1879 in Wales

← 1878 1877 1876 1875 1874 1879 in Wales → 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1879 in The United Kingdom Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1879 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

For United Kingdom incumbents, see 1879 in the United Kingdom § Incumbents.

• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd ^[1]

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – William Owen Stanley ^{[2] [3] [4] [5]}
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk ^[6]
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn ^[7]
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse ^{[8] [3]}
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – William Cornwallis-West
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Hugh Robert Hughes
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot ^[9]
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn ^[10]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort ^[11]
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis ^[12]
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington ^[3]
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Arthur Walsh, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite

• Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell ^{[13] [14]}
• Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant ^[15]
• Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes ^{[16] [15]}
• Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones ^{[15] [17]}

Events

• 13 January – In a mining accident at Dinas Colliery, Llantrisant in the Rhondda, 63 men are killed. ^[18]
• 22–23 January – Rorke's Drift is successfully defended by 139 British soldiers from the South Wales Borderers against an assault by 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors.
• 2 May – Eleven Victoria Crosses are awarded to soldiers active in the defence of Rorke's Drift, the recipients including Privates John Williams and Robert Jones. ^[19]
• 1 September – The ballroom of the Lord Nelson Hotel in Milford Haven becomes the first in the UK to be lit by electricity. ^[20]
• 22 September – In a mining accident at Waunllwyd, Ebbw Vale, 84 men are killed.
• 3 October – Pryce Pryce-Jones opens his Royal Welsh Warehouse at Newtown, Montgomeryshire.
• 17 October – Official opening of the Severn Railway Bridge in Gloucestershire (destroyed in 1960).
• 29 November – Stradey Park opens as the home of Llanelli RFC. ^[21] It remains the home for Llanelli RFC for nearly 130 years, and later for the regional side Scarlets, but closes in November 2008 when the teams' new home, Parc y Scarlets , opens in nearby Pemberton.
• date unknown
  • Railway engine drivers and firemen from Griffithstown form a craft union which becomes the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen.
  • The Croesor Tramway becomes the Portmadoc, Croesor and Beddgelert Tram Railway. ^[22]
  • Butter (General) Market in Wrexham opens. ^[23]
  • Welsh draper D H Evans opens his shop in London's Oxford Street. ^[24]

Arts and literature

New books

English language

• D. Walter Thomas & Edward Hughes – The Cymric language
• Brinley Richards – The Songs of Wales (Royal Edition)

Welsh language

• Beriah Gwynfe Evans – Owain Glyndwr (play) ^[25]
• Daniel Owen – Offrymau Neilltuaeth ^[26]

Music

• Joseph Parry
  • "Aberystwyth" (first published) ^[27]
  • "Man of Sorrows"
• Edward Stephen – Ail Lyfr Tonau ac Emynau ("The Second Book of Tunes and Hymns") ^[27]

Sport

• Football
  • 18 January – Wales play England for the first time, at Kennington Oval. Wales lose 2–1, but see their first international goal, scored by William Davies.
  • Newtown win the Welsh Cup in the second year of its existence.
• Rugby union
  • 18 January – Treherbert RFC play Cardiff for the first time.
  • Brecon RFC and Ebbw Vale RFC are founded.
• Tennis – The first tennis club in Wales is formed by the Newport Athletic Club.

Births

• 1 January
  • Ernest Jones, psychiatrist (died 1958)
  • Willie Llewellyn, Wales international rugby union (died 1973)
• 15 March – David John Thomas, Wales international rugby union (died 1925)
• 7 April – Philip Turnbull, hockey player (died 1930)
• 23 June – Percy Bush, Wales international rugby union player (died 1955)
• 8 August – Arthur Harding, Wales international rugby union captain (died 1947)
• 28 August – E. E. Clive, actor and director (died 1940 in Hollywood) ^[28]
• 29 August – Donough O'Brien, cricketer (died 1953)
• 3 September – Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans, botanist (died 1968) ^[29]
• 4 September – Eliot Crawshay-Williams, politician and writer (died 1962) ^[30]
• 12 September – Rupert Davies, Welsh-Canadian politician (died 1967)
• 2 October – Idris Bell, papyrologist (died 1967) ^[31]
• 6 November – George Daggar MP, politician (died 1950) ^[32]
• 9 November – S. O. Davies, politician (died 1972)
• 27 November – Dick Jones, Welsh international rugby player (died 1958)

Deaths

• 22 January – John Vivian, MP, English-born member of the Vivian family, 60 ^[33]
• 20 February – John Orlando Parry, actor, pianist, artist, comedian and singer, 69 ^[34]
• 5 March – John Davies of Nercwys, minister and writer, 79 ^[35]
• 28 March – Robert Jones, Anglican priest and writer, 69
• 10 May – Robert Thompson Crawshay, ironmaster, 62 ^[36]
• 14 May – Thomas Nicholas, antiquary, 63 ^[37]
• 13 August – Edward Edwards, zoologist, 75 ^[38]
• 25 August – John Evans, Welsh-born Canadian politician, 63 ^[39]
• 23 September – Francis Kilvert, diarist, 39 ^[40]
• 11 December – William Thomas (Gwilym Marles), minister and writer, uncle of Dylan Thomas, 45 ^[41]

See also

• 1879 in Ireland

References

1. Daniel Williams. "GRIFFITH, DAVID (Clwydfardd; 1800–1894)". Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales. Retrieved 15 December 2019.
2. Edward Breese (1873). Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. p. 24.
3. J.C. Sainty (1979). List of Lieutenants of Counties of England and Wales 1660-1974. London: Swift Printers (Sales) Ltd.
4. Nicholas, Thomas (1991). Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales. Baltimore: Genealogical Pub. Co. p. 695. ISBN   9780806313146.
5. Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru. University of Wales Press. 1992. p. 169.
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. Campbell, Thomas Methuen (2000). "C.R.M. Talbot 1803–1890". Morgannwg. 44: 66–104. Retrieved 17 May 2014.
10. Edward Breese (1873). Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. p. 29.
11. James Henry Clark (1869). History of Monmouthshire. County Observer. p. 375.
12. Evan David Jones (1959). "Herbert family (earls of Powis)". Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales . Retrieved 27 February 2022.
13. Fryde, E. B. (1996). Handbook of British chronology. Cambridge England: New York Cambridge University Press. p. 292. ISBN   9780521563505.
14. Thomas Duffus Hardy (1854). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales... University Press. p. 266.
15. Thomas Duffus Hardy (1854). Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales... University Press. p. 307.
16. The Apostolical Succession in the Church of England. James Parkes and Company. 1866. p. 15.
17. "Jones, William Basil (Tickell) (1822–1897)". Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales . Retrieved 21 April 2011.
18. "Dinas Colliery Explosion – Llantrisant – 1879". Northern Mine Research Society. Retrieved 21 May 2021.
19. London Gazette, 2 May 1879. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
20. The Electrician. James Gray. 1879. p. 215.
21. "Scarlets official website". Archived from the original on 14 December 2009. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
22. Great Britain (1901). Local and Personal Laws.
23. The London Gazette. 1879. p. 5255.
24. Gordon Mackenzie (1972). Marylebone: great city north of Oxford Street. Macmillan. p. 80.
25. Professor Philip Schwyzer; Professor Willy Maley (28 April 2013). Shakespeare and Wales: From the Marches to the Assembly. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd. p. 213. ISBN   978-1-4094-7566-8.
26. David Daiches (1971). The Penguin companion to literature: Britain and the Commonwealth. Penguin. p. 407. ISBN   978-0-14-051034-8.
27. Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. Copyright Office, Library of Congress. 1953. p. 697.
28. "E.E. Clive, Actor, Dead in the West. Veteran of Stage and Screen Former Manager of Copley Theatre in Boston. Appeared in 1,159 Legitimate Plays Before Going into Moving Pictures". The New York Times . 7 June 1940. Retrieved 17 July 2009.
29. Bothalia, volume 10. South Africa Government Printing and Stationery Office. 1969. p. 131.
30. Charles Roger Dod; Robert Phipps Dod (1911). Dod's Parliamentary Companion. Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Limited. p. 257.
31. Wales. Druid Press. 1944. p. 103.
32. John Davies. "Daggar, George (1879–1950), trade unionist and Member of Parliament". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 26 May 2019.
33. "In Memoriam". The Cornishman. No. 48. 12 June 1879. p. 4.
34. Robert David Griffith (1959). "Parry, John ('Bardd Alaw'; 1776-1851), musician". Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales . Retrieved 28 February 2022.
35. Williams, Griffith John. "John Davies". Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Retrieved 13 June 2017.
36. Price, Watkin William (1959). "Crawshay family". Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales . Retrieved 3 November 2021.
37. Jenkins, John Austin (1894). "Nicholas, Thomas (1820-1879)". In Lee, Sidney (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 40. London: Smith, Elder & Co. p. 433.
38. Hunt, Robert (1889). "Edwards, Edward (1803-1879)"  . In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography . Vol. 17. London: Smith, Elder & Co. sources: [Athenæum, No. 2706, 6 Sept. 1879; information from friends in Anglesea, and from Edwards's son, Mr. John R. Edwards of Liverpool.]
39. Smith, Dorothy Blakey (1972). "John Evans". Dictionary of Canadian Biography Online . Retrieved 26 July 2011.
40. Robert Thomas Jenkins (1959). "Kilvert, Robert Francis (1840-1879), cleric and diarist". Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales . Retrieved 28 February 2022.
41. David Jacob Davies. "THOMAS, WILLIAM (Gwilym Marles; 1834–1879), Unitarian minister, social reformer, writer, and schoolmaster". Dictionary of Welsh Biography . National Library of Wales. Retrieved 6 March 2019.