1924 in Wales
Encyclopedia
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1924 to Wales
and its people
.
Wales
Wales is a country that is part of the United Kingdom and the island of Great Britain, bordered by England to its east and the Atlantic Ocean and Irish Sea to its west. It has a population of three million, and a total area of 20,779 km²...
and its people
Welsh people
The Welsh people are an ethnic group and nation associated with Wales and the Welsh language.John Davies argues that the origin of the "Welsh nation" can be traced to the late 4th and early 5th centuries, following the Roman departure from Britain, although Brythonic Celtic languages seem to have...
.
Incumbents
- Prince of WalesPrince of WalesPrince of Wales is a title traditionally granted to the heir apparent to the reigning monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland and the 15 other independent Commonwealth realms...
- Edward, Prince of WalesEdward VIII of the United KingdomEdward VIII was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Commonwealth, and Emperor of India, from 20 January to 11 December 1936.Before his accession to the throne, Edward was Prince of Wales and Duke of Cornwall and Rothesay...
, son of King George V of the United KingdomGeorge V of the United KingdomGeorge V was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 through the First World War until his death in 1936.... - Princess of WalesPrincess of WalesPrincess of Wales is a British courtesy title held by the wife of The Prince of Wales since the first "English" Prince of Wales in 1283.Although there have been considerably more than ten male heirs to the throne, there have been only ten Princesses of Wales. The majority of Princes of Wales...
- vacant - Archbishop of WalesArchbishop of WalesThe post of Archbishop of Wales was created in 1920 when the Church in Wales was separated from the Church of England , and disestablished...
- Alfred George EdwardsAlfred George EdwardsAlfred George Edwards was elected the first Archbishop of the disestablished Church in Wales.The son of a priest of the Church of England, Edwards was born in Llanymawddwy in Gwynedd. He studied at Jesus College, Oxford before being appointed Warden of Llandovery College in 1875... - ArchdruidArchdruidThe Archdruid is the title used by the presiding official of the Gorsedd.The Archdruid presides over the most important ceremonies at the National Eisteddfod of Wales including the Crowning of the Bard, The Award of the Prose Medal and Chairing of the Bard. From 1932 only former winners of the...
of the National Eisteddfod of WalesNational Eisteddfod of WalesThe National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...
- ElfedHowell Elvet LewisHowell Elvet Lewis CH known by his bardic name Elfed , independent minister, hymn-writer, and poet served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1924 to 1928.-Early life:...
Events
- January - Ramsay MacDonaldRamsay MacDonaldJames Ramsay MacDonald, PC, FRS was a British politician who was the first ever Labour Prime Minister, leading a minority government for two terms....
, MP for Aberavon, becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the UK. - 26 April - Harry Grindell MatthewsHarry Grindell MatthewsHarry Grindell Matthews was an English inventor who claimed to have invented a death ray in the 1920s.-Earlier life and inventions:...
fails to convince the War OfficeWar OfficeThe War Office was a department of the British Government, responsible for the administration of the British Army between the 17th century and 1964, when its functions were transferred to the Ministry of Defence...
of the efficacy of his new invention, the "death rayDeath rayThe death ray or death beam was a theoretical particle beam or electromagnetic weapon of the 1920s through the 1930s that was claimed to have been invented independently by Nikola Tesla, Edwin R. Scott, Harry Grindell Matthews, and Graichen, as well as others...
". - 29 October - In the United Kingdom general election, 1924United Kingdom general election, 1924- Seats summary :- References :* F. W. S. Craig, British Electoral Facts: 1832-1987* - External links :* * *...
:- The Welsh electorate is 1,289,924
- Of 36 Welsh MPs, eight are elected unopposed.
- MacDonald loses his position as Prime Minister
- Only one female candidate stands for election in Wales.
- Newly-elected MPs include Walter D'Arcy HallWalter D'Arcy HallLieutenant-Colonel Walter D'Arcy Hall, MC & Bar was a soldier, Unionist Member of Parliament and hunter of game .-Biography:...
(Brecon and Radnor), Henry Arthur Evans (Cardiff South), Alfred MondAlfred Mond, 1st Baron MelchettAlfred Moritz Mond, 1st Baron Melchett PC, FRS , known as Sir Alfred Mond, Bt, between 1910 and 1928, was a British industrialist, financier and politician...
(Carmarthen) and Walter RuncimanWalter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of DoxfordWalter Runciman, 1st Viscount Runciman of Doxford PC was a prominent Liberal, later National Liberal politician in the United Kingdom from the 1900s until the 1930s.-Background:...
(Swansea West). - Ernest EvansErnest Evans (politician)Ernest Evans was a Liberal Party politician from Wales.-Family and education:Ernest Evans was born at Aberystwyth, the son of Evan Evans, the Clerk to the Cardiganshire County Council and his wife Annie Davies...
defeats George Maitland Lloyd DaviesGeorge Maitland Lloyd DaviesGeorge Maitland Lloyd Davies was a Welsh pacifist and Member of Parliament for the University of Wales.Davies, who had originally volunteered as an officer in the Territorial Army, but was imprisoned during World War I as a conscientious objector, was the grandson of a noted Welsh preacher, John...
to win the University of Wales seat for the Liberals.
- Vernon HartshornVernon HartshornVernon Hartshorn was a Welsh trades unionist and Labour Party politician who served as a Member of Parliament from 1918 until his death....
becomes Postmaster-General. - Jimmy Thomas becomes Colonial Secretary.
- David Ifon Jones becomes the only Welshman ever to be given a state funeral in the Soviet UnionSoviet UnionThe Soviet Union , officially the Union of Soviet Socialist Republics , was a constitutionally socialist state that existed in Eurasia between 1922 and 1991....
.
Arts and literature
- Claude Friese-GreeneClaude Friese-GreeneClaude Friese-Greene , British-born cinema technician, filmmaker, and cinematographer, most famous for his 1926 collection of films entitled The Open Road....
visits Cardiff, Chepstow and Raglan in the course of his drive from John O'Groats to Land's End. - A rare Handled Beaker is found during archaeological excavations at a Bronze AgeBronze AgeThe Bronze Age is a period characterized by the use of copper and its alloy bronze as the chief hard materials in the manufacture of some implements and weapons. Chronologically, it stands between the Stone Age and Iron Age...
burial cairnCairnCairn is a term used mainly in the English-speaking world for a man-made pile of stones. It comes from the or . Cairns are found all over the world in uplands, on moorland, on mountaintops, near waterways and on sea cliffs, and also in barren desert and tundra areas...
in the Black MountainsBlack Mountains, WalesThe Black Mountains are a group of hills spread across parts of Powys and Monmouthshire in southeast Wales, and extending across the national border into Herefordshire, England. They are the easternmost of the four ranges of hills that comprise the Brecon Beacons National Park, and are frequently...
.
Awards
- National Eisteddfod of WalesNational Eisteddfod of WalesThe National Eisteddfod of Wales is the most important of several eisteddfodau that are held annually, mostly in Wales.- Organisation :...
(held in PontypoolPontypoolPontypool is a town of approximately 36,000 people in the county borough of Torfaen, within the historic boundaries of Monmouthshire in South Wales....
)
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Albert Evans Jones
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Edward Prosser Rhys
New books
- Edward Morgan Humphreys - Yr Etifedd Coll
- Saunders LewisSaunders LewisSaunders Lewis was a Welsh poet, dramatist, historian, literary critic, and political activist. He was a prominent Welsh nationalist and a founder of the Welsh National Party...
- A School of Welsh Augustans - Arthur MachenArthur MachenArthur Machen was a Welsh author and mystic of the 1890s and early 20th century. He is best known for his influential supernatural, fantasy, and horror fiction. His novella The Great God Pan has garnered a reputation as a classic of horror...
- The London Adventure - R. Williams ParryR. Williams ParryRobert Williams Parry was one of Wales' most notable poets in the twentieth century.- His life :R. Williams Parry was born in Talysarn, in Dyffryn Nantlle, a first cousin to T.H. Parry-Williams and Sir Thomas Parry...
- Yr Haf a cherddi eraill - Silyn RobertsSilyn RobertsRobert Silyn Roberts was a Welsh clergyman, writer, teacher and pacifist.Roberts, a Calvinistic Methodist minister, was a noted Welsh-language poet, the winner of the Crown at the 1902 National Eisteddfod of Wales...
- Gwyntoedd Croesion
Broadcasting
- May - The BBCBritish Broadcasting CompanyThe British Broadcasting Company Ltd was a British commercial company formed on 18 October 1922 by British and American electrical companies doing business in the United Kingdom and licensed by the British General Post Office...
broadcasts the first in a series of 18 Welsh-language lessons. - 31 July - Broadcast of extracts from Y Pwyllgor, a play by D. T. Davies.
- 12 December - The first transmission is made from the 5SX radio relay station in SwanseaSwanseaSwansea is a coastal city and county in Wales. Swansea is in the historic county boundaries of Glamorgan. Situated on the sandy South West Wales coast, the county area includes the Gower Peninsula and the Lliw uplands...
. The studio is opened by the Mayor of Swansea.
Sport
- BoxingBoxingBoxing, also called pugilism, is a combat sport in which two people fight each other using their fists. Boxing is supervised by a referee over a series of between one to three minute intervals called rounds...
- Johnny JonesJohnny Jones (boxer)Johnny Jones was a Welsh boxer who held the Welsh flyweight title in 1924. His village of residence was Pentre in the Rhondda Valley.-Boxing career:...
wins the Welsh flyweight boxing championship by beating Gus Legge in TreorchyTreorchyTreorchy is a village, although it used to be and still has characteristics of a town, in the county borough of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales, lying in the Rhondda Fawr valley...
. - FootballFootball (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
- 49-year-old Billy MeredithBilly MeredithWilliam Henry "Billy" Meredith was a Welsh footballer. He was considered one of the early superstars of football due to his performances, notably for Manchester City and Manchester United. He won each domestic trophy in the English football league and also gained 48 caps for Wales, for whom he...
becomes the oldest man ever to play in an FA Cup semi-final.
Births
- 9 February - George GuestGeorge GuestGeorge Guest was a Welsh organist and choral conductor.- Birth and early life :George Guest was born in Bangor, Wales. His father was an organist, and George assisted him by acting as organ blower. He became a chorister at Bangor Cathedral, and subsequently at Chester Cathedral, where he...
, organist and choirmaster of St John's College, CambridgeSt John's College, CambridgeSt John's College is a constituent college of the University of Cambridge. The college's alumni include nine Nobel Prize winners, six Prime Ministers, three archbishops, at least two princes, and three Saints....
(died 2002) - 29 February - Frank ViningFrank ViningFrank Wilfred Vining was an influential teacher of pottery who founded and, for over thirty years, led the ceramics course at Cardiff College of Art....
, potter (died 1989) - 15 March - Tom EllisTom Ellis (politician)Robert Thomas Ellis, , commonly known as Tom Ellis, was a British politician who was elected several times as a Labour Member of Parliament, and later defected to the Social Democratic Party ....
, politician (d. 2010) - 4 April - Emrys Evans, banker (d. 2004)
- 7 June - Donald Watts Davies, computer scientist (d. 2000)
- 7 July - Albert StitfallAlbert StitfallAlbert Edward Stitfall was a Welsh professional footballer.-Career:Stitfall was born in Cardiff, and joined his hometown side Cardiff City during the Second World War, later serving in the Royal Navy. On his return to Britain he continued to play for Cardiff, although never managing to establish...
, footballer (d. 1998) - 17 September - Islwyn Ffowc ElisIslwyn Ffowc ElisIslwyn Ffowc Elis was one of Wales's most popular Welsh-language writers.Born Islwyn Ffoulkes Ellis in Wrexham, Elis was educated at the University of Wales colleges of Bangor and Aberystwyth. During World War II he was a conscientious objector and he began writing poetry and prose, winning the...
, author (d. 2004) - 25 October - Rex WillisRex WillisRex Willis was a Welsh international rugby union scrum-half who played club rugby for Cardiff and invitational rugby for the Barbarians...
, Wales rugby union international and British Lion (d. 2000) - date unknown
- Peter HallidayPeter HallidayPeter Halliday is a Welsh actor.He is probably best known for his role as Dr. John Fleming in A for Andromeda and its sequel,...
, actor - Margaret JohnMargaret JohnMargaret John was a Welsh, BAFTA award-winning actress, best known for her role as Doris in Gavin & Stacey. She has been described, by fellow actress Ruth Jones, as "an absolute national treasure".-Early life:...
, actress
- Peter Halliday
Deaths
- 19 March - John Richard Williams (J. R. Tryfanwy)John Richard Williams (J. R. Tryfanwy)John Richard Williams or J.R. Tryfanwy , often referred to simply by his bardic name Tryfanwy, was a Welsh language lyrical poet. He was born in the village of Rhostryfan in the old county of Caernarfonshire , north Wales. He is buried at Portmadoc....
, poet - 2 June - William Henry Griffith ThomasWilliam Henry Griffith ThomasWilliam Henry Griffith Thomas was an Anglican clergyman and scholar from the English-Welsh border country. He has been quoted by theologian Alister McGrath in the science-versus-religion debate.-Life and work:...
, influential clergyman - 14 June - George Frederick HarrisGeorge Frederick HarrisGeorge Frederick Harris was a Welsh portrait and landscape painter.He was born in Birmingham but lived in Merthyr Tydfil, where on 15 March 1882 he married Jemima Reid Ashley, a widow aged 31 years. In 1920 he emigrated to Australia with his family...
, portrait and landscape painter, 67 - 19 July - Jack EvansJack Evans (rugby player)John "Jack" Evans was a Welsh international rugby union forward who later 'went North', switching to the professional rugby league code...
, Wales national rugby player, 53 - 6 August - John Roberts (Pencerdd Gwynedd), organist and composer
- 20 September - Caradoc ReesCaradoc ReesCaradoc Rees was a Welsh Liberal Party politician.At the December 1910 general election he stood as the Liberal candidate in the Denbigh Boroughs, but lost by a margin of only 9 votes to the sitting Conservative MP, William Ormsby-Gore.However, William Jones, the Liberal MP for the Arfon division...
, politician, ?66 - 12 December - Charlie ArthurCharlie ArthurCharles "Charlie" Suckling Arthur was an English-born international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff and international rugby for Wales...
, Wales international rugby player - date unknown - Aneurin WilliamsAneurin WilliamsAneurin Williams was a British Liberal Party politician.He was MP for Plymouth between the two general elections of 1910, and North West Durham from 1914 to 1918, and Consett from 1918 to 1922.- External links :...
, politician