1851 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1851 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 (until 7 March); Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet (from 7 March)
 * 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 – 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 – Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley
 * 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 – Alfred Ollivant
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short
 * Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall

Events

 * May
 * David Davies (Llandinam) marries Margaret Jones of Llanfair Caereinion.
 * 24 September – Vale of Neath Railway opens from Neath to Aberdare.
 * 27 August – William Bulkeley Hughes hosts a banquet at Bangor for Robert Stephenson.
 * Richard Fothergill III is prosecuted for running a "truck shop" at Aberdare.

New books

 * John Blackwell (Alun) – Ceinion Alun (posthumously published)
 * Richard Williams Morgan – A Tragedy of Powys Castle

Music

 * Thomas Jones (Gogrynwr) – Gweddi Habacuc (cantata)
 * John Ambrose Lloyd – Teyrnasoedd y Ddaear (anthem)
 * John Owen (Owain Alaw)
 * Deborah a Barac (anthem)
 * Gweddi Habacuc (cantata)

Births

 * 8 February – Sir Marteine Lloyd, 2nd Baronet (d. 1933)
 * 10 March – William Haggar, pioneer of the film industry (d. 1925)
 * 24 March – Robert Ambrose Jones (Emrys ap Iwan) (d. 1906)
 * 15 June – Ernest Howard Griffiths, physicist (d. 1932)
 * 8 July – Sir Arthur Evans, archaeologist (d. 1941)
 * 12 July – Elizabeth Phillips Hughes, promoter of women's education (died 1925)
 * 27 December – Percy Gilchrist, industrialist

Deaths

 * 1 January – George Insole, English-born coal shipper, 60
 * 6 April – William Morgan Kinsey, travel writer, 62?
 * 8 April – John Parry (Bardd Alaw), harpist and composer, 75
 * 30 June
 * Thomas Phillips, founder of Llandovery College, 80
 * William Saunders, Welsh-language poet, 45
 * 17 July – Aneurin Owen, historian, 58
 * 13 August – Benjamin Gibson, classical scholar, younger brother of John Gibson, 40
 * 22 November – Thomas Morgan, navy chaplain, 81