1883 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1883 to Wales and its people.

← 1882 1881 1880 1879 1878 1883 in Wales → 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1883 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales – Albert Edward
• Princess of Wales – Alexandra
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd

Events

• 27 January – In the same storm, the James Gray is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl, and the Agnes Jack off Port Eynon. The Mumbles lifeboat puts out, and 5 of its crew are drowned in the rescue attempt, in which Jessie Ace and Margaret Wright assist.[1]
• 16 February – Six million tons of rock collapse at the Welsh Slate Company's underground quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
• 1 February – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Lewis Merthyr Colliery.
• 25 June – Six miners are killed in an accident at the New Duffryn Colliery, Rhymney.
• July – The steamship Rishanglys leaves three seamen, who are believed to be suffering from cholera, on the island of Flat Holm; one of them subsequently dies.[2]
• 21 August – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Gelli Colliery, Gelli, Glamorgan.
• 24 October – Cardiff University opens (under the name of University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire).
• 31 October – 18 people are drowned when the German barque Alhambra sinks off Holyhead.
• 13 November – Merthyr Tydfil-born Samuel Griffith becomes Premier of Queensland for the first time.
• c. November? – Closure of Point of Ayr lighthouse.
• Peak year for zinc production in Wales.
• Welsh-Canadian artist Robert Harris is commissioned to paint the Meeting of the Delegates of British North America.

Arts and literature

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Cardiff

• Chair – withheld[3]
• Crown – Anna Walter Thomas

New books

• Rhoda Broughton – Belinda
• Amy Dillwyn – A Burglary; or Unconscious Influence
• John Jones (Myrddin Fardd) – Adgof Uwch Anghof
• Robert Owen – Pilgrimage to Rome
• Robert Williams (Trebor Mai) – Gwaith Barddonol Trebor Mai (posthumously published)

Music

• Treorchy Male Voice Choir formed.

Sport

• Football – Wrexham win the Welsh Cup for the second time in its six-year history.
• Rugby union
  • Wales take part in the inaugural Home Nations Championship
  • First home international game played, hosted at St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea.
  • First Wales match against Scotland. Wales lose by three goals to one.

Births

• 6 January (in Shirehampton) – Harry Uzzell, Wales international rugby union captain (died 1960)
• 23 March – William Evans, Wales dual code international rugby player (died 1946)
• 30 April – David John de Lloyd, composer (died 1948)[4]
• 7 May – Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, newspaper magnate (died 1968)
• 12 May (in Glasgow) – James Walker, MP for Newport 1929–31 (died 1945)
• 28 May (in Gayton) – Clough Williams-Ellis, architect (died 1978)[5]
• 12 June (in London) – Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, suffragette (died 1958)
• 8 August – Iesu Grist Price, son of William Price (died 1884)
• 13 September (in South Shields) – Percy Thomas, architect (died 1969)[6]
• 14 October – Dick Thomas, Wales international rugby player (died 1916)
• 23 November – James 'Tuan' Jones, Wales and British Lion rugby player (died 1964)
• 13 December – Sir Frederick Rees, Welsh historian and academic
• date unknown
  • John Jones (Tydu), poet (died 1968)

Deaths

• 25 January – John Elias Davies, harpist, 35
• 29 January – John Owen (Owain Alaw), composer, 61
• 28 May – Hugh Jones, Principal of Llangollen Baptist College, 51
• 8 November – William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog), poet, 81[7]
• date unknown – John Batchelor, businessman and politician, 63

References

1. "Mumbles Lifeboat Disasters". National Coastwatch. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
2. Guy, John (1984). "Saving Flat Holm's Cholera Hospital". Exploring Local History (8): 244–246.
3. "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
4. Robert Evans; Maggie Humphreys (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 210. ISBN 978-1-4411-3796-8.
5. Gale Group (July 2002). Contemporary Authors. Cengage Gale. p. 459. ISBN 978-0-7876-4595-3.
6. RIBA Journal. Royal Institute of British Architects. 1984. p. 31.
7. Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (London, England) (1914). The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. The Society. p. 186.