1848 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1848 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins
 * 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 – Robert Myddelton Biddulph
 * Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute (until 18 March); Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot (from 4 May)
 * Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn
 * Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Capel Hanbury Leigh
 * Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis (until 17 January); Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley (from 26 February)
 * Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir John Owen, 1st Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite


 * Bishop of Bangor – Christopher Bethell
 * Bishop of Llandaff – Edward Copleston
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short
 * Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall

Events

 * 1 March – Llandovery College opens in the building known as the "Depot".
 * 1 May – Opening for Chester and Holyhead Railway traffic of the first tube of Robert Stephenson's Conwy Railway Bridge.
 * 1 August – Opening of an isolated section of the Chester and Holyhead Railway across Anglesey from Llanfair to Holyhead.
 * 24 August – The American barque Ocean Monarch, loaded with would-be immigrants, catches fire off Colwyn Bay, with the loss of 178 lives.
 * 24 October – Trinity College, Carmarthen is established (as the South Wales and Monmouthshire Training College), to train teachers for Church of England schools.
 * 14 November – Opening of the North Wales County Pauper Lunatic Asylum (North Wales Hospital), Denbigh.
 * The new Llandeilo Bridge is completed, with a span of 145 ft over the River Towy.
 * Merthyr Tydfil Hebrew Congregation formed.
 * Butchers' Market in Wrexham opened.
 * Michael D. Jones becomes a minister in Cincinnati, Ohio.

New books

 * John Hughes - The Self-Searcher
 * John Jenkins - National Education
 * Richard Williams Morgan - Maynooth and St. Asaph
 * Edward Parry - Railway Companion from Chester to Holyhead

Music

 * Robert Herbert Williams - Alawydd Trefriw

Visual arts

 * John Evan Thomas - Death of Tewdric Mawr, King of Gwent (sculpture)

Births

 * 23 January – Daniel James, bardic poet and lyricist of Calon Lân (died 1920)
 * 12 February – Beriah Gwynfe Evans, journalist and dramatist (died 1927)
 * 18 September – Robert Harris, painter (died 1919)
 * 5 October – Sir John Purser Griffiths, civil engineer (died 1938)
 * 2 November – A. G. Edwards, first Archbishop of Wales (died 1917)
 * 30 December – David Jenkins, composer (died 1915)
 * Charles Ashton police officer, literary historian and bibliophile (suicide 1899)

Deaths

 * 17 January – Edward Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis, 63 (accidentally shot by his son)
 * 23 February – Lord Granville Somerset, MP for Monmouthshire, 55
 * 18 March – John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute, creator of modern Cardiff, 54
 * 27 March – William Ellis Jones, poet, 52
 * 2 April – Sir Samuel Rush Meyrick, antiquary, 64
 * 7 November – Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc), poet and historian, 61
 * 15 November – David Hiram Williams, geologist and surveyor, 36
 * 23 December – James Cowles Prichard, physician and ethnologist of Welsh parentage, 62