1878 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1878 to Wales and its people.

← 1877 1876 1875 1874 1873 1878 in Wales → 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1878 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Albert Edward
• Princess of Wales – Alexandra

Events

• March
  • The 'basic' process, enabling the use of phosphoric iron ore in steelmaking, developed at the failing Blaenavon Ironworks by Percy Gilchrist and Sidney Gilchrist Thomas, is first made public.[1]
  • The Swansea Improvements and Tramway Company SITC) opens a street tramway from Gower Street, Swansea, to join up with the Oystermouth Railway.[2]
• 16–17 July – Spanish seaman Joseph Garcia, just released from Usk Prison, murders all 5 members of the Watkins family at Llangybi, Monmouthshire.[3]
• 17 July – Swansea tramways are forced by legal action to return to horse-drawn operation after experimenting with steam locomotives.[4]
• 11 September – In a mining accident at the Prince of Wales Colliery, Abercarn, 268 men are killed.[5]
• Founding of Dr Williams School for Girls at Dolgellau.[6]
• Opening of Marine Drive around the Great Orme at Llandudno.
• A passenger ferry service is established between Bangor and Porthaethwy on the Menai Strait.
• Industrialist John Corbett buys Ynysymaengwyn.
• The prison system in Wales is nationalised and brought under centralised government control.[7]
• Nanteos Cup first exhibited.

Arts and literature

New books

• Daniel Silvan Evans – Celtic Remains
• William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) – Llythyrau 'Rhen Ffarmwr

Music

• John Owen (Owain Alaw) – Jeremiah (oratorio)

Sport

• Football – The Welsh Cup competition takes place for the first time, and is won by Wrexham.

Births

• 4 January – Augustus John, painter (died 1961)
• 30 January – Reg Skrimshire, Wales and British Lions rugby union player (died 1963)
• 24 February – Lou Phillips, Wales international rugby player (killed in action 1916)
• 3 March – Edward Thomas, poet (killed in action 1917)
• 12 March – Mary Sophia Allen, women's rights activist (died 1964)
• 15 March – Thomas Richards, historian and librarian (died 1962)[8]
• 21 March – Edwin Thomas Maynard, Wales international rugby player (died 1961)
• 16 April – Owen Thomas Jones, geologist (died 1967)
• 26 May – Abel J. Jones, writer (died 1949)
• 5 June – Billy O'Neill, Wales national rugby player (died 1955)
• 8 June – Evan Roberts, religious revivalist (died 1951)[9]
• 20 June – Seymour Farmer, politician in Canada (died 1951)
• 1 July – Billy Trew, rugby player and Welsh Triple Crown winning captain (died 1926)
• 27 August – Edgar Rees Jones, lawyer and politician (died 1962)
• 28 October – Charles Benjamin Redrup, aeronautical engineer (died 1961)
• 30 October – Caradog Roberts, musician (died 1935)[10]
• 8 November – Dorothea Bate, palaeontologist (died 1951)
• 31 December – Caradoc Evans, writer (died 1945)
• date unknown – Richard Hughes Williams (Dic Tryfan), Welsh language short story writer (died 1919)

Deaths

• 16 February – Alexander Jones, footballer, 23 (accidentally shot)[11]
• 25 February – Townsend Harris, Welsh-descended American diplomat, 73[12]
• 30 March – Peter Maurice, priest and writer, 74[13]
• 4 July – William Roos, Welsh artist and engraver, 70[14]
• 13 August – Francis Rice, 5th Baron Dynevor, 74[15]
• 30 September – Evan James, poet, lyricist of the Welsh national anthem, 69
• 18 November – John Jones (Mathetes), clergyman and writer, 57
• 20 November – William Thomas (Islwyn), poet, 46[16]
• 25 November – Llewelyn Lewellin, clergyman and academic, 80[17]
• 5 December – David Price, minister, 67[18]
• 13 December – David Charles, secretary of the University for Wales movement, 56

References

1. Davies, William Llewelyn (2009). "Thomas, Sidney Gilchrist". Welsh Biography Online. Retrieved 9 November 2012.
2. The Tramway Review. Light Railway Transport League. 1993. p. 97.
3. Williams, Roger (2004). Their Deadly Trade: Murders in Monmouthshire. Llandysul: Gomer Press. ISBN 1-84323-389-4.
4. The Tramway Review. Light Railway Transport League. 1993. p. 100.
5. United States Department of State (1897). Commercial Relations of the United States with Foreign Countries. U.S. Government Printing Office. p. 593.
6. W. Gareth Evans (1 January 1990). Education and Female Emancipation: The Welsh Experience, 1847–1914. University of Wales Press. p. 75. ISBN 978-0-7083-1079-3.
7. Davies, John; Jenkins, Nigel (2008). The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. Cardiff: University of Wales Press. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
8. Gwilym Beynon Owen. "Richards, Thomas (1878–1962), librarian and historian". Welsh Biography Online. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
9. Gomer Morgan Roberts. "Roberts, Evan (1878–1951), 'Y Diwygiwr (the Revivalist)' revivalist preacher". Welsh Biography Online. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
10. Robert David Griffith. "Roberts, Caradog (1878–1935), musician". Welsh Biography Online. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
11. Davies, Gareth; Garland, Ian (1991). Who's Who of Welsh International Soccer Players. Bridge Books. ISBN 1-872424-11-2.
12. David Shavit (1990). The United States in Asia: A Historical Dictionary. Greenwood Publishing Group. p. 218. ISBN 978-0-313-26788-8.
13. Thomas Mardy Rees (1908). Notable Welshmen (1700-1900): ... with Brief Notes, in Chronological Order, and Authorities. Herald Office. p. 353.
14. Thomas Mardy Rees (1912). Welsh Painters, Engravers, Sculptors (1527–1911). Welsh Publishing Company. p. 125.
15. The Illustrated London News. William Little. 1878. p. 167.
16. David Gwenallt Jones. "THOMAS, WILLIAM (Islwyn; 1832–1878), Calvinistic Methodist minister, and poet". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 6 March 2019.
17. Thomas Iorwerth. "Lewellin, Llewelyn (1798–1878), cleric". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 10 October 2019.
18. "Funeral of a Dissenting Minister at Aberdare". Cardiff Times. 14 December 1878. Retrieved 22 January 2014.