1831 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1831 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Henry Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort
 * Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Peter Drummond-Burrell, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby
 * Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – William Edward Powell
 * Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – George Rice, 3rd Baron Dynevor
 * 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 Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute
 * Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis
 * Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir John Owen, 1st Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – George Rodney, 3rd Baron Rodney


 * Bishop of Bangor – Christopher Bethell
 * Bishop of Llandaff – Edward Copleston
 * Bishop of St Asaph – William Carey
 * Bishop of St Davids – John Jenkinson

Events

 * 28 April–1 June – In the UK general election:
 * Robert Fulke Greville is defeated in Pembrokeshire by Sir John Owen of Orielton.
 * Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn becomes MP for Flintshire.
 * John Jones of Ystrad is injured in rioting during the election at Carmarthen, causing polling there to be postponed.
 * 3 June – The Merthyr Rising reaches its climax.
 * 5 August – Charles Darwin travels from Shrewsbury to Llangollen with his tutor, Rev Adam Sedgwick, to carry out geological studies. They remain in Wales for more than two weeks.
 * 18 August – The paddle steamer Rothsay Castle is wrecked at the eastern end of the Menai Strait with the loss of 93 lives.
 * August – John Jones of Ystrad holds the constituency of Carmarthen.
 * 22 October – John Jones of Ystrad and Robert Fulke Greville fight a duel at Tafarnspite.
 * Repeal of the slate tax.
 * Port Talbot ironworks opens.
 * William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) becomes a minister.

New books

 * John Evans (I. D. Ffraid) – Hanes yr Iddewon

New publications

 * Autumn – Y Drysorfa, a Calvinistic Methodist publication, restarts under the editorship of John Parry.

Births

 * 13 January – William Hugh Evans, minister and author (d. 1909)
 * May – Dewi Havhesp, poet (d. 1884)
 * 3 May – Sir Walter Vaughan Morgan, Lord Mayor of London (d. 1916)
 * 16 May – David E. Hughes, musician and professor of music (d. 1900)
 * 21 July – Edward Lewis, Welsh-born New Zealand clergyman (d. 1913)
 * 16 October – John Jones (Eos Bradwen), composer (d. 1899)
 * 8 December
 * William Dykins, poet (d. 1872)
 * Edward Payson Evans, historian and linguist (d. 1917)
 * 14 December – Griffith John, missionary (d. 1912)
 * 20 December – William T. Davies, Governor of Pennsylvania (d. 1912)
 * date unknown – William Davies (Gwilym Teilo), writer (d. 1892)

Deaths

 * 1 January – Charles Heath, printer, writer, and radical Mayor of Monmouth, about 70
 * 7 January – Edward "Celtic" Davies, author, 74
 * 17 April – Sir Thomas Mostyn, 6th Baronet, politician, 54
 * 30 April – Elizabeth Herbert, Countess of Pembroke, 93
 * 18 May – John Vaughan, 3rd Earl of Lisburne, landowner and politician, 62
 * 8 June – Sarah Siddons, actress, 75
 * 11 August – Cradock Glascott, Evangelical clergyman and associate of the Wesley brothers, 88
 * 13 August – Dic Penderyn, labourer, 23 (executed)
 * probable – Joseph Davies, editor of Y Brud a Sylwydd, age unknown