1888 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1888 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Richard Davies
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – John Ernest Greaves
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse (until 29 May); Herbert Davies-Evans (from 16 July)
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – William Cornwallis-West
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Hugh Robert Hughes
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Robert Davies Pryce
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Arthur Walsh, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite

• Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
• Bishop of Llandaff – Richard Lewis
• Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
• Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones

• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd

Events

• January – Plans are presented for a Welsh Presbyterian Chapel in Charing Cross Road, London.
• March – Construction work begins on the Dowlais steelworks at East Moors, Cardiff.
• 11 April - Earthquake centred on Corwen.
• May – Owen Glynne Jones climbs Cadair Idris by the east ridge of the Cyfrwy.
• 13 May – The young Beatrix Potter records a trip to Machynlleth in her diary.
• 14 May – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Aber Colliery, Porth, Rhondda.
• August – Joshua Hughes, Bishop of St Asaph, has a seizure while staying in Scotland, and is paralysed until his death a few months later.
• 27 September – A new dock at Milford Haven is opened.
• 5 October – Five sailors are drowned at Colwyn Bay while returning to their ship by boat.
• date unknown
• University of Wales, Bangor, opens its agriculture department – the first in a British university.
• The Welsh Parliamentary Liberal Party is formed.
• Henry Morton Stanley "discovers" Lake Edward and names it after the Prince of Wales.
• R. J. Lloyd Price opens a whisky distillery at Frongoch.
• The remains of Llantwit Major Roman Villa are discovered.

Arts and literature

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Wrexham

• Chair – Thomas Tudno Jones, "Peroriaeth"
• Crown – Howell Elvet Lewis, "Y Sabath yng Nghymru"

New books

• Daniel Owen – Y Siswrn
• J. Rhys – Lectures of the Origin and Growth of Religion as Illustrated by Celtic

Music

• William Griffith – "I Will Extol Thee"

Sport

• Cricket – Glamorgan County Cricket Club founded.
• Golf – Tenby Links becomes the first golf course in Wales. The first competition held by the club is held on 25 October over 9 holes and is won by Mr T A Rees.
• Rugby union
• Briton Ferry RFC, Builth Wells RFC, Llantrisant RFC, Newbridge RFC and Tonna RFC are founded.
• Willie Thomas is the only Welsh international to take part in the first overseas tour by a British rugby union team.
• Wales win their first international game against Scotland, during the 1888 Home Nations Championship.
• Wales face their first international opposition, the New Zealand Native football team. Wales win by a goal to nil.

Births

• February – Grace Wynne Griffith, novelist (died 1963)
• 23 March – Fred Hando, writer and artist (died 1970)
• 29 April – Fred Dyer, boxer and baritone singer (died after 1934)
• 14 May – Nansi Richards, harpist (died 1979)
• 21 May – William Cove, politician (died 1963)
• 24 May – Howell Lewis, Wales international rugby player (died 1971)
• 18 June – Margaret Lindsay Williams, artist (died 1960)
• 16 August – T. E. Lawrence, writer and war hero (died 1935)
• 24 August – Valentine Baker, pilot and war hero (died 1942)
• 5 September – Rhys Hopkin Morris, politician (died 1956)
• 7 October – Frances Stevenson, secretary and later wife of David Lloyd George (died 1972)
• 19 October – Peter Freeman, politician (died 1956)
• 27 November – Ezer Griffiths, physicist (died 1962)
• 29 December – Reg Plummer, Wales and British Lion rugby union player (died 1953)

Deaths

• 23 February – Evan Davies (Myfyr Morganwg), poet and archdruid, 87
• 29 February – Thomas Price, Baptist minister and author, 67
• 7 March – (Cadfan), Patagonian colonist, 63
• 16 March – Thomas Thomas, chapel architect and minister, c. 81
• 22 March – Henry Robertson, Scottish engineer and founder of Brymbo Steel Works, 72
• 24 March – Benjamin Piercy, civil engineer, 61
• 29 May – Edward Pryse, politician, 70
• 7 June – Charles William Nevill, industrialist and politician, 72
• 2 August – David Davies (Dewi Emlyn), poet, 70
• 5 August – Charles Octavius Swinnerton Morgan, politician, historian and antiquary, 84
• 20 August – Henry Richard, politician and peace campaigner, 76
• 3 September – Robert H. Roberts, Welsh-born US senator, 51 (boatyard accident)
• 20 September – Elias Owen, footballer, 35 (suicide)
• 23 November – Edward John Sartoris, politician, 74/75
• date unknown
• , poet
• Morgan Morgans, mining engineer, 73/4

See also

• 1888 in Ireland

References