1866 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1866 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – George Pratt, 2nd Marquess Camden (until 8 August) Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar (from 27 September)
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet (until 14 September); Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (from 14 September)
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Robert Myddelton Biddulph
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Sudeley Hanbury-Tracy, 3rd Baron Sudeley
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 3rd Baron Kensington
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite

• Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
• Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant
• Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short
• Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall

Events

• 5 February — Railway contractor Thomas Savin goes bankrupt, resulting in a temporary halt in the construction of the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway.
• 31 March — The last public execution in Wales takes place as Robert Coe is hanged in Swansea.
• 1 May — Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway opens to passengers.
• July — Launch of Yr Australydd, a Welsh language Calvinistic Methodist newspaper, in Victoria (Australia), edited by William Meirion Evans and Theophilus Williams.
• 5 September — The Pembroke and Tenby Railway is extended for passengers to Whitland.
• 6 September — Six people are killed in a railway derailment near Criccieth.
• September — The song Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau — later to become the official national anthem of Wales — is sung for the first time at the National Eisteddfod held at Chester.
• 17 October — First confirmed death from a cholera epidemic in Carnarvon.
• December — The Talyllyn Railway officially opens.
• Sir George Gilbert Scott begins work on the renovation of Bangor Cathedral.
• The Baptist Union of Wales is established.
• Whiteford Lighthouse on Gower, the only remaining large wave-swept cast-iron lighthouse built in the UK, is first lit.
• Edward Gordon Douglas is created Baron Penrhyn.
• Morris Brothers department store established at Tenby; it will still be trading 150 years later.

Arts and literature

Awards

• The National Eisteddfod of Wales is held at Chester in England.
• The harpist William Frost is awarded a pedal harp by Pencerdd Gwalia

New books

English language

• Rees Howell Gronow — Last Recollections

Welsh language

• Richard Davies (Mynyddog) — Caneuon Mynyddog
• Roger Edwards — Y Tri Brawd
• William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) — Nodiadau ar yr Epistol at yr Hebreaid

Music

• John Owen (Owain Alaw) — Gŵyl Gwalia
• John Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia) — The Bride of Neath Valley (cantata)
• The Eryri Music Festival (Gwyl Gerddorol Eryri) is founded.

Sport

• Cricket — Hawarden Park Cricket Club is founded, reputedly by William Ewart Gladstone.
• Rugby football — First competitive game played in Wales, between college teams at Lampeter.

Births

• 13 January — Frank Hill, Wales international rugby captain (died 1927)
• 21 January — Sir Owen Cox, politician and businessman in Australia (died 1932)
• 22 March — Willie Thomas, Wales international rugby captain (died 1921)
• 1 April — Sir William Henry Hoare Vincent, diplomat (died 1941)
• 18 April — Frederick Llewellyn-Jones, lawyer and politician (died 1941)
• 20 April — Sir John Milsom Rees, laryngologist (died 1952)
• 30 May — John Gruffydd Moelwyn Hughes, minister and poet (died 1944)
• 5 August — Sir Edward Anwyl, Celtic scholar (died 1914)
• 7 August — Charles Granville Bruce, mountaineer (died 1939)
• 13 August - William Finney, cricketer (died 1927)
• 24 August — Caesar Jenkyns, footballer (died 1941)
• 4 October — Robert Jones (Trebor Aled), poet (died 1917)
• 12 October — James Ramsay MacDonald, politician (died 1937)
• 4 November — Sir David William Evans, lawyer, public servant and Wales international rugby player, (died 1926)
• 5 November — Daniel Protheroe, conductor and choirmaster (died 1934)
• 14 November — Tom Morgan Wales international rugby player (died 1899)
• 24 November — Alexander Bland, Wales international rugby player (died 1947)
• 4 December — Dai Lewis (died 1943), rugby union forward who played international rugby for Wales
• 10 December — Stanley L. Wood, illustrator (died 1928
• 15 December — William Williams, Wales national rugby union player (died 1945)
• date unknown — David Delta Evans (Dewi Hiraddug), journalist, author, and Unitarian minister (died 1948)

Deaths

• 16 January — David Owen (Brutus), literary editor, 70
• 27 January — John Gibson, sculptor, 75
• 31 January — Owen Owen Roberts, physician, 73
• 29 March - , poet, 55
• 19 May — David Davis, Blaengwawr, industrialist, 69
• 31 August (approx) — Robert Jermain Thomas, missionary (murdered in Korea), 26
• October — Evan Bevan, humorous writer, 42/43
• 16 October — Angharad Llwyd, antiquary, 86
• 27 October — William Rowlands, minister and author active in the USA
• 30 October — George Lort Phillips, MP for Pembrokeshire, 55 (injuries from a fall)
• 1 December (in London) — George Everest, surveyor and geographer, 76

See also

• 1866 in Ireland

References