1918 in Wales

← 1917 1916 1915 1918 in Wales → 1919 1920 1921
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

• Prince of Wales - Edward
• Princess of Wales - vacant
• 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.
• 29 January - The steamship Ethelinda is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Twenty-six crew are killed.
• 4 February - The steamship Treveal is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Thirty-three people are killed.
• 5 February - The steamship Mexico City is torpedoed by a U-boat off South Stack, Holyhead. Twenty-nine crew are killed.
• 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.
  • 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 March - The steamship Kenmare is torpedoed by a U-boat off the Skerries. Twenty-six crew are killed.
• 7 April - The steamship Boscastle is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Eighteen crew are killed.
• 21 April - The steamship Landonia is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Twenty-one crew are killed.
• 9 May - The steamships Baron Ailsa and Wileysike are torpedoed by a U-boat off Pembrokeshire. Fourteen crew are killed.
• 19 May - The German U-boat SM UB-119 is sunk, perhaps off Bardsey Island.
• 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 Palmelia is torpedoed by a U-boat off South Stack, Holyhead. Twenty-eight people are killed.
• 16 September - The steamship Serula is torpedoed by a U-boat off Strumble Head. Seventeen crew are killed.
• 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.
• 11 November - Armistice Day. Able Seaman Richard Morgan, serving aboard HMS Garland, 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 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.
• 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
• National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - D. Emrys Lewis

New books

• David Delta Evans - 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)
• 20 May - William David Ormsby-Gore, 5th Baron Harlech (died 1985)
• 6 June - Susan Williams-Ellis, founder of Portmeirion Pottery (died 2007)
• 19 August - Dilys Elwyn Edwards, composer (died 2012)
• 19 September - Penelope Mortimer, writer (died 1999)
• 3 November - Glyn Williams, international footballer (died 2011)

Deaths

• 15 February - William Evans, judge, c.71
• 13 April
  • David Ffrangcon Davies, baritone, 62
  • Thomas Tannatt Pryce, VC recipient, 32 (killed in action)
• 3 July - David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, industrialist and politician, 62
• 13 September - Samuel Thomas Evans, MP, 59
• 21 September - Emily Charlotte Talbot, heiress, 78
• 27 September - Morfydd Llwyn Owen, composer, pianist and mezzo-soprano, 26 (medical complications)
• 15 October - William David Phillips, Wales international rugby player, 63
• 4 November - Wilfred Owen, poet from the Welsh borders, 25 (killed in action)
• 25 November - William Griffith, 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)