1796 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1796 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey - Henry Paget
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort
 * Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire - Thomas Bulkeley, 7th Viscount Bulkeley
 * Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne
 * Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Vaughan
 * Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet (from 4 April)
 * Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Sir Roger Mostyn, 5th Baronet (until 26 July); Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon (from 9 September)
 * Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – John Stuart, 1st Marquess of Bute
 * Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire - Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – George Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis
 * Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Richard Philipps, 1st Baron Milford
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Thomas Harley


 * Bishop of Bangor – John Warren
 * Bishop of Llandaff – Richard Watson
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Lewis Bagot
 * Bishop of St Davids – William Stuart

Events

 * February - The main line of the Monmouthshire and Brecon Canal opens; it is 12.5 mi long, and runs from Newport to Pontnewynydd, via Pontymoile, rising by 447 feet (136.3m) through 42 locks.
 * 27 February - John Stuart is created Marquess of Bute.
 * June - At the British general election, Richard Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn, backed by Bishop John Warren, challenges sitting MP Sir Robert Williams, the sitting member for Caernarvonshire; Sir Robert is easily re-elected.
 * John Wilkinson blows in blast furnace No. 1 on the site that becomes Brymbo Steelworks.

New books

 * Charles Heath - The Excursion Down the Wye
 * Thomas Pennant - Whiteford and Holywell
 * Uvedale Price - An Essay on the Picturesque
 * Anna Seward - Llangollen Vale and Other Poems
 * David Williams - The History of Monmouthshire

Births

 * 7 January - Princess Charlotte Augusta of Wales, only child of the Prince and Princess of Wales (died 1817)
 * 8 January - Eliza Constantia Campbell, author (died 1864)
 * 1 March - John Jones, Talysarn, preacher (died 1857)
 * 30 September - John Mytton, sportsman (died 1834)
 * December - David Owen (Brutus), writer (died 1866)

Deaths

 * February - John Jones, organist, 70?
 * 26 July - Sir Roger Mostyn, 5th Baronet, landowner and politician, 61
 * 8 August - Peter Williams, Methodist writer, 63
 * date unknown - Ioan Siencyn, poet