1917 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1917 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

Events

6 February – Psychoanalyst Ernest Jones marries composer Morfydd Llwyn Owen.
6 July – Aqaba falls to a joint force of Arab irregulars and the supporters of Auda Abu Tayi, largely thanks to the efforts of T. E. Lawrence.
15 July – Poet Hedd Wyn posts his awdl "Yr Arwr" as his entry for the poetry competition at the National Eisteddfod of Wales on the same day as he marches off with the 15th Battalion Royal Welch Fusiliers towards the Battle of Passchendaele in which he will be killed a fortnight later. On September 6 at the ceremony of Chairing of the Bard at the Eisteddfod, held at Birkenhead, the empty druidical chair which Hedd Wyn, as winner, should have occupied is draped in a black sheet, "The festival in tears and the poet in his grave." Contralto Laura Evans-Williams sings I Blas Gogerddan instead of the traditional chairing song. This becomes known as "The Eisteddfod of the Black Chair."
17 July – Prince Louis of Battenberg is created Marquess of Milford Haven.
18 July – The Rotary Club opens its first branch in Wales, at Cardiff. It is followed on 28 September by a branch at Llanelli.
25 August – The steamship Cymrian is torpedoed by a German U-boat off Porthcawl, resulting in the deaths of 10 crew.
September – Hugh Evan-Thomas is promoted to vice-admiral.
10 September – Oakdale Workmen's Institute is officially opened.
28 October – The steamship Eskmere is torpedoed by a German U-boat in St Bride's Bay, resulting in the deaths of 20 crew.
7 December – The steamship Earl of Elgin is torpedoed by a German U-boat in Caernarfon Bay, resulting in the deaths of 18 crew.
15 December – The steamship Formby is torpedoed by a German U-boat north west of Bardsey Island, resulting in the deaths of 35 crew.
27 December – The steamship Adela is torpedoed by a German U-boat off the Skerries, Anglesey, resulting in the deaths of 24 crew.
date unknown
*Josiah Towyn Jones becomes a Junior Lord of the Treasury and government Whip.
*Margaret Haig Thomas becomes Director of the Women's Department of the Ministry of National Service.
*Trade unionist Ness Edwards is imprisoned as a conscientious objector.
*St Winefride's Well at Holywell temporarily dries up as a result of mining activity.

Arts and literature

Papur Pawb ceases publication.

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – Hedd Wyn, "Yr Arwr"
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – William Evans (Wil Ifan)

New books

A. G. Prys-Jones – Welsh Poets
Moelona – Bugail y Bryn
Mary Edith Nepean – ''Gwyneth of the Welsh Hills''

Music

Tenor Ifor Owen Thomas goes to study under Jean de Reszke in Paris.

Sport

Boxing: on 28 May Freddie Welsh is knocked out at the Manhattan Athletic Club, losing his world lightweight title after three years as champion.

Births

9 January – Haydn Tanner, Wales rugby international and captain
21 January – Stan Richards, footballer
29 March – Gwyn Jones, physicist
21 April – Megs Jenkins, actress
22 April – Leo Abse, lawyer and politician
10 May – Bill Tamplin, Wales rugby international and captain
10 June – Meredith Edwards, actor
10 September – William Marsh, cricketer
11 September – Albert Young, footballer
8 October – Ronnie James, British champion boxer
24 October – Denys Val Baker, British writer and promoter of Celtic culture
27 October – Dylan Thomas, poet
26 November – Gerald James, actor
3 December – Esyllt T. Lawrence, feminist writer

Deaths

2 January – John William Gwynne Hughes, Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire, 58
31 January – Henry Bracy, tenor, 71
2 February – Frederick William Harris, coalowner, 84
28 February – Richard Lloyd, uncle of Lloyd George, 82
2 April – Bryn Lewis, Wales international rugby player, 26
9 April – Edward Thomas, Anglo-Welsh poet, 39
8 June – George Dobson, Wales international rugby union player
9 June – Thomas McKenny Hughes, geologist, 84
31 July
*Ellis Humphrey Evans, poet, 30
*James Llewellyn Davies, VC recipient, 31
28 August – Dai Westacott, Wales international rugby union player, 35
20 November – Richard William Leslie Wain, VC recipient, 20
21 November – Rhys Jones Huws, poet, 55
25 November – John Williams, choirmaster, 61
1 December – Thomas Harry Basil Webb, son of Sir Henry Webb, 1st Baronet, 19
14 December – Phil Waller, Wales and British Lions rugby player, 28
25 December – Richard Jones Berwyn, colonist and writer, 54