1838 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1838 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Penry Williams
 * 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 Monmouthshire – Capel Hanbury Leigh
 * 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

 * October - John Frost joins the Chartist movement.
 * Newly created baronets include Sir John Josiah Guest, Sir Benjamin Hall and Sir John Edwards.
 * John Cory of Devon opens his chandlery near the Custom House in Cardiff.
 * Thomas Gee joins his father's printing business.
 * Tinplate manufacture at Ystalyfera begins.
 * Wrexham Infirmary established.
 * Foundation of the Bangor Church Building Society.

Arts and literature

 * A major eisteddfod is held at Abergavenny.

New books

 * Sir Henry Ellis (ed.) - Registrum vulgariter nuncupatum "The record of Caernarvon"
 * Lady Charlotte Guest begins publication of her translation into English of the Mabinogion.
 * Isaac Williams - Thoughts in Past Years
 * Jane Williams (Ysgafell) - Twenty Essays on the Practical Improvement of God's Providential Dispensations as Means to the Moral Discipline to the Christian

Visual arts

 * J. M. W. Turner paints a watercolour of Flint Castle.

Births

 * 14 April - John Thomas, photographer (d. 1905)
 * 8 December - Charles Gresford Edmondes, clergyman and teacher (d. 1893)
 * 27 December - James Conway Brown, musician (d. 1908)

Deaths

 * 23 January - Pascoe Grenfell, industrialist and politician, 76
 * 14 March - Wyndham Lewis, MP, 57
 * 19 July - Christmas Evans, preacher, 71
 * 26 August - Sir John Nicholl, politician and judge, 79
 * 18 September - Griffith Williams (Gutyn Peris), poet, 69
 * 26 December - Julia Ann Hatton, novelist, 74