1856 in Wales explained

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1856 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey^{[1] [2] [3] [4]}
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins^{[5] [6]}
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet^[7]
  • • Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Thomas Lloyd, Coedmore Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Robert Myddelton Biddulph^[8]
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet^[9]
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot^[10]
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn^[11]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Capel Hanbury Leigh^[12]
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley^[13]
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir John Owen, 1st Baronet^[14]
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite^{[15] [2]}
• Bishop of Bangor – Christopher Bethell^{[16] [17]}
• Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant^[18]
• Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short^{[19] [20]}
• Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall^{[21] [22] [23]}

Events

• 6 February – The sailing ship Grand Duke is wrecked off St Govan's Head, with the loss of 29 lives.
• 10 March – John Jones (Shoni Sguborfawr) is sentenced to three months hard labour for drunkenness.
• May – John Frost is given an unconditional pardon for his role in the Newport Chartist demonstrations of 1839.
• 3 July – 11 men are killed in a mining accident at Coalbrookdale, Nantyglo.
• 15 July – 114 men and boys are killed in a mining accident at Cymmer Old Pit, Porth, Rhondda.
• 16 September – The Festiniog Railway publishes its first printed timetable.
• 8 September – At the Siege of Sevastopol in the Crimean War, Corporal Robert Shields of the 23rd Regiment of Foot recovers a fatally wounded officer from an exposed position, an action for which he will receive the Victoria Cross.
• unknown dates
  • Troops are sent into Talargoch in Flintshire to deal with an industrial dispute involving lead miners.
  • Fishguard becomes the first county court in Wales to close.
  • Halkyn-born Mormon missionary Dan Jones returns to the United States on conclusion of his second (4-year) mission for the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints with between 550 and 700 Welsh saints bound for Salt Lake City.^[24]
  • Richard Cory sells his provision business and begins to trade as "Richard Cory and Sons" in the coal and shipping business.^[25]
  • Pryce Pryce-Jones takes over a drapery business in Newtown and begins to trade as the "Royal Welsh Warehouse", a mail order business.
  • The estate around Dinas Mawddwy is purchased by Lancashire industrialist Edmund Buckley.^[26]
  • Jane Williams (Ysgafell) returns to her native London, where she remains until her death nearly thirty years later.

Arts and literature

• Summer – Marian Evans (who has not yet adopted the pseudonym George Eliot) drafts "The Sad Fortunes of the Reverend Amos Barton", the first of her Scenes of Clerical Life (1857) and her first work of fiction, while holidaying at Tenby.

New books

English language

• Erasmus Jones – The Higher Law Triumphant: The Captive Youths of Judah
• Samuel Prideaux Tregelles – An Introduction to the Textual Criticism of the New Testament
• Jane Williams (Ysgafell) – The Origin, Rise, and Progress of the Paper People

Welsh language

• John Ceiriog Hughes – Gohebiaethau Syr Meurig Crynswth (vol. 1)
• John Jones (Ioan Emlyn) – Tiriad y Ffrancodym Mhencaer^[27]
• John Williams (Ab Ithel) – Dosparth Edeyrn Davod Aur^[28]

Music

• January – The Welsh national anthem, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau, is composed by James James with lyrics by his father Evan James.

Births

• 2 January – John Viriamu Jones, academic (died 1901)^[29]
• 26 March – David Alfred Thomas, 1st Viscount Rhondda, politician (died 1918)^[30]
• 1 April – Walter Jenkin Evans, academic (died 1927)
• 15 April – James Bevan, first Wales rugby union captain (died 1938)
• 15 June – Richard Garnons Williams, soldier and Wales international rugby union player (died 1915)
• 11 October – Sir Harry Reichel, academic (died 1931)
• 20 December – Egerton Phillimore, scholar (died 1937)

Deaths

• 3 January – Thomas Richard, minister, 72
• 18 February – James Morgan, engineer, 80?
• 28 March – Henry Watkins Williams-Wynn, politician, 73^[31]
• May – Thomas Robert Jones, founder of the Philanthropic Order of True Ivorites, 54
• 28 May – John Bryan, minister, 79/80^[32]
• 29 June – Peter Jones, Welsh-descended missionary, 54
• 14 August – Rev William Buckland, palaeontologist and discoverer of the "Red Lady of Paviland", 72^[33]

See also

• 1856 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. News: Editorial. 17 January 2022. Welshman. 6 October 1865.
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. Web site: Glynne, Sir Stephen Richard, 9th bt. (1807-1874), of Hawarden Castle, Flint. History of Parliament Online. 16 January 2022.
10. Web site: TALBOT, Christopher Rice Mansel (1803-1890), of Penrice Castle and Margam Park, Glam.. History of Parliament Online. 18 January 2022.
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. Web site: Hanbury Tracy, Charles (1778–1858), of Toddington, Glos. and Gregynog, Mont.. History of Parliament Online. 2 July 2013.
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: Fryde, E. B. . Handbook of British chronology . New York Cambridge University Press . Cambridge England . 1996 . 9780521563505 . 292.
17. Book: Thomas Duffus Hardy. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales.... University Press. 1854. 305.
18. Book: Frederick Arthur Crisp. Joseph Jackson Howard. Visitation of England and Wales. 1898. 15.
19. Book: Nicholas Harris Nicolas. The historic peerage of England: Revised, corrected, and continued ... by William Courthope. John Murray. 1857. 533.
20. Book: The Apostolical Succession in the Church of England. James Parkes and Company. 1866. 15.
21. Book: Old Yorkshire, volume 3. 1882. 90.
22. Book: Thomas Duffus Hardy. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales.... University Press. 1854. 307.
23. Book: The Monthly Review Or Literary Journal Enlarged. Porter. 1780. 95.
24. David. Williams. David Williams (historian). Jones, Daniel. s-JONE-DAN-1811. 1959. 10 June 2014.
25. s-CORY-BRO-1828. Cory (Cory Brothers and Company Limited). Watkin William Price. 1959. 23 January 2022.
26. News: The Manor of Mawddwy. Cambrian News. July 1869.
27. s-JONE-EML-1818. Jones, John (Emlyn)(Ioan Emlyn; 1818-1873), Baptist minister, poet, and man of letters. Robert Thomas Jenkins. 1959. 23 January 2022.
28. Book: John Williams. Dosparth Edeyrn Davod Aur, or, The Ancient Welsh Grammar. 1856. William Rees.
29. s-JONE-VIR-1856. Jones, John Viriamu (1856-1901), first principal of the University College, Cardiff. Edgar William Jones. National Library of Wales. 15 November 2019.
30. s-THOM-ALF-1856. Thomas, David Alfred (1856-1918), first viscount RHONDDA. businessman and politician, Liberal Member of Parliament. Brinley Thomas. 15 November 2019.
31. Wynn, Henry Watkin Williams. 63.
32. John Bryan. s-BRYA-JOH-1770. 16 August 2016.
33. Book: Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art. Report and Transactions - The Devonshire Association for the Advancement of Science, Literature and Art. 1933. 409.