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1866 in Wales

← 1865 1864 1863 1862 1861 1866 in Wales → 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1840s 1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s
See also:	List of years in Wales Timeline of Welsh history 1866 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1866toWales and its people.

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey^[1][2][3][4]
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – George Pratt, 2nd Marquess Camden (until 8 August) Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar (from 27 September)^[5][6]
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet (until 14 September); Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (from 14 September)^[7]
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse^[8][2]
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Robert Myddelton Biddulph^[9]
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet^[10]
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot^[11]
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn^[12]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Benjamin Hall, 1st Baron Llanover^[13]
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Sudeley Hanbury-Tracy, 3rd Baron Sudeley^[14]
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 3rd Baron Kensington^[15]
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite^[16][2]

• Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell^[17][18]
• Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant^[19]
• Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short^[20][21][19]
• Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall^[19][22]

• 5 February — Railway contractor Thomas Savin goes bankrupt, resulting in a temporary halt in the construction of the Aberystwith and Welsh Coast Railway.^[23]
• 31 March — The last public execution in Wales takes place as Robert Coe is hanged in Swansea.^[24]
• 1 May — Wrexham, Mold and Connah's Quay Railway opens to passengers.
• July — Launch of Yr Australydd, a Welsh language Calvinistic Methodist newspaper, in Victoria (Australia), edited by William Meirion Evans and Theophilus Williams.^{[citation needed]}
• 5 September — The Pembroke and Tenby Railway is extended for passengers to Whitland.^[25]
• 6 September — Six people are killed in a railway derailment near Criccieth.
• September — The song Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau — later to become the official national anthem of Wales — is sung for the first time at the National Eisteddfod held at Chester.
• 17 October — First confirmed death from a cholera epidemic in Carnarvon.^[26]
• December — The Talyllyn Railway officially opens.^[27]
• Sir George Gilbert Scott begins work on the renovation of Bangor Cathedral.
• The Baptist Union of Wales is established.
• Whiteford LighthouseonGower, the only remaining large wave-swept cast-iron lighthouse built in the UK, is first lit.^[28]
• Edward Gordon Douglas is created Baron Penrhyn.
• Morris Brothers department store established at Tenby; it will still be trading 150 years later.^[29]

• The National Eisteddfod of Wales is held at Chester in England.
  • The harpist William Frost is awarded a pedal harp by Pencerdd Gwalia

• Rees Howell Gronow — Last Recollections

• Richard Davies (Mynyddog) — Caneuon Mynyddog^[30]
• Roger Edwards — Y Tri Brawd
• William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) — Nodiadau ar yr Epistol at yr Hebreaid^[31]

• John Owen (Owain Alaw) — Gŵyl Gwalia
• John Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia) — The Bride of Neath Valley (cantata)^[32]
• The Eryri music festival (Gwyl Gerddorol Eryri) is founded.

• Cricket — Hawarden Park Cricket Club is founded, reputedly by William Ewart Gladstone.
• Rugby football — First competitive game played in Wales, between college teams at Lampeter.

• 13 January — Frank Hill, Wales international rugby captain (died 1927)^[33]
• 21 January — Sir Owen Cox, politician and businessman in Australia (died 1932)^[34]
• 22 March — Willie Thomas, Wales international rugby captain (died 1921)
• 1 April — Sir William Henry Hoare Vincent, diplomat (died 1941)^[35]
• 18 April — Frederick Llewellyn-Jones, lawyer and politician (died 1941)^[36]
• 20 April — Sir John Milsom Rees, laryngologist (died 1952)^[37]
• 30 May — John Gruffydd Moelwyn Hughes, poet and hymn-writer (died 1944)
• 5 August — Sir Edward Anwyl, Celtic scholar (died 1914)^[38]
• 7 August — Charles Granville Bruce, mountaineer (died 1939)^[39]
• 13 August - William Finney, cricketer (died 1927)
• 24 August — Caesar Jenkyns, footballer (died 1941)
• 4 October — Robert Jones (Trebor Aled), poet (died 1917)^[40]
• 12 October — James Ramsay MacDonald, politician (died 1937)^[41]
• 4 November — Sir David William Evans, lawyer, public servant and Wales international rugby player, (died 1926)
• 5 November — Daniel Protheroe, conductor and choirmaster (died 1934)^[42]
• 14 November — Tom Morgan Wales international rugby player (died 1899)
• 24 November — Alexander Bland, Wales international rugby player (died 1947)
• 4 December — Dai Lewis (died 1943), rugby union forward who played international rugby for Wales
• 10 December — Stanley L. Wood, illustrator (died 1928^[43]
• 15 December — William Williams, Wales national rugby union player (died 1945)
• date unknown — David Delta Evans (Dewi Hiraddug), journalist, author, and Unitarian minister (died 1948)^[44]

• 16 January — David Owen (Brutus), literary editor, 70^[45]
• 27 January — John Gibson, sculptor, 75^[46]
• 31 January — Owen Owen Roberts, physician, 73^[47]
• 29 March - Thomas Jones (Glan Alun) [cy], poet, 55
• 19 May — David Davis, Blaengwawr, industrialist, 69^[48]
• 31 August (approx) — Robert Jermain Thomas, missionary (murdered in Korea), 26
• October — Evan Bevan, humorous writer, 42/43^[49]
• 16 October — Angharad Llwyd, antiquary, 86^[50]
• 27 October — William Rowlands, minister and author active in the USA
• 30 October — George Lort Phillips, MP for Pembrokeshire, 55 (injuries from a fall)^[51]
• 1 December (inLondon) — George Everest, surveyor and geographer, 76^[52]

• 1866 in Ireland