1766 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1766 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey - Sir Nicholas Bayly, 2nd Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Thomas Morgan
 * Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire - Thomas Wynn
 * Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne
 * Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – George Rice
 * Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire - Richard Myddelton
 * Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire - Sir Roger Mostyn, 5th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Other Windsor, 4th Earl of Plymouth
 * Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire - William Vaughan
 * Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Henry Herbert, 1st Earl of Powis
 * Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir William Owen, 4th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Howell Gwynne (until 12 July); Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer (from 16 July)


 * Bishop of Bangor – John Egerton
 * Bishop of Llandaff – John Ewer
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Richard Newcome
 * Bishop of St Davids – Samuel Squire (until 7 May); Robert Lowth (from 14 June); Charles Moss (from 30 November)

Events

 * 19 February - Thomas Kymer is granted an Act of Parliament allowing him to construct the Kidwelly and Llanelly Canal.
 * 12 May - Sir Roger Mostyn, 5th Baronet, marries Margaret, daughter of Rev Hugh Wynn and heiress to the Bodysgallen estate.
 * July - Maurice Morgann becomes an under-secretary to the Earl of Shelburne, then Secretary of State for the South. In November he is made secretary of the Province of New Jersey.
 * 12 November - John, Lord Mountstuart marries Charlotte Jane, granddaughter of Thomas Windsor, 1st Viscount Windsor.
 * unknown date - The Welsh-language periodical Yr Awstralydd is launched by William Meirion Evans in Australia.

English language

 * Evan Lloyd - The Powers of the Pen
 * Anna Williams - Miscellanies in Prose and Verse

Welsh language

 * David Jones of Trefriw (ed.) - Cydymaith Diddan
 * Dafydd Jones - Salmau Dafydd
 * Lloffion Prydyddiaeth … Mr. Rees Prichard
 * John Roberts (Siôn Robert Lewis) - Drych y Cristion
 * William Williams Pantycelyn - Ffarwel Weledig, part 2

Music

 * Elis Roberts - Oliffernes a Jiwdath

Paintings

 * Richard Wilson - Meleager and Atalanta

Births

 * March - William Turner, industrialist (died 1853)
 * 10 November - John Jones (Jac Glan-y-gors), satirical poet and radical pamphleteer (died 1821)
 * 6 December - Robert Williams (Robert ap Gwilym Ddu), poet (died 1850)
 * 18 December - Charles Lloyd, dissenting minister and schoolmaster (died 1829)
 * 25 December - Christmas Evans, preacher (died 1838)
 * unknown date
 * Martha Llwyd, hymnodist (died 1845)
 * Henry Parry, clergyman and antiquarian (died 1854)

Deaths

 * 1 January - James Francis Edward Stuart, 77, nominally Prince of Wales from his birth until 1701
 * 19 January - Wilmot Vaughan, 3rd Viscount Lisburne, landowner
 * 30 January - John Jeffreys, 59, politician
 * June - Evan Edwards, 32, harpist
 * 7 May - Samuel Squire, 51/52, Bishop of St Davids
 * 17 November - Morgan Morgan, 78, Welsh-born American colonist (in America)
 * date unknown -