1866 in Wales

← 1865 1864 1863 1862 1861 1866 in Wales → 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1866 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

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

Incumbents

For United Kingdom incumbents, see 1866 in the United Kingdom § Incumbents.

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey[1][2][3][4]
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – George Pratt, 2nd Marquess Camden (until 8 August) Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar (from 27 September)[5][6]
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet (until 14 September); Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (from 14 September)[7]
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse[8][2]
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Robert Myddelton Biddulph[9]
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet[10]
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot[11]
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn[12]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover[13]
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Sudeley Hanbury-Tracy, 3rd Baron Sudeley[14]
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 3rd Baron Kensington[15]
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite[16][2]

• Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell[17][18]
• Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant[19]
• Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short[20][21][19]
• Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall[19][22]

Events

• 5 February — Railway contractor Thomas Savin goes bankrupt, resulting in a temporary halt in the construction of the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway.[23]
• 31 March — The last public execution in Wales takes place as Robert Coe is hanged in Swansea.[24]
• 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.^[citation needed]
• 5 September — The Pembroke and Tenby Railway is extended for passengers to Whitland.[25]
• 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.[26]
• December — The Talyllyn Railway officially opens.[27]
• 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.[28]
• Edward Gordon Douglas is created Baron Penrhyn.
• Morris Brothers department store established at Tenby; it will still be trading 150 years later.[29]

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[30]
• Roger Edwards — Y Tri Brawd
• William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) — Nodiadau ar yr Epistol at yr Hebreaid[31]

Music

• John Owen (Owain Alaw) — Gŵyl Gwalia
• John Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia) — The Bride of Neath Valley (cantata)[32]
• 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)[33]
• 21 January — Sir Owen Cox, politician and businessman in Australia (died 1932)[34]
• 22 March — Willie Thomas, Wales international rugby captain (died 1921)
• 1 April — Sir William Henry Hoare Vincent, diplomat (died 1941)[35]
• 18 April — Frederick Llewellyn-Jones, lawyer and politician (died 1941)[36]
• 20 April — Sir John Milsom Rees, laryngologist (died 1952)[37]
• 5 August — Sir Edward Anwyl, Celtic scholar (died 1914)[38]
• 7 August — Charles Granville Bruce, mountaineer (died 1939)[39]
• 13 August - William Finney, cricketer (died 1927)
• 24 August — Caesar Jenkyns, footballer (died 1941)
• 4 October — Robert Jones (Trebor Aled), poet (died 1917)[40]
• 12 October — James Ramsay MacDonald, politician (died 1937)[41]
• 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)[42]
• 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[43]
• 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)[44]

Deaths

• 16 January — David Owen (Brutus), literary editor, 70[45]
• 27 January — John Gibson, sculptor, 75[46]
• 31 January — Owen Owen Roberts, physician, 73[47]
• 29 March - Thomas Jones (Glan Alun) [cy], poet, 55
• 19 May — David Davis, Blaengwawr, industrialist, 69[48]
• 31 August (approx) — Robert Jermain Thomas, missionary (murdered in Korea), 26
• October — Evan Bevan, humorous writer, 42/43[49]
• 16 October — Angharad Llwyd, antiquary, 86[50]
• 27 October — William Rowlands, minister and author active in the USA
• 30 October — George Lort Phillips, MP for Pembrokeshire, 55 (injuries from a fall)[51]
• 1 December (in London) — George Everest, surveyor and geographer, 76[52]

See also

• 1866 in Ireland

References

1. Edward Breese (1873). Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. p. 24.
2. J.C. Sainty (1979). List of Lieutenants of Counties of England and Wales 1660-1974. London: Swift Printers (Sales) Ltd.
3. Nicholas, Thomas (1991). Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co. p. 695. ISBN 9780806313146.
4. Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru. University of Wales Press. 1992. p. 169.
5. "Morgan, Charles Morgan Robinson (1792–1875), of Ruperra, Glam. and Tredegar, Mon". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 July 2013.
6. Edwin Poole (1886). The Illustrated History and Biography of Brecknockshire from the Earliest Times to the Present Day: Containing the General History, Antiquities, Sepulchral Monuments and Inscriptions. Edwin Poole. p. 378.
7. Edward Breese (1873). Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. p. 26.
8. "Death of Colonel Pryse". Cambrian News. 1 June 1888. p. 4. Retrieved 27 February 2018.
9. "Myddelton Biddulph, Robert (1805-1872), of Chirk Castle, Denb. and 35 Grosvenor Place, Mdx". History of Parliament Online. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
10. "Glynne, Sir Stephen Richard, 9th bt. (1807-1874), of Hawarden Castle, Flint". Retrieved 3 December 2021.
11. Campbell, Thomas Methuen (2000). "C.R.M. Talbot 1803–1890". Morgannwg. 44: 66–104. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
12. Edward Breese (1873). Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. p. 29.
13. James Henry Clark (1869). History of Monmouthshire. County Observer. p. 375.
14. Amy Audrey Locke (1916). The Hanbury Family. Arthur L. Humphreys. p. 170.
15. Smith, Jenny (1990). Portraits for a King : the British military paintings of A-J Dubois Drahonet (1791-1834. London: National Army Museum. p. 15. ISBN 9780901721211.
16. Lee, Sidney, ed. (1899). "Walsh, John Benn" . Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 59. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
17. Fryde, E. B. (1996). Handbook of British chronology. Cambridge England: New York Cambridge University Press. p. 292. ISBN 9780521563505.
18.  Thomas Duffus Hardy (1854). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales...  University Press. p. 266.
19.  Thomas Duffus Hardy (1854). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales...  University Press. p. 307.
20. William Thomas Havard (1959). "Short, Thomas Vowler (1790-1872), bishop of St Asaph". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 3 December 2021.
21. The Apostolical Succession in the Church of England. James Parkes and Company. 1866. p. 15.
22. Annual Report Presented by the Council to the Court of Governors. National Library of Wales. 1962. p. 59.
23. Reports of County Courts Cases and Appeals: Decided by All the Superior Courts, and of Decisions in the County Courts, Together with Cases in Bankruptcy. John Crockford. 1874. p. 18.
24. Welsh Bibliographical Society (1950). The Journal of the Welsh Bibliographical Society. Welsh Bibliographical Society. p. 69.
25. Quick, Michael (2009). Railway Passenger Stations in Great Britain: a Chronology (4th ed.). Oxford: Railway and Canal Historical Society. ISBN 978-0-901461-57-5.
26. Morris, Keith. "Cholera 1866". Carnarvon Traders. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
27. Boyd, James I. C. (1988). The Tal-y-llyn Railway. Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-906867-46-0.
28. "Whitford Point Lighthouse (34289)". Coflein. RCAHMW. 2014. Retrieved 20 October 2021.
29. "Our Story". Morris Brothers. Retrieved 3 September 2023.
30. Thomas Hughes Jones. "Davies, Richard (Mynyddog; 1833-1877), poet, singer, and eisteddfod conductor". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
31. William Rees (1866). Nodiadau eglurhaol ac ymarferol ar yr Epistol at yr Hebreaid.
32. "The bride of Neath Valley". National Trust Collections. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
33. Jenkins, John M.; et al. (1991). Who's Who of Welsh International Rugby Players. Wrexham: Bridge Books. p. 71. ISBN 1-872424-10-4.
34. Radi, Heather. "Cox, Sir Edward John Owen (1866–1932)". Australian Dictionary of Biography. Canberra: National Centre of Biography, Australian National University. ISBN 978-0-522-84459-7. ISSN 1833-7538. OCLC 70677943. Retrieved 6 May 2019.
35. Robert Thomas Jenkins (1959). "Vincent family". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 18 December 2021.
36. Stenton, Michael (1976). Who's who of British members of Parliament : a biographical dictionary of the House of Commons based on annual volumes of Dod's Parliamentary companion and other sources. Hassocks, Sussex, Eng. Atlantic Highlands, N.J: Harvester Press Humanities Press. p. 210. ISBN 9780855273255.
37. Emyr Wyn Jones. "Rees, Sir John Milsom (1866-1952), surgeon and laryngologist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
38. Thomas Herbert Parry-Williams. "Anwyl, Sir Edward (1866-1914), Celtic scholar". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
39. Ioan Bowen Rees (2001). "Bruce, Charles Granville (1866-1939), mountaineer and soldier". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
40. Ray Looker (1959). "Jones, Robert (Trebor Aled; 1866-1917), poet and Baptist minister". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
41. Marquand, David: Ramsay MacDonald, London, 1977, pp. 4–5
42. Robert David Griffith (1959). "Protheroe, Daniel (1866-1934), musician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 15 February 2022.
43. Peppin, Brigid (1984). Book illustrators of the twentieth century. New York: Arco Pub. p. 330. ISBN 9780668056700.
44. Aubrey John Martin (2001). "Evans, David Delta ('Dewi Hiraddug '; 1866-1948), journalist, author and Unitarian minister". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
45. Thomas Jones. "Owen, David (Brutus; 1795-1866), editor and litterateur". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
46. Greenwood, Martin. "Gibson, John". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/10625. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
47. Emyr Hywel Owen. "Roberts, Owen (1793-1866), physician and social reformer". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 17 December 2021.
48. Watkin William Price. "Davis family, of Hirwaun, Aberdare, and Ferndale, coalowners". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
49. Griffith Milwyn Griffiths. "Evan Bevan". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
50. Evan Gilbert Wright. "Llwyd, Angharad (1780-1866), antiquary". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
51. "Funeral of the Late Mr Lort Phillips". Potter's Electric News. 7 November 1866. Retrieved 13 December 2013.
52. Baigent, Elizabeth. "Everest, Sir George". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/9003. (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)