1942 in Wales

Centuries:	18th; 19th; 20th; 21st; ;
Decades:	1920s; 1930s; 1940s; 1950s; 1960s;
See also:	List of years in Wales; 1942 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1942 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

30 January – Scarweather lightvessel in Swansea Bay sinks.^[1]
28 March – St Nazaire Raid: Lt-Commander Stephen Halden Beattie steers HMS Campbeltown through an enemy attack, winning the Victoria Cross for his courage under fire.
25 April – A Nazi German Luftwaffe Junkers 88 crashes into a hill near Builth Wells. Two crew members are killed, the other two taken prisoner.
25 May – The Glamorganshire Canal closes.
20 July – An RAF Lockheed Hudson crashes near Llanfair Dyffryn Clwyd, killing thirteen crew.
30 July – A Heinkel 111 crashes on Pwllheli beach, killing three crew. The survivor is captured.
11 August
- An American Flying Fortress crashes in the Berwyn range, killing its six crew.
- An RAF Wellington bomber crashes into St Brides Bay, killing six Polish crew.
18 August – The body of a German pilot is washed ashore at Newton on the South Wales coast. He is buried in the village of Nottage.
22 October – The Welsh Courts Act is passed, allowing the Welsh language to be used in courts of law.
31 October – An RAF Wellington collides in mid-air with an RAF Bristol Beaufort near Bangor, killing seven crew.
16 November – An RAF Lancaster bomber crashes into Dolwen Hill, Llanerfyl, near Welshpool, killing seven crew.
The South Wales Coal Dust Research Committee is set up.
During the building of RAF Valley, a hoard of La Tène metalwork is found in Llyn Cerrig Bach.

Football
- 9 May – Wales defeat England 1-0
- 24 October – Wales defeat England 2-1

1 January – John Baldwin Hoystead Meredith, Welsh-Australian soldier and doctor
7 January – Edward Arthur Lewis, historian
27 January – Tom Barlow, Welsh rugby player and cricketer, 77
10 February – Felix Powell, musician, 63
15 February – Frank Treharne Jones, lawyer
22 March – Ebenezer Griffith-Jones, academic
24 March – Will Osborne, Wales international rugby union player, 66
22 April
- John John Evans, journalist
- James Morgan Pryse, Welsh-descended American author, publisher, theosophist and founder of the Gnostic Society, 96
14 May – Walter Watkins, footballer
10 July – Sydney Curnow Vosper, artist, 75
22 July – Gilbert Joyce, Bishop of Monmouth, 76
6 August – Francis Green, antiquary
12 September – Valentine Baker, pilot, 54 (killed in flying accident)
24 September – David Walters (Eurof), minister and author
10 October – Geraint Goodwin, novelist and short story writer, 39
14 October – Jem Evans, Wales international rugby union player, 75
26 October – Richard Mathias, politician, 79
7 December – Lionel Beaumont Thomas, businessman, British Army officer and politician, 49
22 December – Elias Henry Jones, British Army officer, educationist and author, 59