1878 in Wales
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1878 to Wales and its people.
Incumbents
- Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales â Clwydfardd[1]
- Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey â William Owen Stanley[2][3][4][5]
- Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire â Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk[6]
- Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire â Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn[7]
- Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire â Edward Pryse[8][3]
- Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire â John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
- Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire â William Cornwallis-West
- Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire â Hugh Robert Hughes
- Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan â Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot[9]
- Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire â Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn[10]
- Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire â Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort[11]
- Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire â Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis[12]
- Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire â William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington[3]
- Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire â Arthur Walsh, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite
- Bishop of Bangor â James Colquhoun Campbell[13][14]
- Bishop of Llandaff â Alfred Ollivant[15]
- Bishop of St Asaph â Joshua Hughes[16][15]
- Bishop of St Davids â Basil Jones[15][17]
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.[18]
- The Swansea Improvements and Tramway Company SITC) opens a street tramway from Gower Street, Swansea, to join up with the Oystermouth Railway.[19]
- 16â17 July â Spanish seaman Joseph Garcia, just released from Usk Prison, murders all 5 members of the Watkins family at Llangybi, Monmouthshire.[20]
- 17 July â Swansea tramways are forced by legal action to return to horse-drawn operation after experimenting with steam locomotives.[21]
- 11 September â In a mining accident at the Prince of Wales Colliery, Abercarn, 268 men are killed.[22]
- Founding of Dr Williams School for Girls at Dolgellau with Eliza Ann Fewings as first head.[23]
- 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.
- Slate industry in Wales: The Oakeley quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog absorbs the previously independently-worked Upper and Middle quarries.[24]
- The prison system in Wales is nationalised and brought under centralised government control.[25]
- Nanteos Cup first exhibited.
Arts and literature
New books
- Daniel Silvan Evans (editor) â Celtic Remains[26]
- William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) â Llythyrau 'Rhen Ffarmwr
Music
- John Owen (Owain Alaw) â Jeremiah (oratorio)
Sport
Births
- 4 January â Augustus John, painter (died 1961)[27]
- 30 January â Reg Skrimshire, Wales and British Lions rugby union player (died 1963)
- 24 February â Lou Phillips, Wales international rugby player (killed in action 1916)
- 3 March â Edward Thomas, poet (killed in action 1917)[28]
- 12 March â Mary Sophia Allen, women's rights activist (died 1964)
- 15 March â Thomas Richards, historian and librarian (died 1962)[29]
- 21 March â Edwin Thomas Maynard, Wales international rugby player (died 1961)
- 16 April â Owen Thomas Jones, geologist (died 1967)[30]
- 26 May â Abel J. Jones, writer (died 1949)
- 5 June â Billy O'Neill, Wales national rugby player (died 1955)
- 8 June â Evan Roberts, religious revivalist (died 1951)[31]
- 20 June â Seymour Farmer, politician in Canada (died 1951)
- 1 July â Billy Trew, rugby player and Welsh Triple Crown winning captain (died 1926)
- 27 August â Edgar Rees Jones, lawyer and politician (died 1962)
- 28 October â Charles Benjamin Redrup, aeronautical engineer (died 1961)
- 30 October â Caradog Roberts, musician (died 1935)[32]
- 8 November â Dorothea Bate, palaeontologist (died 1951)
- 27 November â Dick Jones, Welsh international rugby player (died 1958)
- 31 December â Caradoc Evans, writer (died 1945)[33]
- date unknown â Richard Hughes Williams (Dic Tryfan), Welsh language short story writer (died 1919)[34]
Deaths
- 3 January â Morris Williams (Nicander), writer (born 1809)[35]
- 16 February â Alexander Jones, footballer, 23 (accidentally shot)[36]
- 25 February â Townsend Harris, Welsh-descended American diplomat, 73[37]
- 30 March â Peter Maurice, priest and writer, 74[38]
- 4 July â William Roos, Welsh artist and engraver, 70[39]
- 13 August â Francis Rice, 5th Baron Dynevor, 74[40]
- 30 September â Evan James, poet, lyricist of the Welsh national anthem, 69[41]
- 18 November â John Jones (Mathetes), clergyman and writer, 57[42]
- 20 November â William Thomas (Islwyn), poet, 46[43]
- 25 November â Llewelyn Lewellin, clergyman and academic, 80[44]
- 5 December â David Price, minister, 67[45]
- 13 December â David Charles, secretary of the University for Wales movement, 56