# 1869 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1869 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey (until 7 February); William Owen Stanley (from 2 March)
* 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
* 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
* Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite
* Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
* Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant
* Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short
* Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall

## Events

* January
** Henry Austin Bruce becomes MP for Renfrewshire.
** Timothy Richards Lewis goes to India to study cholera.
* 1 May – The Western Mail is published for the first time.
* 19 May – Two days after John Young, the English manager of the Leeswood Green colliery, announces a pay cut, he is attacked by some of his workers.
* 2 June – Seven men are tried at Mold for attacking John Young. A riot breaks out as those convicted are being transported to the railway station; soldiers fire on the crowd, killing four people.
* 10 June
** 53 men and boys are killed in the second underground explosion within two years at Ferndale Colliery in the Rhondda.
** Three people are killed in a train derailment at Maesycwmmer in Glamorgan.
* August – Anti-Irish riots at Pontlottyn in the Rhymney Valley result in one death.
* 1 September – The Dyserth branch line is opened for goods traffic.
* 30 October – The first edition of the Welsh-language periodical Y Goleuad is published.
* unknown date
** Landore steelworks at Swansea established by Carl Wilhelm Siemens.
** John Hughes of Merthyr Tydfil buys land near the Sea of Azov, where he develops an ironworks and founds the city of Yuzovka (later Donetsk).
** Joseph Leycester Lyne (Father Ignatius of Jesus) acquires land at Capel-y-ffin and begins construction of an Anglican Benedictine community, Llanthony Abbey.
** Construction of the fort at St Catherine's Island, off Tenby.
** Prehistoric burial remains are discovered at Parc le Breos on the Gower Peninsula.
** John Owen of Tyn-llwyn is evicted from his farm for voting Tory.

## Arts and literature
### Awards

* The first official National Eisteddfod of Wales takes place at Holywell.

### New books

* J. H. Clark – History of Monmouthshire
* John Hugh Evans – Pryddest Goffa i Thomas Aubrey
* Jane Hughes – Galargan am y diweddar Barch. Henry Rees, Liverpool
* David Watkin Jones (Dafydd Morgannwg) – Yr Ysgol Farddol
* Nathaniel Jones (Cynhafal) – Elias y Thesbiad
* John Petherick – Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries
* William Rowlands – Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry (Bibliography of the Welsh) (posthumous; ed. Daniel Silvan Evans)
* Jane Williams (Ysgafell) – A History of Wales derived from Authentic Sources
* Robert Williams (Trebor Mai) – Y Geninen

### Music

* Owen Jones – Hymnau Hen a Diweddar (collection of hymns)

## Sport

* Football – Ruabon footballers set up a club at Plas Madoc.
* Mountaineering – Emmeline Lewis Lloyd attempts an ascent of the Matterhorn.

## Births

* 11 January – Ralph Sweet-Escott, English born, Wales rugby international (died 1907)
* 9 April – John Hugh Edwards, politician (died 1945)
* 19 May – John Henry Williams, Welsh politician (died 1936)
* 20 May – Robert Griffith Berry, minister and writer (died 1945)
* 12 August – Fred Parfitt, Wales international rugby player (died 1953)
* 6 September – Walford Davies, composer (died 1944)
* 24 September – Maud Cunnington, archaeologist (died 1951)
* 29 October – Bill Morris, Wales international rugby player (died 1946)
* 15 November – Percy Bennett, Wales international rugby player (died 1936)
* 20 November – Herbert Tudor Buckland, architect working in Birmingham (died 1951)

## Deaths

* 23 March – William Williams (Caledfryn), poet, 68
* 31 March – David Rees (Y Cynhyrfwr), Nonconformist leader and author, 67
* 16 April – James Davies (Iago ap Dewi), poet, 68
* 1 July – David Jones, banker and politician, 58
* 14 July – Lloyd Kenyon, 3rd Baron Kenyon, 64
* 26 August – William Williams (Creuddynfab), 55
* October – John Jones (Talhaiarn), poet, 59 (suicide)
* 7 October – George Rice-Trevor, 4th Baron Dynevor, politician, 74
* 9 November – Harriet Windsor-Clive, 13th Baroness Windsor, philanthropist,
* 15 December – David Williams, politician, 70
* 17 December – Sarah Jacob, "the fasting girl", 12