1915 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1915 to Wales and its people.

← 1914 1913 1912 1911 1910 1915 in Wales → 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1915 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

Incumbents

For United Kingdom incumbents, see 1915 in the United Kingdom § Incumbents.

• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dyfed^[1]
• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Sir Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley, 12th Baronet
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 2nd Baron Glanusk^[2]
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – John Ernest Greaves^[3]
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Herbert Davies-Evans^[4]
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John William Gwynne Hughes
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – William Cornwallis-West^[5]
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – William Glynne Charles Gladstone^[6] (until 13 April); Henry Gladstone, later Baron Gladstone (from 23 June)^[7]
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Sir Osmond Williams, 1st Baronet^[8]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Ivor Herbert, 1st Baron Treowen
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Sir Herbert Williams-Wynn, 7th Baronet
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – John Philipps, 1st Viscount St Davids
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Powlett Milbank^[9]
• Bishop of Bangor – Watkin Williams^[10]
• Bishop of Llandaff – Joshua Pritchard Hughes^[11]
• Bishop of St Asaph – A. G. Edwards (later Archbishop of Wales)^[12]
• Bishop of St Davids – John Owen^[13]

Events

• January - A memorial to Captain Robert Falcon Scott, in the form of a model lighthouse, is erected on an island in Roath Park Lake, commemorating the support given to Scott's expedition by the people of Cardiff.^[14]
• 26 February - The Welsh Guards regiment is created.
• 4 April - Three German prisoners-of-war escape from an internment camp at Llansannan in Denbighshire, but are quickly recaptured.^[15]
• 23 April - The body of Will Gladstone, recently killed at the Western Front, is re-buried in the churchyard of St Deiniol's, Hawarden, Flintshire, Wales.^[16] With special permission from King George V of the United Kingdom, he becomes the last casualty to be officially repatriated to the United Kingdom during the First World War.^[17]
• 25 April - At Gallipoli, Able Seaman William Charles Williams of Chepstow helps secure lighters on HMS River Clyde under continuous fire. He is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross - the first such award made to a member of the Royal Navy in World War I.^[18]
• 7 May - When RMS Lusitania is sunk by a German torpedo, notable survivors include David Alfred Thomas, Viscount Rhondda and tenor Gwynn Parry Jones.^[19]
• 26 July - The Glamorganshire Canal closes between Abercynon and Pontypridd.^[20]
• 11 September - The first branch of the Women's Institute in Britain opens at Llanfair PG, Anglesey.
• 1 October - For his conduct at the Battle of Hooge, Lt. Rupert Price Hallowes of Port Talbot is posthumously awarded the Victoria Cross.
• November - The 38th (Welsh) Division is posted to France.
• 15 November - Sir James Cory, 1st Baronet, becomes MP for Cardiff, following the death in action of the previous incumbent, Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart.
• 25 November - In the Merthyr Tydfil by-election, caused by the death of Keir Hardie, Charles Stanton becomes Independent Labour Party MP for Merthyr.
• 4 December - First submarine to be launched at Pembroke Dock, HMS J3.
• Welshmen continue to enlist for military service in World War I, including architect Percy Thomas, who joins the Artists' Rifles.
• Sir William Rice Edwards becomes surgeon-general of Bengal.

Arts and literature

• August - Clough Williams-Ellis marries Amabel Strachey.^[21]
• unknown date - Gomer Berry and William Ewart Berry become owners of The Sunday Times.

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Bangor)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - T. H. Parry-Williams, "Eryri"^[22]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - T. H. Parry-Williams^[23]

New books

English language

• Caradoc Evans - My People: Stories of the Peasantry of West Wales^[24]
• John Gwenogvryn Evans (ed.) - Poems from the Book of Taliesin, amended and translated
• Arthur Machen - The Great Return^[25]
• John Cowper Powys - Wood and Stone

Welsh language

• William Evans (Wil Ifan) - Dros y Nyth
• Eluned Morgan - Plant yr Haul

Music

• David Roberts - Y Tant Aur (2nd edition)
• William Penfro Rowlands - "Blaenwern" (hymn tune), in Henry H. Jones' Cân a Moliant

Film

• The Birth of a Nation directed by Welsh-descended D. W. Griffith.

Sport

• Boxing - Llew Edwards wins the British and Commonwealth featherweight titles.

Births

• 16 January - David Michael Davies, 2nd Baron Davies (died 1944)^[26]
• 11 February - Mervyn Levy, artist (died 1996)^[27]
• 20 February - Mary Jones, actor (died 1990)
• 25 March - Dorothy Squires, singer (died 1998)^[28]
• 2 April - Patrick Gibbs, RAF Wing Commander, author and film critic (died 2008)^[29]
• 9 April - Bill Clement, Welsh international rugby player and Secretary of the WRU (died 2007)
• 13 May - Hrothgar John Habakkuk, economic historian (died 2002)^[30]
• 4 June - David Bell, writer and curator (died 1959)
• 1 July - Alun Lewis, poet (died on active service 1944)^[31]
• 3 July - Ifor Owen, illustrator (died 2007)
• 30 August - Lillian May Davies, later Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland, fashion model and Swedish princess (died 2013)^[32]
• 4 September - Roland Mathias, poet and critic (died 2007)^[33]
• 10 September - Geraint Bowen, poet and Archdruid (died 2011)^[34]
• 22 September - Thomas Williams, politician (died 1986)
• 23 September - John Samuel Rowlands, GC (died 2006)^[35]
• 11 October - T. Llew Jones, writer (died 2009)^[36]
• 10 November - Leslie Manfield, Wales international rugby union player (died 2006)
• 26 December - Keidrych Rhys, poet and journalist (died 1987)^[37]

Deaths

• 6 January - Owen Roberts, educator, 79^[38]
• 24 January - Charles Taylor, naval officer and Wales rugby international, 51 (killed in action)^[39]
• 30 January - Thomas Benbow Phillips, pioneer settler, 85
• 5 March - George "Honey Boy" Evans, musician and entertainer, 44 (cancer)^[40]
• 21 March - Edward Pegge, Wales international rugby player, 50
• 13 April - William Glynne Charles Gladstone, Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire, 29^[41]
• 25 April - William Charles Williams, posthumous Victoria Cross recipient, 34 (killed in action)
• 6 June - John Lloyd, political reformer, 81 ^[42]
• 31 July - Billy Geen, soldier and Wales international rugby union player, 24 (killed in action)^[43]
• 4 September - David Gwynne-Vaughan, botanist, 44^[44]
• 7 September - Robert Lewis-Lloyd, rower and barrister, High Sheriff of Radnorshire, 79
• 26 September - Keir Hardie, Scottish-born serving MP for Merthyr Tydfil (Labour) and pacifist, 59 (died in Scotland)^[45]
• 27 September - Richard Garnons Williams, soldier and Wales international rugby union player, 59 (killed in action)^[46]
• 30 September - Rupert Price Hallowes, posthumous Victoria Cross recipient, 34 (killed in action)^[47]
• 2 October - Lord Ninian Crichton-Stuart, Scottish-born British Army officer and serving MP for Cardiff (Unionist), 32 (killed in action)^[48]
• 22 November - Llewellyn John Montfort Bebb, Principal of St David's College, Lampeter, 53^[49]
• 29 November - Rachel Davies (Rahel o Fôn), Baptist preacher, 69^[50]
• 10 December - David Jenkins, composer, 66
• 17 December - Sir John Rhys, philologist, 75^[51]

See also

• 1915 in Ireland

References

1. Rhys, James Ednyfed (1959). "Rees, Evan (Dyfed; 1850-1923), Calvinistic Methodist minister, poet, and archdruid of Wales". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 2 August 2018.
2. Dod's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage of Great Britain and Ireland, Including All the Titled Classes. Dod. 1921. p. 356.
3. National Museum of Wales (1935). Adroddiad Blynyddol. The Museum. p. 3.
4. The county families of the United Kingdom; or, Royal manual of the titled and untitled aristocracy of England, Wales, Scotland, and Ireland. Dalcassian Publishing Company. 1860. p. 443.
5. Potter, Matthew (2016). The concept of the 'master' in art education in Britain and Ireland, 1770 to the present. Abingdon, Oxon: Routledge. p. 149. ISBN 9781351545471.
6. "No. 28512". The London Gazette. 11 July 1911. p. 5168.
7. Ivor Bulmer-Thomas (1936). Gladstone of Hawarden: A Memoir of Henry Neville, Lord Gladstone of Hawarden. Murray. p. 197.
8. Davies, Sir William Llewelyn. "Williams family, of Bron Eryri, later called Castell Deudraeth, Meirionnydd". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 30 January 2020.
9. Joseph Whitaker, ed. (1913). Whitaker's Almanack. Whitaker's Almanack. p. 847.
10. Burke's Genealogical and Heraldic History of Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage. Burke's Peerage Limited. 1925. p. 2437.
11. Havard, William Thomas. "Hughes, Joshua (1807-1889), bishop". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 26 October 2021.
12. Who was Who 1897–2007, 1991, ISBN 978-0-19-954087-7
13. Thomas Iorwerth Ellis (1959). "Owen, John (1854-1926), bishop". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 19 March 2022.
14. Morgannwg: Transactions of the Glamorgan History Society. 1988. p. 50.
15. Gary Dobbs (31 March 2015). Cardiff and the Valleys in the Great War. Pen and Sword. p. 42. ISBN 978-1-4738-5778-0.
16. "Hawarden – 1914-1918 War Memorial". Clwyd Family History Society. 1 January 2014. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
17. Van Emden, Richard (7 June 2012). The Quick and the Dead. London: Bloomsbury. pp. 131–133. ISBN 978-1408822456.
18. CWGC casualty record.
19. John Bourne (June 2002). Who's Who in World War I. Routledge. p. 285. ISBN 978-1-134-76752-6.
20. Cardiff Naturalists' Society (1971). Reports and Transactions. p. 14.
21. "Military Marriages: a Trio of Interesting Weddings". The Sketch. llustrated London News and Sketch: 108. 11 August 1915.
22. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 4 April 2022.
23. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 4 April 2022.
24. David T. Lloyd (1997). Writing on the Edge: Interviews with Writers and Editors of Wales. Rodopi. p. 7. ISBN 90-420-0248-4.
25. S. T. Joshi (1 January 2003). The Weird Tale. Wildside Press LLC. p. 19. ISBN 978-0-8095-3122-6.
26. Gwilym Davies (2001). "Davies, David of Llandinam (1880-1944), first BARON DAVIES (created 1932)". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
27. Levy, Ceri (17 May 1996). "Obituary: Mervyn Levy". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 1 May 2022. Retrieved 20 March 2011.
28. Harris M. Lentz (1998). Obituaries in the Performing Arts. McFarland & Company. p. 210. ISBN 978-0-7864-0748-4.
29. Nicolas Barker (25 April 2008). "Wing Cdr Patrick Gibbs: Air ace and journalist". The Independent. London. Archived from the original on 25 May 2022. Retrieved 4 March 2009.
30. Obituary, The Telegraph (18 November 2002)
31. "Alun Lewis | Welsh poet". Encyclopædia Britannica. Retrieved 6 July 2020.
32. "Princess Lilian, Duchess of Halland". The Royal Court of Sweden. Archived from the original on 24 July 2010. Retrieved 4 April 2022.
33. Sam Adams (17 October 2007). "Roland Mathias". The Guardian. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
34. "Obituary for Geraint Bowen". The Independent. 5 August 2011. Retrieved 1 July 2018.
35. "Air Marshal Sir John Rowlands, obituary". The Telegraph. 7 June 2006. Retrieved 22 November 2021.
36. "Colli 'un o eiconau'r genedl'" (in Welsh). BBC Cymru. 17 September 2019.
37. International Who's who in Poetry. International Biographical Centre. 1970. p. 259.
38. "Death of Sir Owen Roberts, a Pioneer of Technical Education". The Times. 8 January 1915. p. 6.
39. Robin Turner (25 May 2014). "World War One: The Wales rugby internationals who died on the battlefield". WalesOnline. Retrieved 14 October 2019.
40. Frank Cullen; Florence Hackman; Donald McNeilly (2007). Vaudeville old & new: an encyclopedia of variety performances in America. Psychology Press. p. 365. ISBN 978-0-415-93853-2.
41. "Casualty Details: Gladstone, William Glynne Charles". Commonwealth War Graves Commission. Retrieved 30 August 2016.
42. Robert Thomas Jenkins (1959). "LLOYD, JOHN (1833-1915), political reformer and antiquary". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
43. Illustrated Sporting and Dramatic News. George S. Maddick. June 1915. p. 673.
44. Robert Thomas Jenkins (1959). "Gwynne-Vaughan, David Thomas (1871-1915), botanist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
45. "James Keir Hardie (1856-1915)". BBC History. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
46. Archaeologia Cambrensis. W. Pickering. 1916. p. 358.
47. Paul Oldfield (30 September 2016). Victoria Crosses on the Western Front - 1917 to Third Ypres: 27 January–27 July 1917. Pen & Sword Books Limited. pp. 803–. ISBN 978-1-4738-8488-5.
48. The Scots Law Times. W. Green & Son. 1921. p. 132.
49. Thomas Iorwerth Ellis (2001). "Bebb, Llewellyn John Montfort (1862-1915), cleric". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 8 February 2019.
50. Robert (Bob) Owen (1959). "Davies, Rachel (Rahel o Fôn; 1846-1915), lecturer and preacher". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 5 December 2019.
51. Ifor Williams. "Rhys, Sir John (1840-1915), Celtic scholar". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 15 August 2019.