# 1872 in Wales

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1872 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 – Robert Myddelton Biddulph (until 21 March); William Cornwallis-West (from 5 June)
* 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, 3rd Baron Kensington (until 1 January); William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington (from 6 February)
* 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

* 5 January — In a mining accident at Blackwood Colliery, five men are killed.
* 2 March — In a mining accident at Victoria Colliery, Ebbw Vale, nineteen men are killed.
* 18 June — A derailment occurs in the Pencader Tunnel on the Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway.
* 12 July — Cardiff Tramways Company begins operation of horse trams.
* 15 July — The Colwyn Bay Hotel is opened.
* 1 August — Minffordd railway station is opened.
* 9 October — University College Wales, Aberystwyth, opens with 26 students; Thomas Charles Edwards is its first principal.
* unknown dates
** Stocks are used on the last recorded occasion in the UK, at Adpar in Cardiganshire, when a man is imprisoned in them for drunkenness.
** Nitrocellulose manufacture at Penrhyndeudraeth begins.

## Arts and literature
### New books

* R. D. Blackmore — The Maid of Sker
* Thomas Thomas — Hynodion Hen Bregethwyr Cymru

### Music

* The South Wales "Cor Mawr", conducted by Griffith R. Jones (Caradog) wins a national choral competition at Crystal Palace.

## Sport

* Cricket — First game played at Elwy Grove Park, St Asaph.
* Football — 28 September: Wrexham Football Club is founded. They play at the Racecourse Ground.

## Births

* 21 February — Evan Lorimer Thomas, clergyman and academic (died 1953)
* 16 March — Vernon Hartshorn, politician (died 1931)
* 6 May — William Llewellyn Thomas, Wales international rugby player (died 1943)
* 10 May — Tom Pearson, Wales international rugby player (died 1957)
* 18 May — Bertrand Russell, philosopher (died 1970)
* 14 July — David Morgan, Wales international rugby player (died 1933)
* 14 September — Albert Jenkin, Wales international rugby player (died 1961)
* 8 October — John Cowper Powys, Anglo-Welsh writer (died 1963)
* date unknown — Thomas Jeremiah Williams, lawyer and politician (died 1919)

## Deaths

* 1 January — William Edwardes, 3rd Baron Kensington, Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire, 70
* 9 January — Crawshay Bailey, industrialist
* 21 March — Robert Myddelton Biddulph, landowner and politician, 66
* 24 March — James Williams, clergyman and philanthropist, 81
* 13 April — Thomas Vowler Short, Bishop of St Asaph
* 3 August — William Davies Evans, chess player, 82
* 18 August — Evan Jones, missionary, 84
* 22 August — Evan Davies, educator, 84
* 26 September — William Williams (Carw Coch), poet
* 28 September — Lleyson Hopkin Davy, government representative, brewer and industrialist, 89/90
* 16 October — David Lewis, MP for Carmarthen, 75
* 11 November — Mary Anne Disraeli, wife of British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 80