1931 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1931 to Wales and its people.

← 1930 1929 1928 1927 1926 1931 in Wales → 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1910s 1920s 1930s 1940s 1950s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1931 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

Brynmawr Experiment

Incumbents

For United Kingdom incumbents, see 1931 in the United Kingdom § Incumbents.

• Archbishop of Wales – Alfred George Edwards, Bishop of St Asaph^[1]
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Pedrog^[2]

Events

• 3 March - Bertrand Russell succeeds to his brother's earldom.^[3]
• 14 April - A meteorite falls to earth on farmland in Pontllynfi, near Caernarfon.^[4]
• June - Border Breweries (Wrexham) is formed by a merger.^[5]
• date unknown
  • The Welsh School of Medicine is founded at Cardiff, later becoming the University of Wales College of Medicine.^[6]
  • Nancy Astor addresses a meeting in Cardiff on the subject of recruiting women into the police.

Arts and literature

• Edward Tegla Davies becomes editor of Yr Efrydydd.^[7]

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Bangor)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - David James Jones^[8]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Albert Evans Jones

New books

English language

• Eliot Crawshay-Williams - Night in the Hotel^[9]
• John Morris-Jones - Welsh Syntax: An Unfinished Draft^[10]
• Bertrand Russell - The Scientific Outlook^[11]
• Lily Tobias – My Mother's House^[12]

Welsh language

• John Jenkins (Gwili) - Hanfod Duw a Pherson Crist^[13]
• Moelona - Beryl^[14]
• Jennie Thomas – Llyfr Mawr y Plant (first appearance of Wil Cwac Cwac)^[15]

Music

• Grace Williams – Sextet for oboe, trumpet, violin, viola, cello and piano

Film

• Ray Milland appears in The Bachelor Father, Strangers May Kiss, Just a Gigolo, Son of India, Bought, Ambassador Bill, and Blonde Crazy.
• Mary Glynne appears in Inquest^[16]

Broadcasting

• The BBC's Daventry radio transmitter increases its Welsh language output from a monthly to a fortnightly "Welsh interest" programme and includes a regular religious service broadcast entirely in Welsh.

Sport

• Rugby union
• Wales, under the captaincy of Jack Bassett, win the Five Nations Championship.
  • 7 February Wales beat Scotland 13–8 at the Cardiff Arms Park, Cardiff.

Births

• 4 January - Harry Griffiths, footballer (died 1978)
• 10 January - Rosalind Howells, Baroness Howells of St Davids, politician^[17]
• 2 February - Glynn Edwards, actor (died 2018)^[18]
• 4 March - Gwilym Prichard, landscape painter (d. 2015)^[19]
• 13 March - Ted Grace, Swansea-born politician in Australia (died 2020)to 1984.^[20]
• 20 March - Orig Williams, wrestler and TV presenter (died 2009)^[21]
• 22 March - Leslie Thomas, novelist (died 2014)^[22]
• 30 March - Emrys Jones, literary scholar (died 2012)^[23][24]
• 7 April - Eifion Evans, church historian (died 2017)^[25]
• 11 April - Lewis Jones, rugby player
• 30 April - Merfyn Jones, footballer (died 2016)
• 11 May - Gerry Humphreys, sound engineer (died 2006)
• 29 May – Christopher Evans, computer scientist (died 1979)^[26]
• 23 June - Brian Sparks, Wales international rugby union player (died 2013)^[27]
• 29 June - Howard Morgan, cricketer
• 2 July - Frank Williams, actor
• 13 July - Philip Jones, businessman and civil servant (died 2000)
• 13 August
  • Roy Evans, trade union leader (died 2015)^[28]
  • Gareth Lewis, canon of Newport (died 1997)^[29]
• 15 August - Gwyn Evans, bowls player
• 1 September - Mair Wynn Hughes, children's author
• 18 September - Roger Howells, footballer (died 1975)^[30]
• 5 November - John Morris, Baron Morris of Aberavon, politician (died 2023)^[31]
• 17 November - Dudley Price, footballer (died 2021)
• 27 November - Gareth Griffiths, Wales and British Lions rugby union player
• 29 November - Glyn Hughes, footballer (died 1995)
• 25 December - Dafydd Rowlands, Eisteddfod-winning author (died 2001)^[32]
• 27 December - John Charles, footballer (died 2004)^[33]
• 30 December - John T. Houghton, climate scientist (died 2020)^[34]
• date unknown - Brynley F. Roberts, scholar, librarian, National Library of Wales

Deaths

• 24 January - George Hay Morgan, politician, 64^[35]
• 28 January - Robert Henderson, cricketer, 65
• 30 January - Sir Garrod Thomas, physician and politician, 77^[36]
• 4 February - David Thomas Jones, administrator, 64
• 22 February - Sir Hugh Vincent, solicitor and Wales international rugby player, 68^[37]
• 3 March - Frank Russell, 2nd Earl Russell, 65^[38]
• 13 March
  • Vernon Hartshorn MP, miners' leader and politician^[39]
  • Edward Thomas John, politician, 73^[40]
• 14 April - John Bryn Roberts, lawyer and politician, 88^[41]
• 19 April - Evan Richards, Wales international rugby player, 69
• 12 May - Beddoe Rees, industrialist and politician^[42]
• 22 June - Sir Henry Reichel, academic, 74^[36]
• 28 July - John Neale Dalton, chaplain and tutor to the British royal family, settled in South Wales, 91^[43]
• 7 October - William John Griffith, author,^[44]
• 26 October - Edward Perkins Alexander, Wales rugby international, 68
• 29 October - Edward Maes Llaned Owen, engineer, surveyor and merchant, a pioneer of Welsh colonisation in Patagonia, 85
• 2 November - Arthur Cook, miners' leader, 47
• 24 November - Jack Jones, footballer, 62^[45]
• 27 December - Alfred Perceval Graves, Irish author settled in Wales, 85^[46]

See also

• 1931 in Northern Ireland