# 1873 in Wales

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This article is about the particular significance of the year 1873 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – William Owen Stanley
* Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar
* 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 – Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet
* 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 – Sudeley Hanbury-Tracy, 3rd Baron Sudeley
* Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington
* Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite
* Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
* Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant
* Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
* Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall

## Events

* 1 March – The sailing ship Chacabuco sinks off the Great Orme with the loss of 24 lives.
* 18 March – Work begins on construction of the Severn Tunnel.
* 30 March – The Glyn Valley Tramway opens as a horse-worked line to carry slate and other minerals from Glyn Ceiriog to Chirk.
* 19 August – The Holyhead Breakwater (the longest in the world) is officially opened by Albert Edward, Prince of Wales. having taken 28 years to construct.
* 9 October – The first recorded sheepdog trial in the UK takes place at Bala.
* 2 December – In a mining accident at Hafod Colliery, Rhiwabon, five men are killed.
* date unknown – Construction of:
** Tŵr Mawr Lighthouse on Ynys Llanddwyn.
** Buckley Arms hotel, Dinas Mawddwy, in reinforced concrete.

## Arts and literature
### New books

* Rhoda Broughton – Nancy
* Robert Elis (Cynddelw) – Manion Hynafiaethol
* Ebenezer Thomas – Gweithiau Barddonol Eben Fardd (posthumously published)

### Music

* Henry Brinley Richards – Songs of Wales
* Richard Davies (Mynyddog) writes the song "Rheolau yr Aelwyd", the basis of "Sosban Fach".

## Sport

* December – Major Walter Wingfield of Nantclwyd Hall at Llanelidan designs a game for the amusement of his visitors. Wingfield soon patents nets for the game of lawn tennis, which he calls "sphairistike".

## Births

* 7 January – Christopher Williams, artist (died 1934)
* 16 January – Ivor Guest, 1st Viscount Wimborne, politician (died 1939)
* 7 April
** John Dyfnallt Owen, poet and Archdruid (died 1956)
** Charles Butt Stanton, politician (died 1946)
* 23 April – Sir Robert Thomas, 1st Baronet, politician (died 1951)
* 1 May – Harry Evans, musician (died 1914)
* 22 May – J. Brynach Davies [cy] (Brynach) (died 1923)
* 5 June – Ben Davies, Wales international rugby player (died 1930)
* 14 October – Sam Livesey, actor (died 1936)
* date unknown – Arthur Tysilio Johnson, plantsman and author of The Perfidious Welshman (died 1956)

## Deaths

* January – John Emlyn Jones, poet, 54
* 27 January – Josiah Thomas Jones, publisher, 73
* 20 February – (at Launceston, Tasmania) William Jones, Chartist leader, 64
* 29 March – David Jones, merchant in Australia, 80
* 17 May – Lord William Paget, soldier and politician, 70
* 9 October – John Evan Thomas, sculptor, 63
* 31 October – William Ambrose (Emrys), poet, 60
* 10 November – Maria Jane Williams, musician, 78