Commons.
• 10 December - American Liberty ship "Dan Beard" is torpedoed off Strumble Head, resulting in the deaths of 29 crew.
• 20 December - An American B-24 Liberator plane crashes into the sea off Anglesey, killing eight crew.
• Plaid Cymru transfers its head office from Caernarfon to Cardiff.
• Sir Thomas Williams Phillips becomes permanent secretary of the new government ministry created to implement the national insurance system.
• Sir David Brunt is awarded the royal medal of the Royal Society for his work in meteorology.
• Goronwy Owen and Llewellyn Thomas Gordon Soulsby are knighted.
• Dylan Thomas is best man at the wedding of his friend Vernon Watkins - but fails to turn up.

Arts and literature

• BBC commentator Alun Williams marries Perrie Hopkin Morris, daughter of Sir Rhys Hopkin Morris.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Llandybie)

• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - D. Lloyd Jenkins
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - J. M. Edwards
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

New books

• Rhys Davies – Black Venus
• Thomas Rowland Hughes - William Jones
• Edward Morgan Humphreys - Ceulan y Llyn Du
• Alun Lewis - The Last Inspection
• Sir Percy Emerson Watkins - A Welshman Remembers
• Sir Ifor Williams - Lectures on early Welsh Poetry

New drama

• James Kitchener Davies - Meini Gwagedd
• Emlyn Williams - The Druid's Rest

Music

• Harry Parr Davies - Jenny Jones (musical)
• Grace Williams - Sea Sketches

Film

• The Halfway House, starring Mervyn Johns, Glynis Johns and Rachel Thomas, is set in Wales.

Broadcasting

• August - Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports on the liberation of Paris for BBC radio.
• Launch of the Noson Lawen series on BBC radio.

Sport

• Football - The first post-war match between Wales and England ends in a 1 - 0 victory for Wales.

Births

• 21 January - Peter Rodrigues, footballer
• 17 February - Karl Jenkins, composer
• 24 March - Steve Jones, biologist
• 8 April - Hywel Bennett, actor
• 15 April - Dave Edmunds, musician
• 5 May - John Rhys-Davies, actor
• 3 June - Dilwyn John, footballer
• 11 June - Alan Howarth, Baron Howarth of Newport, politician
• 16 June - Brian Protheroe, English-born singer and actor of Welsh parentage
• 7 July - Glenys Kinnock, politician
• 31 July - Endaf Emlyn, TV presenter, musician and director
• 21 October - Mandy Rice-Davies, socialite
• 29 November - Gareth Wardell, politician

Deaths

• 11 January - Richard Powell, Wales international rugby player, 79
• 5 March - Alun Lewis, poet, 28 (accidentally shot)
• 7 May - Charles Alfred Howell Green, Bishop of Monmouth and Archbishop of Wales
• 24 May - Sir Herbert Williams-Wynn, 7th Baronet, politician, 83
• 27 May - Griffith Hartwell Jones, academic
• 16 June - David Davies, 1st Baron Davies, philanthropist and MP, 64
• 25 June - James Atkin, Baron Atkin, judge, 76
• 5 August - Maurice Turnbull, cricketer, 38 (killed in action)
• September - David Davies, 2nd Baron Davies (killed in battle)
• 30 September- David Harris Davies, Wales international rugby union player, 66
• 5 October - Laura Evans-Williams, singer
• 27 October - Clem Lewis, rugby player, 54
• 8 December - Sir William Jenkins, MP for Neath, 73
• date unknown
  • Ethel Lina White, crime novelist
  • Watkin Herbert Williams, Bishop of Bangor