1945 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1945 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

Archbishop of Wales – David Prosser, Bishop of St David's
Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Crwys

Events

1 January – Three months before his death, former prime minister David Lloyd George is created Earl Lloyd George of Dwyfor and Viscount Gwynedd. He never takes his seat in the House of Lords.
18 January – Winds of 113 mph are recorded at St. Ann's Head Lighthouse, Pembrokeshire.
7 March – German submarine U-1302 is sunk off St David's Head.
10 March – Sixty-seven German prisoners of war tunnel their way out of Island Farm Camp 198 at Bridgend, the biggest escape attempt by German POWs in the UK during the Second World War.
15 April – Brigadier Glyn Hughes leads the 11th Armoured Division in the liberation of Bergen-Belsen concentration camp.
April – German submarines U-242 and U-325 are sunk off The Skerries.
15 May – At the Neath by-election, a Trotskyist candidate contests the constituency, the first time in any UK election.
5 July – In the United Kingdom general election, which sees a landslide Labour victory across the Great Britain:
*For the last time in a General Election, a candidate in Wales is elected unopposed — Will John, Labour MP for Rhondda West.
*Ambrose Bebb stands as a Plaid Cymru Parliamentary candidate.
*Hugh Dalton becomes the new Chancellor of the Exchequer and Aneurin Bevan Minister of Health.
*W. J. Gruffydd retains the University of Wales seat for the Liberals, the last time it will be contested before abolition.
27 July – The cause of an outbreak of typhoid in Aberystwyth is traced to locally made ice cream.
2 August – Clement Davies becomes leader of the Liberal Party.
12 September – Newspaper publisher Gomer Berry is created Viscount Kemsley.
8 October – Rudolf Hess is flown to Nuremberg to stand trial, ending his three-year internment at Maindiff Court Military Hospital, Abergavenny.
October – Stocks of captured Nazi German bombs filled with Tabun (nerve agent) begin to be transferred to the RAF ammunition store near Llanberis.
13 November – Explorer Edward Evans is created Baron Mountevans.
date unknown
*Closure of the Benallt manganese mine, near Aberdaron.
*Broadcaster Wynford Vaughan-Thomas is awarded the Croix de Guerre for his exploits in following the invading troops into France during 1944.
*Kayser Bondor open an underwear factory at Pentrebach.

Arts and literature

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair – Tom Parri Jones
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown – withheld
National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal – ''withheld''

New books

Idris Davies – Tonypandy and other poems
D. Gwenallt Jones – Detholiad o Ryddiaith Gymraeg R. J. Derfel
Huw Menai – ''The Simple Vision''

Music

National Youth Orchestra of Wales formed, the world's first such organisation.
Ivor Novello – Perchance to Dream
Mansel Thomas – "Y Bardd"

Film

Ray Milland wins an Academy Award for Best Actor for his role in The Lost Weekend.

Broadcasting

The BBC issues the first Welsh edition of Radio Times.

Sport

Football – The first post-war match between Wales and England ends in a 1 – 0 victory for Wales.

Births

6 January – Barry John, rugby player
7 February – Gerald Davies, rugby player
12 February – Gareth Thomas, actor
19 February – Huw Llywelyn Davies, broadcaster
3 April – Gary Sprake, footballer
7 April – Martyn Lewis, TV journalist
2 May – Eddie Avoth, boxing champion
8 May – Mike German AM, politician
9 May – Malcolm Nash, cricketer
15 July – Rachel Lomax, economist
13 August – Howard Marks, drug trafficker
29 August – Sue Essex AM, politician
7 September – Max Boyce, entertainer
15 September – Clive Merrison, actor
30 November – Roger Glover, musician
21 December – Alan Williams MP, politician
date unknown – Lyn Evans, physicist

Deaths

3 January
* Edward Peake, Wales international rugby union player, 84
* Sir William James Thomas, 1st Baronet, industrialist, 77
9 January – Dennis O'Neill, murder victim, 12
11 January – Caradoc Evans, author, 66
16 January – Robert Griffith Berry, Congregationalist minister and writer, 75
17 January – Reginald Clarry MP, politician, 62
6 February – Edward Prosser Rhys, journalist and poet, 43
17 March – Sir Thomas Lewis, cardiologist, 63
26 March – David Lloyd George MP, politician, 82
12 May – James Walker, MP for Newport, 61
16 May – Harry Vaughan Watkins, Wales international rugby player, 69
11 June – Owen Evans MP, politician, 69
14 June – John Hugh Edwards, MP, 76
22 June – William Williams, Wales national rugby union player, 78
29 July – Cecil Griffiths, athlete, 44
29 September – Evan James Williams, physicist, 42
15 November – John Lloyd Williams, botanist, 91
21 November – Thomas Rhondda Williams, Congregational minister and politician, 84/5
1 December – Tom Graham, Wales international rugby player
26 December – George Travers, Wales international rugby union player, 68
date unknown – Len Davies, footballer