1927 in Wales
Encyclopedia
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1927 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
- 27 January - Three men are killed in an explosion at the Dowlais Works, East Moors, Cardiff.
- 4 February - At Pendine SandsPendine SandsPendine Sands is a length of beach on the shores of Carmarthen Bay on the south coast of Wales. It stretches from Gilman Point in the west to Laugharne Sands in the east. The village of Pendine is situated near the western end of Pendine Sands....
, Sir Malcolm CampbellMalcolm CampbellSir Malcolm Campbell was an English racing motorist and motoring journalist. He gained the world speed record on land and on water at various times during the 1920s and 1930s using vehicles called Blue Bird...
sets a new world land speed record of 174.88 mph (281.44 km/h). - 5 February - The first ever radio sports commentary from Wales is on the Wales v Ireland rugby match at Cardiff Arms ParkCardiff Arms ParkCardiff Arms Park , also known as The Arms Park, is primarily known as a rugby union stadium, but it also has a bowling green, and is situated in the centre of Cardiff, Wales. The Arms Park was host to the British Empire and Commonwealth Games in 1958, and hosted four games in the 1991 Rugby World...
. - 1 March - In a mining accidentMining accidentA mining accident is an accident that occurs during the process of mining minerals.Thousands of miners die from mining accidents each year, especially in the processes of coal mining and hard rock mining...
at Marine Colliery, Ebbw ValeEbbw ValeEbbw Vale is a town at the head of the valley formed by the Ebbw Fawr tributary of the Ebbw River, south Wales. It is the largest town and the administrative centre of Blaenau Gwent county borough...
, 52 miners are killed. - 3 March - J. G. Parry-Thomas is killed at Pendine, attempting to break Campbell's record.
- 30 March - The Cardiff trawler 'Moira' is wrecked on the north Cornish coast, drowning seven members of the crew of 12.
- 21 April - King George V opens the first stage of the National Museum of Wales in Cathays ParkCathays ParkIn addition to the large lawn in front of the City Hall, Cathays Park includes three formal gardens. All of the spaces are within conservation areas and many of the surrounding buildings are listed. The open spaces are very important to the image of the city. Several important buildings overlook...
, Cardiff. - 23 April - Cardiff City win the FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
beating Arsenal 1-0 at Wembley Stadium and taking the trophy out of England for the first time. - 29 June - A total eclipse of the sun is 98% visible in Cardiff despite clouds.
- 18 September - The 'Red Sunday in Rhondda Valley' demonstration http://www.agor.org.uk/cwm/themes/events/hunger.asp calls for a protest march on London.
- October - A storm severely and permanently damages a long section of the track of the Pwllheli and Llanbedrog TramwayPwllheli and Llanbedrog TramwayThe Pwllheli and Llanbedrog Tramway was a horse tramway on the coast of the Llŷn Peninsula. It originally ran from Pwllheli town centre to the West End resort on the sea front, and was later extended to Llanbedrog. The tramway was one of many developed by Solomon Andrews....
, the last horse-drawn tram service in Great BritainGreat BritainGreat Britain or Britain is an island situated to the northwest of Continental Europe. It is the ninth largest island in the world, and the largest European island, as well as the largest of the British Isles...
. - 8 November - 270 South Wales people join a hunger march in protest against the Ministry of Health who refused and limited the relief notes given to unemployed miners and their families.
- 25 December - A Christmas Day blizzardBlizzardA blizzard is a severe snowstorm characterized by strong winds. By definition, the difference between blizzard and a snowstorm is the strength of the wind. To be a blizzard, a snow storm must have winds in excess of with blowing or drifting snow which reduces visibility to 400 meters or ¼ mile or...
affects Cardiff and much of South Wales. - Coleg HarlechColeg HarlechColeg Harlech is a further education college for mature students in Harlech, Gwynedd.It is Wales' only long-term, mature students education college and was established in 1927 by Thomas Jones , Cabinet Secretary to both David Lloyd George and Stanley Baldwin, to continue the work of Workers'...
, founded by Thomas Jones (T. J.), opens. Its aims resemble those of a modern community college. - The highest railway in the British Isles is constructed at the Grwyne FawrGrwyne FawrThe Grwyne Fawr is a river in the Brecon Beacons National Park in south Wales. A section of it forms the administrative border between Powys and Monmouthshire and also of the historic counties of Brecon and Monmouth. The river and its major tributary the Grwyne Fechan flow into the River Usk at...
reservoirReservoirA reservoir , artificial lake or dam is used to store water.Reservoirs may be created in river valleys by the construction of a dam or may be built by excavation in the ground or by conventional construction techniques such as brickwork or cast concrete.The term reservoir may also be used to...
in Powys.
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 HolyheadHolyheadHolyhead is the largest town in the county of Anglesey in the North Wales. It is also a major port adjacent to the Irish Sea serving Ireland....
) - National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - withheld
- National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Caradog PrichardCaradog PrichardCaradog Prichard was a Welsh poet and novelist writing in Welsh. His daughter, Mari Prichard, was married to the late Humphrey Carpenter....
New books
- Edward Tegla DaviesEdward Tegla DaviesEdward Tegla Davies was a Methodist minister and a popular Welsh language writer, born at Llandegla-yn-Iâl, Denbighshire, north Wales....
- Hen Ffrindiau - Rhys DaviesRhys DaviesRhys Davies was a Welsh novelist and short story writer, who wrote in the English language....
- The Withered Root - William Meloch Hughes – Ar Lannau’n Camwy (posthumously published)
- Wil IfanWilliam Evans (Wil Ifan)William Evans , better known by his bardic name of Wil Ifan, was a Welsh poet who served as Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales from 1947 to 1950....
- O Ddydd i Ddydd - MoelonaMoelonaMoelona was the pen-name of Elizabeth Mary Jones , a Welsh novelist and translator who wrote novels for children and other works in Welsh....
- Cwrs y Lli
Music
- Henry Walford DaviesHenry Walford DaviesSir Henry Walford Davies KCVO OBE was a British composer, who held the title Master of the King's Musick from 1934 until 1941.-Early life and education:...
becomes organist at St George's Chapel, Windsor. - Mai JonesMai JonesMai Jones , was a Welsh songwriter, entertainer and radio producer.She was born in Newport, the daughter of a railway stationmaster. Having won a scholarship to study music at the University of Wales, Cardiff, she went on to the Royal College of Music...
- "Wondering if you remember" (song)
Film
- Ivor NovelloIvor NovelloDavid Ivor Davies , better known as Ivor Novello, was a Welsh composer, singer and actor who became one of the most popular British entertainers of the first half of the 20th century. Born into a musical family, his first successes were as a songwriter...
appears in the HitchcockAlfred HitchcockSir Alfred Joseph Hitchcock, KBE was a British film director and producer. He pioneered many techniques in the suspense and psychological thriller genres. After a successful career in British cinema in both silent films and early talkies, Hitchcock moved to Hollywood...
films, The Lodger: A Story of the London FogThe Lodger: A Story of the London FogThe Lodger: A Story of the London Fog is a silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock in 1926 and released on 14 February 1927 in London and on 10 June 1928 in New York City. The film, based on a story by Marie Belloc Lowndes and a play Who Is He? co-written by Belloc Lowndes, concerns the hunt for a...
and DownhillDownhill (film)Downhill is a 1927 silent film directed by Alfred Hitchcock and based on the play Down Hill. It is Hitchcock's fifth film as director.-Plot:...
.
Broadcasting
- The first-ever radio commentary on a team game in the UK is given during the England v Wales rugby unionRugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
international at Twickenham.
Sport
- The Welsh Baseball UnionWelsh Baseball UnionThe Welsh Baseball Union is the national governing body of British baseball in Wales.It is a member of the International Baseball Board. The WBU organises the men's and youth league and cup competitions, as well as selecting and managing the Wales international teams at adult and youth level.The...
is founded. - 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...
- 24 April - Gipsy DanielsGipsy DanielsWilliam "Gipsy" Daniels , was a Welsh Light-heavyweight boxing champion of Britain who, in an eighteen-year career, took in 141 contests, including eight fights in New York, and notably knocked out Max Schmeling in the first round of a 1928 encounter.There is some confusion as to Daniels' actual...
wins the British light-heavyweight championship. - 9 July - Tosh PowellTosh PowellThomas Morgan "Tosh" Powell was a professional boxer from Wales. Based in Aberdare, Powell was notable for becoming the Welsh bantamweight champion and the matter of his death, caused by injuries sustained in the boxing ring....
beats Johnny Edmunds to become the new Welsh bantamweight champion. - Frank MoodyFrank MoodyFrank Moody was a Welsh boxer who fought between 1914 and 1936. He is most notable for winning the British and Empire middleweight boxing championship in 1927 and 1928 and the light-heavyweight title from 1927 to 1929....
wins the British lightweight and middleweight titles.
- 24 April - Gipsy Daniels
- 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...
- For the only time in its history, the FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
is won by a non-English team -- Cardiff City F.C.Cardiff City F.C.Cardiff City Football Club are a Welsh professional football club based in Cardiff, Wales. The club competes in the English football pyramid and is currently playing in the Football League Championship. Cardiff City is the best supported football club in Wales, averaging approximately 22,500 for...
, who defeat Arsenal 1-0 in the first broadcast final. - Abergavenny Thursdays F.C.Abergavenny Thursdays F.C.Abergavenny Thursdays Football Club is a Welsh football team, a founder member of the League of Wales, but now playing in the Gwent County League Division 3....
is formed.
- For the only time in its history, the FA Cup
Births
- 12 January - Richard BebbRichard BebbRichard Bebb was an English actor of stage, screen and radio.Born Richard Bebb Williams in London, he changed his name to his mother's surname, Bebb, when he took up acting as there was already a British actor called Richard Williams...
, actor (d. 2006) - 8 February - Sir Stanley BakerStanley BakerSir Stanley Baker was a Welsh actor and film producer.-Early career:William Stanley Baker was born in Ferndale, Rhondda Valley, Wales. In the mid-1930s his parents moved to London, where Baker spent most of his formative years...
, actor (d. 1976) - 2 March - Ray ProsserRay ProsserThomas Raymond 'Ray' Prosser was a Welsh international rugby union prop who played club rugby for Pontypool and was capped 22 times for Wales. Prosser also represented the British Lions in their 1959 tour of Australia and New Zealand, and played invitational rugby for the Barbarians...
, Wales and British Lion rugby player - 25 April - Ernest ZoboleErnest ZoboleErnest Zobole was a Welsh painter and art teacher. Zobole's paintings, originally oil on canvas, later switching to oil on board, reflected the industrial setting of the Rhondda Valleys...
, artist (d. 1999) - 11 May - Bernard Fox, actor
- 4 July - Patricia KernPatricia KernPatricia Kern is a British mezzo-soprano and voice teacher. She was born in Swansea, Wales.From 1949 to 1952 she studied with Gwynn Parry Jones at the Guildhall School of Music and Drama, London. She began her career with Opera for All...
, mezzo-soprano - 2 July - John TrippJohn Tripp (poet)John Tripp was an Anglo-Welsh poet and short-story writer.Born in Bargoed, Wales, he worked for the BBC as a journalist with the BBC, and later became a civil servant. He edited the literary magazine, Planet, and was a popular performance poet...
, poet (d. 1986) - 24 August - Glyn DaviesGlyn Davies (rugby player)Glyn Davies was a Welsh international rugby union fly-half who played club rugby for a large selection of clubs but most notably for Pontypridd and Cambridge University. He won eleven international caps for Wales including a win over the touring 1947 Australia team...
, Wales international rugby union player (d. 1976) - 20 September - Rachel RobertsRachel Roberts (British actress)Rachel Roberts was a Welsh actress noted for her fervour and passion; Roberts is best remembered for her forthright screen performances in two key films of the 1960s, Saturday Night and Sunday Morning and This Sporting Life, in both of which she played the older mistress of the central male...
, actress (d. 1980) - 7 November - Ivor EmmanuelIvor EmmanuelIvor Lewis Emmanuel was a Welsh musical theatre and television singer and actor. He led the rendition of "Men of Harlech" in the 1964 film Zulu.-Life and career:...
, singer and actor (d. 2007) - 7 December - Helen WattsHelen WattsHelen Watts CBE was a Welsh contralto. She was born at Wales in Milford Haven and educated at the School of S. Mary and S. Anne, Abbots Bromley and the Royal Academy of Music. She began her career with the Glyndebourne Festival Chorus, and was a regular broadcaster on the Welsh Home Service...
, opera singer - date unknown - Tommy HarrisTommy Harris (rugby league)Percival Thomas "Tommy" Harris , was a Welsh professional Rugby League World Cup winning footballer, nicknamed "Bomber", was a Welsh sports personality...
, rugby player (d. 2006)
Deaths
- 2 February (in ParisParisParis is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...
) - Isambard Owen, educationist, 76 - 5 February - Frances HogganFrances HogganFrances Elizabeth Hoggan MD was the first British woman to receive a doctorate in medicine from a university in Europe, and the first female doctor to be registered in Wales....
, first registered woman doctor in Wales, 83 - 3 March - J. G. Parry-Thomas, engineer and racing driver (b. 1884)
- 20 April - Frank HillFrank Hill (rugby player)Frank Hill was a Welsh international rugby union forward who played club rugby for Cardiff. Hill won 15 caps for Wales over a period of ten years and was given the team captaincy on four occasions....
, Wales international rugby captain, 61 - 10 May - Francis EdwardsFrancis EdwardsSir Francis Edwards, 1st Baronet , commonly known as Frank Edwards, was a British Liberal Party politician....
, politician (b. 1852) - 2 June - Ralph Champneys WilliamsRalph Champneys WilliamsSir Ralph Champneys Williams CMG was a colonial governor.Williams, educated at The King's School, Chester and Rossall School joined the colonial service in 1884 and his first post was to Bechuanaland. He then served at Pretoria, South Africa, Gibraltar and Barbados before returning to Bechuanaland...
, colonial governor (b. 1848) - 8 July - George Frederick HardingGeorge Frederick HardingGeorge Frederick Harding JP was an English-born international rugby union player who played club rugby for Newport and international rugby for Wales. Harding was a member of the very first Wales international team that faced England in 1881.-Rugby career:Harding first played rugby for Newport in...
, Wales international rugby player (b. 1858) - 29 July - Freddie WelshFreddie WelshFreddie Welsh was a Welsh lightweight boxing champion. Born in Pontypridd, Wales, and christened Frederick Hall Thomas, he was nicknamed the "Welsh Wizard". Brought up in a tough mining community, Welsh left a middle-class background to make a name for himself in America...
(Frederick Hall Thomas), boxer (b. 1886) - 1 September - William John ParryWilliam John ParryWilliam John Parry was a Welsh businessman, politician and author. Parry was a leading voice in a range of activities and causes, and was the first general secretary of the North Wales Quarrymen's Union....
, author and political activist, 84 - 16 October - Evan RobertsEvan Roberts (rugby player)Evan Roberts was a Welsh international rugby union player who played club rugby for Llanelli and international rugby for Wales.-Rugby career:...
, Wales international rugby player, 66 - 4 November - Beriah Gwynfe EvansBeriah Gwynfe EvansBeriah Gwynfe Evans , was a journalist, Congregationalist, dramatist, Liberal politician and Welsh Nationalist.- Early life :...
, author (b. 1848) - 14 December - Alfred Thomas, 1st Baron PontypriddAlfred Thomas, 1st Baron PontypriddAlfred Thomas, 1st Baron Pontypridd , was a Welsh Liberal Party politician.-Background and education:Born in Penylan, Cardiff, Wales, Thomas was educated at Weston School, near Bath...
, 87 - 26 December - Jack WhitfieldJack WhitfieldJack Whitfield was a Welsh international rugby union hooker who played club rugby for Newport and club rugby for Monmouthshire...
, Wales rugby union captain, 35