1943 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1943 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Archbishop of Wales – Charles Green, Bishop of Bangor
 * Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Crwys

Events

 * 19 January - Three-year-old twins Neil and Jacqueline Coleby die of exposure on the slopes of Caerneddau; despite an extensive search their bodies are not found until 24 January.
 * 29 January - In the by-election for the University of Wales parliamentary seat vacated by Ernest Evans, there are three notable candidates. W. J. Gruffydd, a former vice-president of Plaid Cymru who has subsequently joined the Liberal Party, triumphs over Plaid's Saunders Lewis. One of the other candidates is Alun Talfan Davies.
 * March - Rocky Marciano is among US servicemen posted to South Wales.
 * August - Tenovus Cancer Care is founded in Cardiff as Tenovus, initially funding a wide range of projects in the local area; it becomes the leading cancer charity in Wales.
 * 23 October - David Lloyd George marries his long-term mistress and secretary, Frances Stevenson, at Guildford register office.
 * Sir Percy Thomas is elected President of the Royal Institute of British Architects for the second time - the second person ever to achieve this.

Arts and literature

 * August - Soprano Ceinwen Rowlands gives the first performance of a Welsh translation of Felix Mendelssohn’s Lobgesang at the National Eisteddfod of Wales in Bangor.
 * The Welsh National Opera company is founded in Cardiff as an amateur company.
 * Dame Laura Knight paints Ruby Loftus Screwing a Breech Ring at the Royal Ordnance Factory, Newport.

Awards

 * National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Caernarfon)
 * National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - David Emrys James
 * National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - Dafydd Owen
 * National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

English language

 * Idris Davies - The Angry Summer: A Poem of 1926
 * Margiad Evans - Autobiography
 * William Evans (Wil Ifan) - A Quire of Rhymes
 * R. T. Jenkins - Orinda
 * Eiluned Lewis - The Captain's Wife

Welsh language

 * Rhys Davies - Pobl a Phethau
 * Sir Emrys Evans - Ewthaffron: Criton (translation from Plato)
 * Alwyn D. Rees - Adfeilion

Music

 * Harry Parr-Davies - The Lisbon Story (musical, opened in the West End 17 June 1943)
 * Arwel Hughes - Anatiomaros
 * W. S. Gwynn Williams - Tosturi Duw (God's Mercy)

Film

 * Ray Milland stars in Forever and a Day and The Crystal Ball.
 * Drama documentary The Silent Village, filmed in 1942 at Cwmgiedd near Ystradgynlais by Humphrey Jennings, is released.

Broadcasting

 * 4 September – Wynford Vaughan-Thomas reports from a bomber over Berlin for BBC Radio.

Births

 * 13 January – Lorna Sage, academic, literary critic and writer (died 2001)
 * 1 February – Rosemarie Frankland, beauty queen (died 2000)
 * 9 February – Ryland Davies, operatic tenor (died 2023)
 * 11 February – Win Griffiths MP, politician
 * 28 February – John Davies, bishop of St Asaph
 * 3 March (in London) – Aeronwy Thomas, literary figure (died 2009)
 * 1 April (in Derby) – Dafydd Wigley MP, politician
 * 9 April – Clive Sullivan, rugby league footballer (died 1985)
 * 16 April (in Norwich) – Ruth Madoc (née Llewellyn), actress and singer (died 2022)
 * 17 April – Elinor Bennett, harpist
 * 26 April – Leon Pownall, actor and director (died 2006)
 * 27 April
 * David Hughes, footballer
 * Gwyn Prosser MP, politician
 * 6 June – Sir Terry Matthews, entrepreneur
 * 5 July – Roy Evans, footballer (died 1969)
 * 7 July – Robert East, actor
 * 19 July – Beth Morris, actress (died 2018)
 * 2 August – Alun Michael MP, politician
 * 17 August – John Humphrys, radio and TV journalist
 * 24 August – Dafydd Iwan, musician and politician
 * 10 September – Shân Legge-Bourke, born Elizabeth Shân Bailey, landowner
 * 27 September – Max Boyce, entertainer
 * 18 October (in London) – Dai Jones, Welsh-language broadcaster (died 2022)
 * 15 November – Derec Llwyd Morgan, academic
 * 16 November – Val Lloyd AM, politician
 * 22 December – Gareth Morgan, organizational theorist
 * 28 December – Joan Ruddock MP, politician and campaigner
 * 30 December – Geraint Talfan Davies, journalist and executive
 * date unknown
 * John Beard, painter
 * Christine Evans, poet
 * Gareth Griffiths, academic

Deaths

 * 9 January – William Llewellyn Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 70
 * 12 January – Selwyn Biggs, Wales international rugby player and Glamorgan cricketer, 70
 * 24 January – Glyndwr Michael, homeless man whose body was used in Operation Mincemeat, 34 (pneumonia)
 * 31 January – Sir Robert Armstrong-Jones, physician, 85
 * 7 February (in London) – Clara Novello Davies, singer, 71
 * 6 March (in Trevelin) – John Daniel Evans, pioneer in Patagonia, 81
 * 23 March – Commander John Wallace Linton, VC, 37 (killed in action)
 * 28 March – Ben Davies, operatic tenor, 85
 * 12 April – Arthur Lloyd James, phonetician, 58 (suicide)
 * 17 April – Alice Gray Jones (Ceridwen Peris), author, 90
 * 8 September – Dai Lewis, Wales international rugby player, 76
 * 15 September – David Samuel, Wales international rugby player
 * 24 September – Billy Douglas, Wales international rugby player, 80
 * 15 October – Sir Thomas Artemus Jones, judge and Welsh language campaigner, 72
 * 29 October – Frank Hancock, Wales international rugby union international, 84
 * 17 November – Bertrand Turnbull, Olympic hockey player, 56
 * 10 December – Ivor Morgan, Wales international rugby union player, 59
 * 27 December – Arthur O'Bree, Glamorgan cricketer, 57 (killed in action)