1866 in Wales

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

← 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 1866 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales — Albert Edward
• Princess of Wales — Alexandra[1]

Events

• 5 February — Railway contractor Thomas Savin goes bankrupt, resulting in a temporary halt in the construction of the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway.[2]
• 31 March — The last public execution in Wales takes place as Robert Coe is hanged in Swansea.[3]
• 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.[4]
• 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.[5]
• 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 wave-swept cast-iron lighthouse ever built in the UK, is first lit.[6]
• Edward Gordon Douglas is created Baron Penrhyn.
• December — The Talyllyn Railway officially opens.[7]

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

• Richard Davies (Mynyddog) — Caneuon Mynyddog
• Roger Edwards — Y Tri Brawd
• Rees Howell Gronow — Last Recollections
• William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) — Nodiadau ar yr Epistol at yr Hebreaid[8]

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)[9]
• 30 May — John Gruffydd Moelwyn Hughes, poet and hymn-writer (died 1944)
• 5 August — Sir Edward Anwyl, Celtic scholar (died 1914)[10]
• 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)[11]
• 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
• 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 - Thomas Jones (Glan Alun), poet, 55
• 19 May — David Davis, Blaengwawr, industrialist, 69[12]
• 31 August (approx) — Robert Jermain Thomas, missionary (murdered in Korea), 26
• October — Evan Bevan, humorous writer, 42/43[13]
• 16 October — Angharad Llwyd, antiquary, 86[14]
• 27 October — William Rowlands, minister and author active in the USA
• 30 October — George Lort Phillips, MP for Pembrokeshire, 55 (injuries from a fall)[15]
• 1 December (in London) — George Everest, surveyor and geographer, 76

References

1. Georgina Battiscombe (2002). Queen Alexandra. Royal National Institute of the Blind.
2. 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.
3. Welsh Bibliographical Society (1950). The Journal of the Welsh Bibliographical Society. Welsh Bibliographical Society. p. 69.
4. 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.
5. Morris, Keith. "Cholera 1866". Carnarvon Traders. Retrieved 4 December 2015.
6. "Whitford Point Lighthouse". Coflein. Royal Commission on the Ancient and Historical Monuments of Wales. 2009. Retrieved 26 November 2010.
7. Boyd, James I. C. (1988). The Tal-y-llyn Railway. Wild Swan Publications Ltd. ISBN 0-906867-46-0.
8. William Rees (1866). Nodiadau eglurhaol ac ymarferol ar yr Epistol at yr Hebreaid.
9. Emyr Wyn Jones. "Rees, Sir John Milsom (1866-1952), surgeon and laryngologist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
10. Thomas Herbert Parry-Williams. "Anwyl, Sir Edward (1866-1914), Celtic scholar". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 11 June 2019.
11. Marquand, David: Ramsay MacDonald, London, 1977, pp. 4–5
12. Watkin William Price. "Davis family, of Hirwaun, Aberdare, and Ferndale, coalowners". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
13. Griffith Milwyn Griffiths. "Evan Bevan". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
14. Evan Gilbert Wright. "Llwyd, Angharad (1780-1866), antiquary". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 29 December 2019.
15. "Funeral of the Late Mr Lort Phillips". Potter's Electric News. 7 November 1866. Retrieved 13 December 2013.