1863 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1863 to Wales and its people.

← 1862 1861 1860 1859 1858 1863 in Wales → 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1863 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Albert Edward
• Princess of Wales – Alexandra (after 10 March)

Events

• 10 March – Marriage of Edward Albert, Prince of Wales, to Alexandra of Denmark. Alexandra becomes the first Princess of Wales since 1820.
• 28 July – The Anglesey Central Railway Act 1863 (26 & 27 Vict. c.cxxviii) brings about the foundation of the Anglesey Central Railway.[1]
• 23 October – Festiniog Railway introduces steam locomotives into general service, the first time this has been done anywhere in the world on a public railway of such a narrow gauge (2 ft (60 cm)).[2]
• English church services are introduced for English-speaking minorities in Welsh-speaking areas.
• Sir Hugh Owen becomes an honorary secretary of the London committee formed to set up the University of Wales.
• Mesac Thomas becomes the first Bishop of Goulburn, New South Wales, Australia.
• Publication of The Bards of Wales, first written in 1857 by Hungarian poet János Arany, using the story of Edward I's conquest of Wales to disguise criticism of the Austro-Hungarian empire.
• Machynlleth born John Evans arrives in British Columbia, Canada, with a group of other Welsh miners. He subsequently becomes a major political figure in the province.
• Spa pump room built at Trefriw.
• Guest Memorial Library at Dowlais opened.

Arts and literature

Awards

• National Eisteddfod of Wales is held at Swansea.
• The Newdigate Prize is awarded to Thomas Llewellyn Thomas.

New books

• John Ceiriog Hughes – Cant o Ganeuon
• John Jones (Ioan Emlyn) – Golud yr Oes
• David William Nash – The Pharaoh of the Exodus
• Ebenezer Thomas – Cyff Beuno

Music

• John Ceiriog Hughes – Cant O Ganeuon
• John Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia) – Llewelyn (cantata)[3]

Sport

• Cricket
  • 23 July – South Wales Cricket Club defeat MCC at Lord's.
  • 27 July – South Wales Cricket Club defeat Gentlemen of Kent at Cranbrook.

Births

• 15 January – James Webb, Wales rugby international (died 1913)
• 17 January – David Lloyd George, politician (died 1945)[4]
• 3 March – Arthur Machen, writer (died 1947)[5]
• 16 March – Dan Beddoe, operatic tenor (died 1937)
• 25 March – Owen Philipps, 1st Baron Kylsant (died 1937)[6]
• 13 April – Walter E. Rees, Secretary of the Welsh Rugby Union (died 1949)
• May – William Rees Morgan Davies, politician (died 1939)
• 8 May – Charles Taylor Wales rugby international (died 1915)
• 18 May – Lewis Davies (writer), novelist and historian (died 1951)
• 21 May – William Jones Williams, civil servant (died 1949)
• 11 June – Llewellyn Henry Gwynne, first suffragan Bishop of Khartoum (died 1957)[7]
• 18 June – George Essex Evans, Australian poet of Welsh parentage (died 1909)[8]
• 2 July – Billy Douglas, Wales international rugby player (died 1943)
• 7 August – Edward Perkins Alexander, Wales international rugby player (died 1931)
• 8 August – John Herbert Roberts, Baron Clwyd of Abergele, politician (died 1955)[9]
• 17 August – Joseph Harry, minister, writer and teacher (died 1950)
• 29 August – Sir Daniel Lleufer Thomas, magistrate (died 1940)[10]
• 10 September – Walter Rice Evans, Wales international rugby player (died 1909)
• 7 November – Rowley Thomas, Wales international rugby player (died 1949)

Deaths

• 17 February – Ebenezer Thomas (Eben Fardd), poet, 60[11]
• 28 February – David Williams (Alaw Goch), industrialist, 53[12]
• 21 March – David Griffiths, missionary, 71[13]
• 24 March – Thomas Powell, industrialist, 84[14]
• 13 April – George Cornewall Lewis, statesman, 56[15]
• May/June – David Bevan Jones (Dewi Elfed), Mormon leader, 55[16]
• 15 July – Edward Pryce Owen, artist, 75[17]
• 8 November – Joseph Hughes (Carn Ingli), poet, 60
• 13 December – Robert Saunderson, printer, 83
• 28 December – Thomas Bevan, Archdeacon of St David's, 63[18]

References

1. "Local Acts - 1863". Office of Public Sector Information. Archived from the original on 26 June 2008. Retrieved 23 May 2008.
2. Ransom, P. J. G. (1996). Narrow Gauge Steam: its origins and world-wide development. Sparkford: Oxford Publishing Co. ISBN 0-86093-533-7.
3. E. Wyn James. "'Watching the white wheat' and 'That hole below the nose': English ballads of a late-nineteenth-century Welsh jobbing-printer (2000). First published in Sigrid Rieuwerts & Helga Stein (eds), Bridging the Cultural Divide: Our Common Ballad Heritage (Hildersheim, Germany: Georg Olms Verlag, 2000), pp. 178-94. ISBN 3-487-11016-4". Cardiff University. Retrieved 13 March 2018.
4. Travis L. Crosby (30 January 2014). The Unknown David Lloyd George: A Statesman in Conflict. I.B.Tauris. p. 2. ISBN 978-1-78076-485-6.
5. Arthur Machen (17 November 2013). Delphi Collected Works of Arthur Machen (Illustrated). Delphi Classics. p. 4903. ISBN 978-1-909496-67-5.
6. Dillwyn Miles (1976). Sheriffs of the County of Pembroke, 1541-1974. p. 71.
7. H̤̊asan Makkī Muh̤̊ammad Ah̤̊mad (1989). Sudan, the Christian design: a study of the missionary factor in Sudan's cultural and political integration, 1843-1986. Islamic Foundation. p. 49. ISBN 978-0-86037-193-9.
8. Edmund Morris Miller (1975). Australian Literature from Its Beginnings to 1935: A Descriptive and Bibliographical Survey of Books by Australian Authors. Sydney University Press. p. 178. ISBN 978-0-424-06700-1.
9. Evan David Jones. "Roberts, John Herbert, Baron Clwyd of Abergele (1863-1955), politician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 14 March 2019.
10. Who was who. A. & C. Black. 1920. p. 1338.
11. Thomas Parry. "Thomas, Ebenezer (Eben Fardd; 1802-1863), schoolmaster and poet". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
12. Watkin William Price. "Williams, David (Alaw Goch; 1809-1863), coal-owner and eisteddfodwr". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
13. Ebenezer Curig Davies. "Griffiths, David (1792-1863), missionary". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
14. Walter Thomas Morgan. "Powell, Thomas (1779-1863), coal-owner". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
15. David Williams. "Lewis, Sir George Cornewall (1806-1863), statesman". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
16. David Leslie Davies. "Jones, David Bevan (1807-1863), minister (B, and Church of Christ and Latter Day Saints – Mormons)". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
17. William Llewelyn Davies. "Owen, Edward Pryce (1788-1863), cleric and artist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 7 August 2019.
18. "The Gentleman's Magazine (January–June 1864: obituaries, p261