Born on this day in 1502 was Sir John Prise (also Prys, Price, in Welsh Syr Siôn ap Rhys) 

In 1546 he published the first book to be printed in Welsh Yn y llyvyr hwnn (In this book…) 

Prise served as Secretary of the Council of Wales and the Marches and was also one of the people responsible for the administration of the Dissolution of the Monasteries in Waes. He was also a collector of manuscripts relating to the history and literature of Wales.

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"The Swedish Princess from Wales"

Born on this day 1915 in Swansea. Lillian May Davies - former fashion model who became a Swedish Princess. 

In 1943 Lillian met Prince Bertil of Sweeden at a cocktail party in London for her 28th birthday. Soon after they became lovers, even though at that time, she was married to her first husband, the Scottish actor Ivan Craig, whom she divorced two years later in 1945.

Bertil was the second son of King Gustaf VI Adolf of Sweden and at the time a marriage was deemed inappropriate as Lillian was both a commoner and a divorcee. Therefore the couple lived together discreetly for over 30 years, until Carl XVI Gustaf of Sweden ascended the throne in 1973 and approved Bertil's and Lilian's marriage, which occured on 7th December 1976 at the church of Drottningholm Palace. 

John Rees, pioneer, born in Merthyr Tydfil on 30th August 1805 

It is estmated that over 250,000 people emigrated from Wales to the USA during the 19th century, with approximately 20% settling in the Pennsylvania area.  Some however travelled further west in search of farm land and one of these was John Rees, who headed to Texas.  Shortly after,s Rees got caught up in the  Mexican American War, for control of Texas and was taken prisoner as one of only 28 survivors at the Battle of Goliad in 1835. After the war, Rees returned to Wales and took part in the Chartist march on Newport in 1839, after which, he returned to the USA and settled in California.

The recapture of Ghazni 30th August 1842 

General Sir William Nott (1782-1845) , has been claimed as Carmarthen's most famous soldier. William joined the East India Company in 1800 and was posted to the Bengal European Regiment. From 1804 his military career developed, but it was the First Afghan War which saw Nott distinguish himself as a military leader and his promotion to Major General.

In 1842 he won three decisive battles, at Kandahar, Ghuznee, and Kabul. As a result, Nott received considerable acclaim and he was invested with the order of the GCB. His health had suffered in the East, and in 1844 he returned to Carmarthen where he died within four months of his return. He was buried in St. Peter's Church and honoured by the erection of a commemorative statue in Market Street (now Nott Square). 

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On 30 August 1937, Welsh boxer Tommy Farr, ' The Tonypandy Terror' fought Joe Louis for the world heavyweight championship at Yankee Stadium, New York.

Louis was one of the greatest heavyweights of all time and was at the height of his career, having won 8 of his previous 9 fights by a knock out and was to go on to win the following 7, the same way.  However this epic fight went the full 15 rounds, after which, to the annoyance of the 50,00 crowd, Louis was awarded a controversial victory on points, even though the referee appeared to raise Farr's glove initially.  Despite losing Farr gained massive respect worldwide for his performance.

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Neuadd Dewi Sant, St David's Hall, opened on 30th August 1982. 

The Hall has proved to be an enormous success.  It's acoustics are very highly rated and as a result it has become one the premier performance venues in the world, attracting many high profile performers.

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30th August 1682 - The first group of Welsh settlers, including Thomas Wynne, personal physician of William Penn, set sail for Pennsylvania.

In the late seventeenth century, the persecution of the Quakers led to their search for a new land and when William Penn was given a grant of land in Philadelphia by Charles II in 1681 (pictured), there was a large emigration of Welsh Quakers to Pennsylvania, where a Welsh Tract was established in the region immediately west of Philadelphia. By 1700, the Welsh accounted for about one-third of the colony’s estimated population of twenty thousand, seen by the number of Welsh place names in this area. The second wave of immigrants in the late eighteenth century, led to the Welsh colony of Cambria established by Morgan John Rhys.  It is now Cambria County, Pennsylvania.

The Welsh were especially numerous and politically active in Pennsylvania, where there was a large emigration of Welsh coal miners to the anthracite and bituminous mines.  Many becoming mine managers, executives and union leaders, such as John L. Lewis of the United Mine Workers labor union, who was born in a Welsh settlement in Iowa. Pennsylvania still has the largest number of Welsh-Americans, approximately 200,000, concentrated in the Western and Northeastern regions of the state. 

Fishguard Harbour was officially opened on 30th August 1906. 

Following the Fishguard and Rosslare Railways and Harbours Act, 1899, Goodwick, near Fishguard was to become the main destination for travel to Ireland. The overlooking village of Harbour Village was built to accommodate workers and the necessary 27 acres site and 900-metre breakwater were provided by blasting 1.6 million tonnes of rock from the cliff face.

The Great Western Railway (GWR) had initially intended for the harbour to be used as a main transatlantic port and built the luxurios ‘Fishguard Bay Hotel’ to accommodate passengers and the Cunard liner RMS Mauretania called at Fishguard on 30th August 1909.  However further transatlantic travel was prevented by the frequent silting up of the harbour, caused by the breakwater being built at the incorrect angle and local legend has it that the engineer responsible for this mistake committed suicide of the end of it.

From the start there were two daily return sailings t0 Rosslare with further services to Waterford and Cork added later.  However services were disrupted during the two World Wars, when the ferry ships were commisioned into service as troop and hospital ships.  Then after the Second World War, as car ownership increased, so did travel to Ireland, which resulted in major investment into the port.