1924 in Wales

← 1923 1922 1921 1924 in Wales → 1925 1926 1927
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1924 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1924 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales - The Prince Edward
• Princess of Wales – vacant
• Archbishop of Wales – Alfred Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Elfed

Events

• 22 January - Ramsay MacDonald, MP for Aberavon, becomes the first Labour Prime Minister of the UK. Jimmy Thomas becomes his Secretary of State for the Colonies and Vernon Hartshorn Postmaster General of the United Kingdom.
• 26 April - Harry Grindell Matthews fails to convince the War Office of the efficacy of his new invention, the "death ray".
• 23 October - Formal opening of new Guildhall, Swansea, designed by Percy Thomas in stripped classical style and incorporating the Brangwyn Hall.
• 29 October - In the United Kingdom general election, 1924:
  • 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 Hall (Brecon and Radnor), Henry Arthur Evans (Cardiff South), Alfred Mond (Carmarthen) and Walter Runciman (Swansea West).
  • Ernest Evans defeats George Maitland Lloyd Davies to win the University of Wales seat for the Liberals.
• David Ifon Jones becomes the only Welshman ever to be given a state funeral in the Soviet Union.
• Ronald Lockley estimates that there are 25 to 30 pairs of "Welsh parrots" (puffins) on Cardigan Island.
• Freddie Welsh meets and spars with F. Scott Fitzgerald; the encounter would eventually give rise to a theory that Fitzgerald used Welsh as a model for The Great Gatsby.^[1]

Arts and literature

• August - Artist and designer Eric Gill moves with some of his artistic community from Ditchling in England to the disused Llanthony Abbey at Capel-y-ffin.
• 4 September - Goscombe John's Carmarthen County War Memorial is unveiled in Carmarthen.
• Cinematographer Claude Friese-Greene 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 Age burial cairn in the Black Mountains.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Pontypool)
• 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 Lewis - A School of Welsh Augustans
• Arthur Machen - The London Adventure
• R. Williams Parry - Yr Haf a cherddi eraill
• Silyn Roberts - Gwyntoedd Croesion

Music

Film

Broadcasting

• 15 January - The world's first radio play, Danger by Richard Hughes (set in a collapsed Welsh coal mine), is broadcast by the British Broadcasting Company from its studios in London, incidentally including the first broadcast words of Welsh when "Ar Hyd y Nos" is sung.
• May - The BBC 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 Swansea. The studio is opened by the Mayor of Swansea.

Sport

• Boxing - Johnny Jones wins the Welsh flyweight boxing championship by beating Gus Legge in Treorchy.
• Football - 49-year-old Billy Meredith becomes the oldest man ever to play in an FA Cup semi-final.

Births

• 11 January - Jack Parry, footballer (d. 2010)^[2]
• 5 February - Leo Callaghan, soccer referee (d. 1987)
• 9 February – George Guest, organist and choirmaster of St John's College, Cambridge (d. 2002)
• 29 February – Frank Vining, potter (d. 1989)
• 4 March - David Oswald Thomas, philosopher (d. 2005)
• 15 March – Tom Ellis, politician (d. 2010)
• 4 April – Emrys Evans, banker (d. 2004)
• 26 May - John Stone, actor (d. 2007)
• 2 June – Peter Halliday, actor (d. 2012)
• 7 June – Donald Watts Davies, computer scientist (d. 2000)
• 7 July – Albert Stitfall, footballer (d. 1998)
• 17 September – Islwyn Ffowc Elis, author (d. 2004)
• 25 October – Rex Willis, Wales rugby union international and British Lion (d. 2000)
• 22 November - Donald Gullick, rugby player (d. 2000)
• 24 November - Derek Williams, rugby player
• 4 December - Shirley Paget, Marchioness of Anglesey, writer
• 12 December - Dennis Powell, boxer (d. 1993)
• 14 December – Margaret John, actress (d. 2011)

Deaths

• 6 January - Henry Hill, cricketer, 78
• 19 January - Edwin Cross, footballer, 75
• 20 January (in Hindhead) – Aneurin Williams, politician, 64
• 19 March – John Richard Williams (J. R. Tryfanwy), poet, 56
• 2 June – (in Philadelphia) William Henry Griffith Thomas, influential clergyman, 63
• 14 June – George Frederick Harris, portrait and landscape painter, 67
• 19 July – Jack Evans, Wales national rugby player, 53
• 6 August – John Roberts (Pencerdd Gwynedd), organist and composer
• 20 September – Caradoc Rees, politician, ?66
• 12 December – Charlie Arthur, Wales international rugby player

References

1. Andrew Gallimore, Occupation Prizefighter: The Freddie Welsh Story, Seren, 2007
2. Davies, Gareth; Garland, Ian (1991). Who's Who of Welsh International Soccer Players. Bridge Books. p. 159. ISBN 1-872424-11-2.