# 1853 in Wales

"none" is preferred when the title is sufficiently descriptive; see [[WP:SDNONE]]
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1853 to Wales and its people.

## Incumbents

* Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
* Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins
* Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet
* Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – William Edward Powell
* Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 1st 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 (from 4 May)
* Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn
* Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Capel Hanbury Leigh
* Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley
* Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir John Owen, 1st Baronet
* Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite
* Bishop of Bangor – Christopher Bethell
* Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant
* Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short
* Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall

## Events

* 23 January — Six members of the Rhyl lifeboat crew are drowned when the boat overturns.
* 11 November — Approval is given for the opening of the Vale of Neath Railway line from Gelli Tarw to Merthyr Tydfil, which had been postponed on safety grounds.
* date unknown
** David Williams (Alaw Goch) opens a new colliery at Cwmdare.
** Blaenavon Ironworks adopts the hot blast process.
** John Williams (Ab Ithel) quarrels with his friend and co-editor Harry Longueville Jones and resigns the editorship of Archaeologia Cambrensis.
** Two Welsh translations of Uncle Tom's Cabin are published: Caban F'Ewyrth Twm by Hugh Williams (Cadfan) and (an abridged version) Crynodeb o Gaban ‘Newyrth Tom by (probably) Thomas Levi (or William Williams) under the pen-name Y Lefiad.
** William Roberts (Nefydd) is appointed South Wales agent for the British and Foreign Schools Society.
** Hugh Owen becomes Chief Clerk of the Poor Law Commission.
** Robert Fulke Greville the younger returns to his family estate at Milford Haven.

## Arts and literature
### Awards

* William Thomas (Islwyn) wins his first major eisteddfod prize at Cefn-Coed-y-Cymer.

### New books

* B. B. Woodward — The History of Wales
* W. Downing Evans — The Gwyddonwyson Wreath
* John Mills (Ieuan Glan Alarch) — British Jews
* Richard Williams Morgan — Raymonde de Monthault, The Lord Marcher
* Thomas Rowland — Welsh Grammar
* William Spurrell — English-Welsh Dictionary
* Isaac Williams — Sermons on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holy Days
* Benjamin Thomas Williams — Desirableness of a University for Wales

### Music

* Robert James (Jeduthyn) marries the sister of fellow musician Joseph Parry.

### Visual arts

* John Evan Thomas — John, Marquis of Bute (bronze casting, Cardiff)

## Births

* 31 March — John Roberts, missionary (d. 1949 in Wales)
* 20 May — John Owen Williams, Congregational minister, poet and Archdruid (died 1932)
* 20 August — Charles Lewis, rugby player (d. 1923)
* 26 September — Godfrey Darbishire, Wales rugby international player (d. 1889)
* 5 October — Garrod Thomas, physician, philanthropist, magistrate, politician (d. 1889)

## Deaths

* 23 January — Sir Love Jones-Parry, army officer and politician, 71
* 27 January — John Iltyd Nicholl, MP and judge, 55
* 18 February — Richard Jones, preacher, 72/73
* 6 April — John Jones, Anglican priest, scholar and literary patron, 70
* 24 April — Thomas Prothero, coal-owner, 73
* 17 November — Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort, 61
* 18 November — David Bowen, Felinfoel, Baptist minister, 78