# 1881 in Wales

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1881 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 – Alfred Ollivant
* Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
* Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones

## Events

* January – At least five people freeze to death during blizzards and extreme low temperatures throughout Wales.
* 4 March – Physician William Price marries 22-year-old Gwenllian Llywelyn in a Druidic ceremony at Pontypridd on his 81st birthday.
* 27 August – The Sunday Closing (Wales) Act prohibits the sale of alcohol on a Sunday. This is the first Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom since the 1542 Act of Union whose application is restricted to Wales.
* 13 October – 19 people drown when the Cyprian is wrecked off the Lleyn peninsula.
* date unknown
** Welsh Regiment formed as part of the Childers Reforms of the British Army, incorporating the 41st (Welsh) Regiment of Foot.
** River Vyrnwy is dammed to create Lake Vyrnwy.

## Arts and literature

The Cambrian Academy of Art is formed by English and Welsh artists in North Wales.

## Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Merthyr Tydfil
* Chair – Evan Rees ("Dyfed"), "Cariad"
* Crown – Watkin Hezekiah Williams

### New books

* Amy Dillwyn – Chloe Arguelle
* Daniel Owen – Y Dreflan

### Music
## Sport

* Rugby union
** 19 February – First Wales national game, played at Blackheath against England. Wales lose heavily.
** 12 March – The Welsh Rugby Union is formed as the Welsh Football Union in a meeting in Neath.

## Births

* 1 January – George Latham, footballer (died 1939)
* 3 January – Lewis Pugh Evans, VC recipient (died 1962)
* 14 February – William John Gruffydd, academic and politician (died 1954)
* 9 April – John Hart Evans, Wales international rugby player (died 1959)
* 15 April – David Thomas ("Afan"), composer (died 1928)
* 16 April – Ifor Williams, academic (died 1965)
* 5 May – Rupert Price Hallowes, VC recipient (died 1915)
* 16 June – David Grenfell, politician (died 1968)
* 20 June – John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute, landowner (died 1947)
* August – John Lewis, footballer (died 1954)
* 30 September – Philip Lewis Griffiths, lawyer (died 1945)
* 1 October – Cliff Pritchard, Wales international rugby player (died 1954)
* 28 October – Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans, explorer (died 1957)
* 10 December – David Phillips Jones, Wales international rugby player (died 1936)
* December – George Hall, politician (died 1965)
* date unknown
** Robert Williams, trade union leader (died 1936)

## Deaths

* 3 January – William H. C. Lloyd, clergyman, 78
* 19 January – John Roose Elias, poet, 60
* 11 March – Thomas Brigstocke, portrait painter, 71
* 20 April – William Burges, architect, 53
* 7 June – William Milbourne James, judge, 74
* 26 July – George Borrow, author of Wild Wales, 78
* 13 October – Edwin Barber Morgan, Welsh-descended president of Wells Fargo, 67
* 20 November – Hugh Owen, educationist, 77
* 22 November – John Owen Griffith (Ioan Arfon), poet and critic, 53
* 10 December – Walter Powell, industrialist and politician, 39