1776 in Wales

This article is about the significance of the year 1776 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey - Sir Nicholas Bayly, 2nd Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire – Charles Morgan of Dderw
 * 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 – John Stuart, Lord Mountstuart
 * Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire - Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet (from 10 June)
 * Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Francis Seymour-Conway, 1st Marquess of Hertford (until 21 November); George Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis (from 21 November)
 * Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir Hugh Owen, 5th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer


 * Bishop of Bangor – John Moore
 * Bishop of Llandaff – Shute Barrington
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Jonathan Shipley
 * Bishop of St Davids – James Yorke

Events

 * 4 July – United States Declaration of Independence signed in Philadelphia. Sixteen of the 56 signatories are of Welsh descent, Francis Lewis having been born in Llandaff.
 * 22 July – Sir Richard Philipps, 7th Baronet, is created 1st Baron Milford in the peerage of Ireland.
 * 24 August – Herbert Mackworth is created a baronet.
 * dates unknown
 * John, Lord Mountstuart is created Baron Cardiff of Cardiff Castle.
 * Sir Thomas Wynn, 3rd Baronet, is created Baron Newborough in the Peerage of Ireland.

New books

 * Thomas Churchyard – The Worthines of Wales, a Poem
 * Evan Evans (Ieuan Fardd) – Casgliad o Bregethau
 * Hugh Jones (Maesglasau) – Gardd y Caniadau
 * David Powell (Dewi Nantbrân) – Allwydd y Nef. O gasgliad D.P. Off.

Music

 * Aaron Williams - Collection of hymn-tunes

Births

 * 18 February – John Parry, composer (d. 1851)
 * April (baptized 21 April) – Ann Griffiths, hymn-writer (d. 1805)
 * 2 August – Thomas Assheton Smith II, landowner, industrialist, politician, and sportsman (d. 1858)
 * 20 October – Sir Thomas Mostyn, 6th Baronet, politician (d. 1831)
 * dates unknown
 * John Bryan (died 1856)
 * William Henry Scourfield, Member of Parliament (d. 1843)

Deaths

 * 26 January – Evan Lloyd, poet, 41
 * 6 April – Hugh Hughes ("Y Bardd Coch"), poet, 83
 * 4 July – Sir John Powell Pryce, 6th Baronet (in debtors' prison)
 * 6 September – Joshua Parry, Nonconformist minister and writer, 67
 * 1 November – Miles Harry, Baptist minister, 76
 * December – John Edwards ("Sion y Potiau"), poet, 76/77
 * 10 December – Robert Hay Drummond, Bishop of St Asaph 1748–1761, 65
 * dates unknown
 * William Evans, lexicographer, age unknown
 * Aaron Williams, composer, about 45