1883 In Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1883 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

* Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd

*Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – William Owen Stanley
*Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk
*Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn
* Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse
* 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
*Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn
* Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort
* Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis
* Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington
* Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Arthur Walsh, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite

* Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
* Bishop of Llandaff – Richard Lewis (from 25 April)
*Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
* Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones

Events

*27 January – In the same storm, the ''James Gray'' is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl, and the ''Agnes Jack'' off Port Eynon. The Mumbles lifeboat puts out, and 5 of its crew are drowned in the rescue attempt, in which Jessie Ace and Margaret Wright assist.
*16 February – Six million tons of rock collapse at the Welsh Slate Company's underground quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
*1 February – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Lewis Merthyr Colliery.
*25 June – Six miners are killed in an accident at the New Duffryn Colliery, Rhymney.
*July – The steamship ''Rishanglys'' leaves three seamen, who are believed to be suffering from cholera, on the island of Flat Holm; one of them subsequently dies.
*21 August – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Gelli Colliery, Gelli, Glamorgan.
*24 October – Cardiff University opens (under the name of University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire).
*31 October – 18 people are drowned when the German barque ''Alhambra'' sinks off Holyhead.
*13 November – Merthyr Tydfil-born Samuel Griffith becomes Premier of Queensland for the first time.
*c. November? – Closure of Point of Ayr lighthouse.
*Peak year for zinc production in Wales.
* Penydarren Ironworks closes completely.
*Welsh-Canadian artist Robert Harris is commissioned to paint the ''Meeting of the Delegates of British North America''.

Arts and literature

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Cardiff
*Chair – No winner
*Crown – Anna Walter Thomas

New books

*Rhoda Broughton – ''Belinda''
*Amy Dillwyn – ''A Burglary; or Unconscious Influence''
* John Jones (Myrddin Fardd) – ''Adgof Uwch Anghof''
*Robert Owen – ''Pilgrimage to Rome''
*Robert Williams (Trebor Mai) – ''Gwaith Barddonol Trebor Mai'' (posthumously published)

Music

*Treorchy Male Voice Choir formed.

Sport

*Football – Wrexham win the Welsh Cup for the second time in its six-year history.
*Rugby union
**Wales take part in the inaugural Home Nations Championship
**First home international game played, hosted at St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea.
**First Wales match against Scotland. Wales lose by three goals to one.

Births

*6 January (in Shirehampton) – Harry Uzzell, Wales international rugby union captain (died 1960)
*23 March – William Evans, Wales dual code international rugby player (died 1946)
*30 April – David John de Lloyd, composer (died 1948)
*7 May – Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, newspaper magnate (died 1968)
*12 May (in Glasgow) – James Walker, MP for Newport 1929–31 (died 1945)
*28 May (in Gayton) – Clough Williams-Ellis, architect (died 1978)
*12 June (in London) – Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, suffragette (died 1958)
*8 August – Iesu Grist Price, son of William Price (died 1884)
*13 September (in South Shields) – Percy Thomas, architect (died 1969)
*14 October – Dick Thomas, Wales international rugby player (died 1916)
*23 November – James 'Tuan' Jones, Wales and British Lion rugby player (died 1964)
* 13 December – Sir Frederick Rees, historian and academic (died 1967)
*''date unknown'' – John Jones (Tydu), poet (died 1968)

Deaths

*25 January – John Elias Davies, harpist, 35
*29 January
**John Owen (Owain Alaw), composer, 61
** Owen Gethin Jones, industrialist and poet, 66
*May – John Batchelor, businessman and politician, 63
*28 May – Hugh Jones, Principal of Llangollen Baptist College, 51
*18 August – Roger Vaughan, Benedictine monk and priest, Archbishop of Sydney, 49
*5 November – James Walton, Yorkshire-born textile inventor and industrialist, 80
* 8 November – William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog), poet, 81
*25 December – Townshend Mainwaring, politician, 76

See also

*1883 in Ireland

References

{{reflist

Wales

1883 in Europe
1880s in Wales