1903 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1903 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Hwfa Môn
 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Sir Richard Henry Williams-Bulkeley, 12th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk
 * Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – John Ernest Greaves
 * Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Herbert Davies-Evans
 * Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – Sir James Williams-Drummond, 4th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – William Cornwallis-West
 * Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Hugh Robert Hughes
 * Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Robert Windsor-Clive, 1st Earl of Plymouth
 * Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – W. R. M. Wynne
 * Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Godfrey Morgan, 1st Viscount Tredegar
 * Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Sir Herbert Williams-Wynn, 7th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Frederick Campbell, 3rd Earl Cawdor
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Powlett Milbank
 * Bishop of Bangor – Watkin Williams
 * Bishop of Llandaff – Richard Lewis
 * Bishop of St Asaph – A. G. Edwards (later Archbishop of Wales)
 * Bishop of St Davids – John Owen

Events

 * 4 April - Operations begin on
 * Welshpool and Llanfair Light Railway.
 * Wrexham and District Electric Tramways.
 * 14 November - End of the lock-out at Penrhyn Quarry near Bethesda (begun 1900), the longest major industrial dispute in British history.
 * Sygun Copper Mine is abandoned.
 * Closure of the life-boat station on Ynys Llanddwyn.

Arts and literature

 * Arthur Machen marries Dorothie Purefoy Hudleston.

Awards

 * National Eisteddfod of Wales - held in Llanelli
 * Chair - John Thomas Job, "Y Celt"
 * Crown - John Evans Davies

Cinema

 * July - William Haggar releases Desperate Poaching Affray, seen as an important influence on the chase genre of film.

English language

 * J. Romilly Allen - Celtic Art in Pagan and Christian Times
 * Sabine Baring-Gould - A Book of North Wales
 * Bertrand Russell - The Principles of Mathematics

Welsh language

 * Jonathan Ceredig Davies - Awstralia Orllewinol
 * D. M. Lewis - Cofiant y Diweddar Barchedig Evan Lewis, Brynberian, 1813-96
 * Llyfe Mormon (translation of the Book of Mormon)

Births

 * 1 January – Horace Evans, royal physician (died 1963)
 * 9 February – Gipsy Daniels, Welsh boxer
 * 24 March – Gwilym R. Jones, poet and editor (died 1993)
 * 14 April – Glyn Simon, Archbishop of Wales (1968–71; died 1972)
 * 17 April – Thomas Rowland Hughes, novelist, poet and dramatist (died 1949)
 * 1 May – Geraint Goodwin, writer (died 1941)
 * 9 May – Tudor Watkins, Baron Watkins, politician (died 1983)
 * 6 June – Ceri Richards, artist (died 1971)
 * 22 June – Harry Phillips, Wales international rugby player (died 1978)
 * 18 August – Dorothy Edwards, novelist (died 1934)
 * 8 November – Ronald Lockley, ornithologist and naturalist (died 2000)
 * 22 November – David Rees-Williams, 1st Baron Ogmore (died 1976)
 * 2 December – Jim Sullivan, Wales and British Isles rugby league player (died 1977)
 * 6 December
 * E. D. Jones, librarian of National Library of Wales (died 1987)
 * Will Paynter, miners’ leader (died 1984)

Deaths

 * 15 January – David Howell, Dean of St Davids, 71
 * 30 January – William Jones, historian, 73
 * 17 February – Joseph Parry, composer, 61
 * 19 February - Samuel Arthur Brain, businessman and politician, 53
 * 8 March – Morgan Thomas, surgeon, 78
 * 12 April – Daniel Silvan Evans, writer and lexicographer, 85
 * 18 May – Richard Mills the younger, composer and music teacher, 62/3
 * 19 June – Herbert Vaughan, Archbishop of Westminster, 71
 * 24 June – Richard Fothergill, coal-owner and politician, 80
 * 15 August – John Pryce, clergyman and writer, Dean of Bangor, 73
 * 13 October – Morgan B. Williams, Welsh-born United States politician, 72
 * 18 September – Sir Llewellyn Turner, politician, 80
 * 9 December – Eliezer Pugh, philanthropist, 87
 * date unknown Sir Walter Morgan, judge, about 82