1949 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1949 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Archbishop of Wales
 * David Prosser, Bishop of St David's (retired)
 * John Morgan, Bishop of Llandaff (elected)
 * Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Wil Ifan

Events

 * Easter - Urdd Gobaith Cymru holds its first "Celtic camp".
 * April - The government decides to establish an Advisory Council for Wales.
 * 20 May - Council for Wales and Monmouthshire first meets, with Huw T. Edwards as its first chairman.
 * 12 June - Britain’s first all-world Muslim conference is held in Cardiff.
 * 21 September
 * The first comprehensive school in Wales is opened in Holyhead, Anglesey.
 * A meteorite falls through the roof of the Prince Llewelyn Hotel, Beddgelert.
 * John Morgan is enthroned as Archbishop of Wales.
 * 4 November - Cwmbran is designated as the first New Town in Wales under powers of the New Towns Act 1946.
 * 26 December - The Gwyn Nicholls memorial gates at Cardiff Arms Park are officially opened.
 * date unknown
 * Closure of the granite quarry at Llanbedrog, the last in the town.
 * Sale of Bron-y-garth, Porthmadog, ancestral home of Sir Lewis Casson.
 * Bodnant Garden is donated to the National Trust.
 * Meteorologist David Brunt is knighted.
 * Gwynfor Evans is elected to Merionethshire County Council.
 * Jack Jones spends three months in the USA promoting the Moral Re-Armament Movement.

Arts and literature

 * May - Dylan and Caitlin Thomas settle at the Boat House, Laugharne.
 * Geraint Evans stars in The Marriage of Figaro at Covent Garden.
 * Huw Menai is granted a civil list pension.

Awards

 * National Eisteddfod of Wales (held in Dolgellau)
 * National Eisteddfod of Wales: Chair - Roland Jones, "Y Graig"
 * National Eisteddfod of Wales: Crown - John Tudor James, "Meirionnydd"
 * National Eisteddfod of Wales: Prose Medal - withheld

English language

 * Dannie Abse - After Every Green Thing
 * Stan Awbery - Labour's Early Struggles in Swansea
 * David James Davies - Towards an Economic Democracy
 * Cledwyn Hughes - A Wanderer in North Wales
 * Arthur Leach - Charles Norris of Tenby and Waterwynch
 * Gordon Macdonald, 1st Baron Macdonald of Gwaenysgor - Newfoundland at the Cross Roads
 * Thomas Mardy-Jones - Character, Coal and Corn – the Roots of British Power
 * Bertrand Russell - Authority and the Individual
 * Gwyn Thomas - All Things Betray Thee

Welsh language

 * Aneirin Talfan Davies - Gwyr Llen
 * Richard Davies (Isgarn) - Caniadau Isgarn (posthumously published)
 * John Daniel Vernon Lewis - Bydd melys fy myfyrdod: detholiad o lyfr y Salmau
 * Kate Roberts - Stryd y Glep
 * Louie Myfanwy Thomas
 * as Jane Ann Jones - Y bryniau pell
 * as Ffanni Llwyd - Diwrnod yw ein bywyd (submitted to National Eisteddfod; published 1954)
 * William Nantlais Williams - Emynau'r daith

Music

 * Ivor Novello - King's Rhapsody
 * Grace Williams - Fantasia on Welsh Nursery Tunes - first recording, made by London Symphony Orchestra conducted by Mansel Thomas (first recording of any work by a female Welsh composer)

Film

 * Blue Scar, starring Kenneth Griffith and Rachel Thomas
 * The Last Days of Dolwyn, starring Emlyn Williams, Richard Burton and Hugh Griffith
 * Yr Etifeddiaeth (The Heritage), documentary by Geoff Charles and John Roberts Williams, depicting traditional ways of life in rural North Wales, with narration by Cynan; the first film to be made in the Welsh language
 * The Fruitful Year, a promotional film about Wales, commissioned by the Post Office National Savings
 * The Road to Yesterday, travelogue made for troops serving abroad

Broadcasting

 * January - Glyn Griffiths writes: "It would be advisable now for Wales to weigh in with its campaign of aggravation and persuasion to get a Welsh Radio Corporation."

Sport

 * Football - John Charles joins Leeds United
 * Netball - The Welsh team plays its first international matches, against Scotland and England
 * Rugby Union
 * 26 March - France beats Wales 5–3 at the Stade Colombes in Paris
 * 26 December - Rhys Gabe officially opens the Gwyn Nicholls Memorial Gates at Cardiff Arms Park.
 * Steeplechasing - The first Welsh Grand National to be run at Chepstow Racecourse is won by Dick Francis riding Fighting Line.

Births

 * 1 January - Sue Jones-Davies, actress, singer and local politician
 * 7 February - Martin Daunton, historian and academic
 * 2 March - J. P. R. Williams, rugby player (died 2024)
 * 5 March - Mike Gwilym, actor
 * 9 March - Neil Hamilton, politician
 * 22 March - John Toshack, footballer and football manager
 * 14 April - Dennis Bryon, rock drummer
 * 22 May
 * Ieuan Wyn Jones AM, politician
 * Derek Quinnell, rugby player
 * 5 June - Ken Follett, novelist
 * 11 June - Tom Pryce, racing driver (killed in racing accident 1977)
 * 14 June - Alan Evans, darts player (died 1999)
 * 23 June - Hilary Boyd, novelist
 * 16 July - Angharad Rees, actress (died 2012)
 * 15 August - Richard Deacon, sculptor and academic
 * 25 August (in Oxford) - Martin Amis, novelist
 * 24 October - Nick Ainger, politician
 * 29 October - Alun Ffred Jones AM, politician
 * 18 November - William Graham AM, politician
 * 15 December (in Epsom) - Jane Hutt AM, politician
 * date unknown
 * Anthony O'Donnell, actor
 * M. J. Trow, writer

Deaths

 * 20 January - Artie Moore, wireless operator (born 1887)
 * 21 January
 * J. H. Thomas, politician, 72
 * Rowley Thomas, Wales international rugby player, 85
 * 7 March - T. Gwynn Jones ("Tir-na-Nog"), poet and journalist, 77
 * 20 April - Sir Evan Davies Jones, 1st Baronet, civil engineer and politician, 90
 * 21 April - Sir Alfred Thomas Davies, civil servant, 88
 * 27 April - Evan Morgan, 2nd Viscount Tredegar, poet and occulist, 55
 * 1 May - Horace Lyne, Wales international rugby player and WRU president, 88
 * 3 May - David John Tawe Jones, composer, 64
 * 8 May - Abel J. Jones, teacher, writer and public servant
 * 6 June - Walter E. Rees, Secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union, 86
 * 3 July - William McCutcheon, Wales international rugby player, 78/79
 * 23 July - John Bodvan Anwyl (Bodfan), lexicographer, 74
 * 10 August - William Jones Williams, public servant, 86
 * 26 August - Edgar Chappell, sociologist, 70
 * 1 September - Dr Teddy Morgan, Welsh international rugby player, 69
 * 24 October - T. Rowland Hughes, author, 46
 * 9 November - William Dowell, Wales dual code rugby international, 64
 * 16 December - George Maitland Lloyd Davies, pacifist politician, 59