1840 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1840 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Penry Williams^{[5] [6]}
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Peter Drummond-Burrell, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby^[7]
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – William Edward Powell^[2]
  • Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – George Rice, 3rd Baron Dynevor Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet (until 6 January); Robert Myddelton Biddulph (from 8 February)^[8]
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster^[9]
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute^[10]
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet (until 6 January); Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn (from 25 January)^[11]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Capel Hanbury Leigh^[12]
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis^[13]
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir John Owen, 1st Baronet^[14]
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – George Rodney, 3rd Baron Rodney^{[15] [2] [16]}
• Bishop of Bangor – Christopher Bethell^{[17] [18]}
  • Bishop of Llandaff – Edward Copleston Bishop of St Asaph – William Carey^[19]
• Bishop of St Davids – John Jenkinson (until 7 July); Connop Thirlwall (from 9 August)^{[20] [21] [22]}

Events

• 1 January - Trial of Chartists John Frost, Zephaniah Williams and William Jones for their part in the Newport Rising of 1839 continues at Monmouth^[23] before Chief Justice Tindal. This is the first trial where proceedings are recorded in shorthand.
• 16 January - Frost, Williams and Jones are all found guilty of high treason for their part in the Chartist riots,^[24] and are sentenced to death - the last time the sentence of hanging, drawing and quartering is passed in the United Kingdom, although following a nationwide petitioning campaign and, extraordinarily, direct lobbying of the Home Secretary by the Lord Chief Justice, it is commuted to transportation for life (and Frost is much later pardoned).
• 5 June - Joseph Brown is appointed Vicar Apostolic of the Roman Catholic District of Wales, being consecrated as a bishop on 28 October.
• 8 October - Taff Vale Railway is officially opened, the first steam-worked passenger railway in Wales, running from Cardiff docks to Navigation House at Abercynon via the Cardiff station known in modern days as Queen Street.^{[25] [26]} Public service begins the following day.
• 30 October - First branch of the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints in Wales formed in Flintshire.^[27]
• 18 November - The paddle steamer City of Bristol is wrecked at Llangennith, Gower, drowning about 22 people.^[28]
• Approximate date - Rebuilding of Gregynog Hall with extensive use of concrete begins.^[29]

Arts and literature

• An eisteddfod is held at Liverpool.

New books

English language

• Sir John Hanmer - Memorials of the Parish and Family of Hanmer
• William Lloyd - The Narrative of a Journey from Cawnpoor to the Boorendo Pass

Welsh language

• Evan Davies (Eta Delta) - Y Weinidogaeth a'r Eglwysi^[30]
• David Price (Dewi Dinorwig) - Y Catechism Cyntaf
• Taliesin Williams - Hynafiaeth ac Awdurdodaeth Coelbren y Beirdd

Music

• John Orlando Parry - Wanted: a Governess (opera)

Births

• 7 February - Charles Warren, military and police officer and archaeologist (died 1927)^[31]
• 21 June - Sir John Rhŷs, educationist (died 1915)
• 16 September - Alfred Thomas, 1st Baron Pontypridd (died 1927)
• 29 November - Rhoda Broughton, novelist (died 1920)^[32]
• 3 December - Francis Kilvert, diarist (died 1879)^[33]
• 5 December - John E. Jones, governor of Nevada (died 1896)
• 17 December - Matthew Vaughan-Davies, 1st Baron Ystwyth, politician (died 1935)

Deaths

• 6 January - Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet, politician and soldier, 67^[34]
• 17 March - William Williams of Wern, 58^[35]
• 19 May - John Blackwell (Alun), poet, 42?
• 7 July - John Jenkinson, Bishop of St Davids, 58^[36]

17 December - George Hay Dawkins-Pennant, politician, 76^[37]

See also

• 1840 in Ireland

Notes and References

1. Book: Edward Breese. Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. 1873. 24.
2. Book: J.C. Sainty . John Sainty (civil servant) . List of Lieutenants of Counties of England and Wales 1660-1974 . Swift Printers (Sales) Ltd . London . 1979.
3. Book: Nicholas, Thomas . Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales . Genealogical Pub. Co . Baltimore . 1991 . 9780806313146 . 695.
4. Book: Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru. University of Wales Press. 1992. 169.
5. Web site: Penpont including attached conservatory and rear service ranges. British Listed Buildings. 2 December 2021.
6. Book: Edwin Poole. 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. 1886. 378.
7. Book: Edward Breese. Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. 1873. 26.
8. Web site: Myddelton Biddulph, Robert (1805-1872), of Chirk Castle, Denb. and 35 Grosvenor Place, Mdx.. History of Parliament Online. 5 December 2021.
9. Old Wales: Monthly Magazine of Antiquities for Wales and the Borders. not known. William Retlaw Williams. "Old Wales" Office. 1907. 3. 106.
10. Book: Nicholas, Thomas . Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales . Genealogical Pub. Co . Baltimore . 1991 . 9780806313146 . 612.
11. Book: Edward Breese. Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. 1873. 29.
12. Book: Amy Audrey Locke. The Hanbury Family. Arthur L. Humphreys. 1916. 147.
13. s-POWY-HER-1674. Herbert family (earls of Powis). Evan David Jones. 1959. 30 November 2021.
14. Web site: Thorne . R.G. . John Owen (1776-1861) of Orielton, Pembrokeshire . History of Parliament . 27 March 2020.
15. Book: Jonathan Williams. The History of Radnorshire. R. Mason. 1859. 115.
16. Book: William Stockdale. Stockdale's Peerage of the United Kingdom. 1833. 86.
17. Book: Fryde, E. B. . Handbook of British chronology . New York Cambridge University Press . Cambridge England . 1996 . 9780521563505 . 292.
18. Book: Thomas Duffus Hardy. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales.... University Press. 1854. 305.
19. Book: The Apostolical Succession in the Church of England. James Parkes and Company. 1866. 15.
20. Book: Old Yorkshire, volume 3. 1882. 90.
21. Book: Thomas Duffus Hardy. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales.... University Press. 1854. 307.
22. Book: The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged. Porter. 1780. 95.
23. Book: Frost, John. Trial of John Frost for high treason: revised by a Barrister. 1839. 19.
24. Book: Samuel. Maunder. George William. Cox. The Treasury of History. New. 1856. Longman & Co.. 499–.
25. Book: Barrie, D. S.. The Taff Vale Railway. Oakwood Press. 1950.
26. Book: Edward Cresy. An Encyclopædia of Civil Engineering, Historical, Theoretical, and Practical. 1847. Longman, Brown, Green, and Longmans. Paternoster-Row. 595.
27. Web site: Wales. 2014-06-10.
28. Book: Bennett, Tom. Shipwrecks for Walkers 1: A Walkers Guide to Beach Wrecks Around Britain. Author. 28.
29. Book: Glyn Tegai. Hughes. Prys. Morgan. J. Gareth. Thomas. Gregynog. 1977. University of Wales Press. Cardiff. 978-0-7083-0634-5.
30. s-DAVI-EVA-1794. Davies, Evan (Eta Delta; 1794-1855), Independent minister. Richard Griffith Owen. 1959. 5 December 2021.
31. Book: The International Who's who: Who's who in the World. International Who's Who Publishing Company. 1910. 213.
32. Book: Broughton . Rhoda . Cometh Up As A Flower . March 2010 . Broadview Press . 978-1-77048-295-1 . 9 . en.
33. Book: Quesne, A. L. . After Kilvert . Oxford University Press . Oxford England New York . 1978 . 9780192117489 . 2.
34. Web site: Williams Wynn, Sir Watkin, 5th Bt. (1772-1840), of Wynnstay, Denb.. History of Parliament Online. 5 December 2021.
35. s-PREE-HEN-1834. Preece, Sir William Henry (1834-1913), electrical engineer. Edwin Augustine Owen. National Library of Wales. 15 August 2021.
36. Book: Fryde, E. B. . Handbook of British chronology . New York Cambridge University Press . Cambridge England . 1996 . 9780521563505 . 299.
37. Web site: Dawkins Pennant, George Hay (1764–1840), of Penrhyn Castle, Caern., History of Parliament Online. 10 June 2016.