1801 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1801 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 – Thomas Johnes
 * Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Vaughan
 * Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster
 * 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 (until 16 January); vacant until 1804
 * Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Richard Philipps, 1st Baron Milford
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Thomas Harley


 * Bishop of Bangor – William Cleaver
 * Bishop of Llandaff – Richard Watson
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Lewis Bagot
 * Bishop of St Davids – Lord George Murray

Events

 * Chirk aqueduct is completed and opened.
 * First railway in north Wales is built by Lord Penrhyn to link his quarries with Bethesda and Port Penrhyn.
 * John Rice Jones becomes first attorney-general of Indiana.
 * The "Great Debate" is held at Ramoth Chapel in Llanfrothen, Merionethshire, as a result of which John Richard Jones forms the "Scottish Baptist" connexion.

New books

 * Cyhoeddiadau Cymdeithas y Gwyneddigion
 * The Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales, vol. 1
 * Azariah Shadrach - Allwedd Myfyrdod
 * Hester Thrale - Retrospection: or a review of the most striking events, characters, situations, and their consequences, which the last eighteen hundred years have presented to the view of mankind

Births

 * 6 January – Evan Davies (Myfyr Morganwg), bard, druid and antiquarian (d. 1888)
 * 6 February – William Williams (Caledfryn), poet and critic (d. 1869)
 * 1 November – John Lloyd Davies, politician (d. 1860)
 * 18 November – David Rees (Y Cynhyrfwr), minister and writer (d. 1869)
 * 23 December – William Watkin Edward Wynne, politician (d. 1880)
 * date unknown – Thomas Phillips, lawyer, politician and businessman, mayor of Newport (d. 1867)

Deaths

 * 16 January – George Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis, 45
 * 14 February – Rhys Jones, antiquary, 87
 * 23 September – Thomas Nowell, historian, 71?
 * 13 December – William Edwardes, 1st Baron Kensington, about 90
 * probable – Frances Williams, convicted thief, one of the first women to settle Australia, 40/41