1918 in Wales

← 1917 1916 1915 1914 1913 1918 in Wales → 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923
Centuries:	18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1890s 1900s 1910s 1920s 1930s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1918 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1918 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents[]

• Monarch – George V
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Dyfed

Events[]

• January – Coalowner, Liberal politician and Minister of Food Control David Alfred Thomas is created Viscount Rhondda; following his death on 3 July the title passes by special remainder to his daughter, the suffragette Margaret Mackworth.
• 26 January – An Irish steamship, the Cork, is torpedoed by a U-boat off Point Lynas in Anglesey. Twelve crew are killed.^[1][2]
• 29 January – The steamship Ethelinda is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Twenty-six crew are killed.^[3]
• 4 February – The steamship Treveal is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Thirty-three people are killed.^[4]
• 5 February – The steamship Mexico City is torpedoed by a U-boat off South Stack, Holyhead. Twenty-nine crew are killed.^[5]
• March
  • Miners' leader A. J. Cook is imprisoned for sedition under the Defence of the Realm Act 1914 for his public opposition to the war.^[6]
  • Submarines HMS R5 and HMS R6 are laid down at HM Dockyard Pembroke Dock; as with HMS L34 and L35 ordered later in the year, they will be cancelled in 1919 before completion.
• 2 March – The British submarine HMS H5 is rammed and sunk, having been mistaken for a U-boat, off Porthdinllaen. All twenty-six crew are killed.^[7]
• 7 March – The steamship Kenmare is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Twenty-six crew are killed.^[8]
• 7 April – The steamship Boscastle is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Eighteen crew are killed.^[9]
• 21 April – The steamship Landonia is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Twenty-one crew are killed.^[10]
• 9 May – The steamships Baron Ailsa and Wileysike are torpedoed by a U-boat off Pembrokeshire. Fourteen crew are killed.^[11][12]
• 19 May – The German U-boat SM UB-119 is sunk, perhaps off Bardsey Island.^[13]
• 15 June – The steamship Strathnairn is torpedoed by a U-boat off Bishops and Clerks, Pembrokeshire. Twenty-one crew are killed.
• 22 August – The steamship Palmella is torpedoed by a U-boat off South Stack, Holyhead. Twenty-eight people are killed.^[14]
• 16 September – The steamship Serula is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Seventeen crew are killed.^[15]
• 18 September – The 38th (Welsh) Division is involved in the Battle of Epéhy.
• Autumn – Edward Thomas John (Liberal MP for East Denbighshire) defects to the Labour Party.
• 10 October – Three seamen are killed while returning to their ship by boat at Milford Haven.
• 14 October – The steamship Dundalk is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Twenty-one crew are killed.^[16]
• 11 November – Armistice Day. Able Seaman Richard Morgan, serving aboard , is the last Welshman – and perhaps the last Briton – to be killed on active service in the First World War, in the course of which over 40,000 Welsh people have lost their lives.
• 15 November – The British submarine HMS H51 is launched at Pembroke Dock.
• 14 December – United Kingdom general election:
  • For the first time, a woman stands as a parliamentary candidate in Wales: Millicent Mackenzie^[17] stands unsuccessfully for the University of Wales, itself a new parliamentary seat (which is won by Herbert Lewis).
  • Home Rule for Wales is included as a policy in the manifesto of the Labour Party.
  • William Brace becomes Labour MP for Abertillery.
  • Alfred Onions becomes Labour MP for Caerphilly.
  • John Hugh Edwards becomes Liberal MP for Neath, his previous constituency of Mid Glamorganshire having been abolished.
  • Sir Robert Thomas, 1st Baronet, becomes Liberal MP for Wrexham.
  • David Sanders Davies becomes Liberal MP for Denbigh, standing against Edward Thomas John.
• December – The beginning of the 1918 flu pandemic which lasts into the following year and kills about 10,000 people in Wales.

Arts and literature[]

• John Morris-Jones is knighted for his services to literature.^[18]
• August is fixed as the annual month of the National Eisteddfod of Wales.

Awards[]

• National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Neath)
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – John Thomas Job^[19]
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown –

New books[]

• W. H. Davies – A Poet's Pilgrimage^[20]
• – The Rosicrucian
• Moelona – Rhamant y Rhos

Music[]

• Walford Davies is appointed director of music to the Royal Air Force.

Film[]

• The Life Story of David Lloyd George (drama, not shown publicly until 1996)

Sport[]

• Baseball – First records of the Grange Gasworks Ladies team playing in Cardiff.

Births[]

• 15 January – Billy Lucas, international footballer (died 1998)
• 7 May – Robert Davies, politician (died 1967)
• 9 May – Sir Kyffin Williams, artist (died 2006)^[21]
• 20 May – William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (died 1985)^[22]
• 6 June – Susan Williams-Ellis, founder of Portmeirion Pottery (died 2007)^[23]
• 4 July – Tony Garrett, chairman of Imperial Tobacco (died 2017)
• 19 August – Dilys Elwyn Edwards, composer (died 2012)^[24]
• 19 September – Penelope Mortimer, writer (died 1999)^[25]
• 26 September – John Rankine, author (died 2013)
• 3 November – Glyn Williams, international footballer (died 2011)

Deaths[]

• 15 February – William Evans, judge, c.71
• 13 April
  • David Ffrangcon Davies, baritone, 62^[26]
  • Thomas Tannatt Pryce, VC recipient, 32 (killed in action)^[27]
• 3 July – David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, industrialist and politician, 62^[28]
• 13 September – Samuel Thomas Evans, MP, 59^[29]
• 21 September – Emily Charlotte Talbot, heiress, 78^[30]
• 27 September – Morfydd Llwyn Owen, composer, pianist and mezzo-soprano, 26 (medical complications)^[31]
• 15 October – William David Phillips, Wales international rugby player, 63
• 4 November – Wilfred Owen, poet from the Welsh borders, 25 (killed in action)^[32]
• 25 November – , mining engineer who worked with Cecil Rhodes
• 1 December
  • John Griffiths, artist, 81
  • Fred Perrett, Wales international rugby union player, 27 (died of wounds received in action)^[33]

References[]