1853 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1853 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 – Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet
 * Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – William Edward Powell
 * Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor
 * 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

 * 23 January — Six members of the Rhyl lifeboat crew are drowned when the boat overturns.
 * 11 November — Approval is given for the opening of the Vale of Neath Railway line from Gelli Tarw to Merthyr Tydfil, which had been postponed on safety grounds.
 * date unknown
 * David Williams (Alaw Goch) opens a new colliery at Cwmdare.
 * Blaenavon Ironworks adopts the hot blast process.
 * John Williams (Ab Ithel) quarrels with his friend and co-editor Harry Longueville Jones and resigns the editorship of Archaeologia Cambrensis.
 * Two Welsh translations of Uncle Tom's Cabin are published: Caban F'Ewyrth Twm by Hugh Williams (Cadfan) and (an abridged version) Crynodeb o Gaban ‘Newyrth Tom by (probably) Thomas Levi (or William Williams) under the pen-name Y Lefiad.
 * William Roberts (Nefydd) is appointed South Wales agent for the British and Foreign Schools Society.
 * Hugh Owen becomes Chief Clerk of the Poor Law Commission.
 * Robert Fulke Greville the younger returns to his family estate at Milford Haven.

Awards

 * William Thomas (Islwyn) wins his first major eisteddfod prize at Cefn-Coed-y-Cymer.

New books

 * B. B. Woodward — The History of Wales
 * W. Downing Evans — The Gwyddonwyson Wreath
 * John Mills (Ieuan Glan Alarch) — British Jews
 * Richard Williams Morgan — Raymonde de Monthault, The Lord Marcher
 * Thomas Rowland — Welsh Grammar
 * William Spurrell — English-Welsh Dictionary
 * Isaac Williams — Sermons on the Epistles and Gospels for the Sundays and Holy Days
 * Benjamin Thomas Williams — Desirableness of a University for Wales

Music

 * Robert James (Jeduthyn) marries the sister of fellow musician Joseph Parry.

Visual arts

 * John Evan Thomas — John, Marquis of Bute (bronze casting, Cardiff)

Births

 * 31 March — John Roberts, missionary (d. 1949 in Wales)
 * 20 May — John Owen Williams, Congregational minister, poet and Archdruid (died 1932)
 * 20 August — Charles Lewis, rugby player (d. 1923)
 * 26 September — Godfrey Darbishire, Wales rugby international player (d. 1889)
 * 5 October — Garrod Thomas, physician, philanthropist, magistrate, politician (d. 1889)

Deaths

 * 23 January — Sir Love Jones-Parry, army officer and politician, 71
 * 27 January — John Iltyd Nicholl, MP and judge, 55
 * 18 February — Richard Jones, preacher, 72/73
 * 6 April — John Jones, Anglican priest, scholar and literary patron, 70
 * 24 April — Thomas Prothero, coal-owner, 73
 * 17 November — Henry Somerset, 7th Duke of Beaufort, 61
 * 18 November — David Bowen, Felinfoel, Baptist minister, 78