1879 in Wales explained

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

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 Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes^[15]
• Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones^{[16] [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

Notes and References

1. GRIFFITH, DAVID (Clwydfardd; 1800–1894). s-GRIF-DAV-1800. Daniel Williams. National Library of Wales. 15 December 2019.
2. Book: Edward Breese. Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. 1873. 24.
3. 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.
4. Book: Nicholas, Thomas . Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales . Genealogical Pub. Co . Baltimore . 1991 . 9780806313146 . 695.
5. Book: Cylchgrawn Hanes Cymru. University of Wales Press. 1992. 169.
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. News: Death of Colonel Pryse. 27 February 2018. Cambrian News. 1 June 1888. 4.
9. Campbell. Thomas Methuen. C.R.M. Talbot 1803–1890. Morgannwg. 2000. 44. 66–104. 17 May 2014.
10. Book: Edward Breese. Kalendars of Gwynedd; or, Chronological lists of lords-lieutenant [&c.] ... for the counties of Anglesey, Caernarvon, and Merioneth. 1873. 29.
11. Book: James Henry Clark. History of Monmouthshire. County Observer. 1869. 375.
12. s-POWY-HER-1674. Herbert family (earls of Powis). Evan David Jones. 1959. 27 February 2022.
13. Book: Fryde, E. B. . Handbook of British chronology . New York Cambridge University Press . Cambridge England . 1996 . 9780521563505 . 292.
14. Book: Thomas Duffus Hardy. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales.... University Press. 1854. 266.
15. Book: The Apostolical Succession in the Church of England. James Parkes and Company. 1866. 15.
16. Book: Thomas Duffus Hardy. Fasti Ecclesiae Anglicanae: Or A Calendar of the Principal Ecclesiastical Dignitaries in England and Wales.... University Press. 1854. 307.
17. s-JONE-BAS-1822 . Jones, William Basil (Tickell) (1822–1897) . 21 April 2011.
18. Web site: Dinas Colliery Explosion – Llantrisant – 1879. Northern Mine Research Society. 2021-05-21.
19. http://www.london-gazette.co.uk/issues/24717/pages/3178 London Gazette, 2 May 1879. Retrieved 21 October 2012.
20. Book: The Electrician. 1879. James Gray. 215.
21. Web site: Scarlets official website . 21 October 2012 . 14 December 2009 . https://web.archive.org/web/20091214074612/http://www.scarlets.co.uk/eng/heritage/2213.php . dead .
22. Book: Great Britain. Local and Personal Laws. 1901.
23. Book: The London Gazette. 1879. 5255.
24. Book: Gordon Mackenzie. Marylebone: great city north of Oxford Street. 1972. Macmillan. 80.
25. Book: Professor Philip Schwyzer. Professor Willy Maley. Shakespeare and Wales: From the Marches to the Assembly. 28 April 2013. Ashgate Publishing, Ltd.. 978-1-4094-7566-8. 213.
26. Book: David Daiches. The Penguin companion to literature: Britain and the Commonwealth. 1971. Penguin. 978-0-14-051034-8. 407.
27. Book: Catalog of Copyright Entries: Third series. 1953. Copyright Office, Library of Congress.. 697.
28. News: 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. . . 7 June 1940 . 17 July 2009 .
29. Book: Bothalia, volume 10. South Africa Government Printing and Stationery Office. 1969. 131.
30. Book: Charles Roger Dod. Robert Phipps Dod. Dod's Parliamentary Companion. 1911. Dod's Parliamentary Companion, Limited. 257.
31. Book: Wales. 1944. Druid Press. 103.
32. Web site: Daggar, George (1879–1950), trade unionist and Member of Parliament. John Davies. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. 26 May 2019.
33. News: In Memoriam. The Cornishman. 48. 12 June 1879. 4.
34. s-PARR-JOH-1776. Parry, John ('Bardd Alaw'; 1776-1851), musician. Robert David Griffith. 1959. 28 February 2022.
35. Web site: John Davies. Dictionary of Welsh Biography. National Library of Wales. Williams. Griffith John. 13 June 2017.
36. s-CRAW-CYF-1739. Crawshay family. Watkin William Price. Watkin William. Price. 1959. 3 November 2021.
37. Nicholas, Thomas (1820-1879) . John Austin . Jenkins . 40 . 433 . 1.
38. Edwards, Edward (1803-1879). Robert. Hunt . 17. sources: [Athenæum, No. 2706, 6 Sept. 1879; information from friends in Anglesea, and from Edwards's son, Mr. John R. Edwards of Liverpool.].
39. Encyclopedia: Smith . Dorothy Blakey . John Evans. . 1972. 26 July 2011.
40. s-KILV-FRA-1840. Kilvert, Robert Francis (1840-1879), cleric and diarist. Robert Thomas Jenkins. 1959. 28 February 2022.
41. s-THOM-WIL-1834. THOMAS, WILLIAM (Gwilym Marles; 1834–1879), Unitarian minister, social reformer, writer, and schoolmaster. David Jacob Davies.