1858 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1858 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 2nd 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 – Edward Pryse
 * 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
 * Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Robert Davies Pryce
 * Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Capel Hanbury Leigh
 * Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley (until 10 February); Thomas Hanbury-Tracy, 2nd Baron Sudeley (from 4 March)
 * 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

 * January
 * Teaching begins at Bangor Normal College, founded by Hugh Owen.
 * End of Aberdare Strike 1857-8 in the coal mining industry.
 * 20 April – John Jones (Shoni Sguborfawr) is given a conditional pardon for his role in the Rebecca Riots.
 * June – Erection of the Town Clock at Tredegar.
 * 20 June – End of the Indian Rebellion of 1857, which Major General Charles Hinde plays a major role in suppressing.
 * 29 August – Musician Robert Davies (Asaph Llechid) is killed by a rockfall while at work in Cae-braich-y-cafn quarry.
 * 5 October – The Vale of Clwyd Railway, built by David Davies Llandinam, is opened.
 * 13 October – 20 men are killed in a mining accident at Lower Duffryn Colliery, Mountain Ash.
 * date unknown
 * The schooner Mary Catherine, launched at Amlwch, is the first iron ship built in Wales.
 * Richard Kyrke Penson exhibits a plan of his design for the Cilyrychen lime kilns at the Royal Academy.

Awards

 * "Great Eisteddfod" at Llangollen; early appearance of Gorsedd ceremony. Ebenezer Thomas (Eben Fardd) wins first prize for his poem Maes Bosworth.

English language

 * William Davies (Gwilym Teilo) — Llandilo-Vawr and its Neighbourhood
 * Robert Owen — An Introduction to the Study of Dogmatic Theology
 * Louisa M. Spooner (anonymously) — Gladys of Harlech
 * Alfred Russel Wallace — On the Tendency of Varieties to Depart Indefinitely From the Original Type

Welsh language

 * Morgan Howells — Gweithiau Morgan Howells … pregethau a thraethodau (posthumously published)
 * Owen Wynne Jones — Lleucu Llwyd

Music

 * Thomas Gruffydd Jones (Tafalaw Bencerdd) — Y Drysorfa Gorawl
 * Edward Stephen (Tanymarian) — Requiem

Births

 * 6 January — Ben Davies, singer (died 1943)
 * 28 January — Edgeworth David, explorer (died 1934)
 * 9 April — Aneurin Rees, Wales rugby union international (died 1932)
 * 15 May — B. B. Mann, Wales rugby union international (died 1948)
 * 8 October — Robert Owen Hughes (Elfyn), journalist and poet (died 1919)
 * 25 October — Tom Clapp, Wales rugby union captain (died 1933)
 * 30 October - Alfred Onions, politician (died 1921)
 * 18 December — Sir Owen Thomas, soldier and politician (died 1923)
 * 25 December — Frederick Margrave, rugby player (died 1946)
 * 26 December — Sir Owen Morgan Edwards, academic and author (died 1920)
 * 27 December — Sir John Herbert Lewis, lawyer and politician (died 1933)
 * 28 December — Josiah Towyn Jones, politician (died 1925)

Deaths

 * 10 February — Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley, Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire, 79
 * 22 March — Mary Anne Edmunds, educator and feminist, 41
 * 26 March — William Morgan, evangelical clergyman, friend of the Bronte family, 75/6
 * 19 April — John Davies, Unitarian minister and teacher, 62/63
 * 13 May — Lewis Loyd, banker, 91
 * 30 May — Thomas ap Catesby Jones, Welsh-descended US naval officer, 68
 * 4 June — Thomas Edwards (Caerfallwch), lexicographer, 78
 * 16 October — Charles Norris, artist, 79
 * 17 November — Robert Owen, founder of the Co-operative Society, 87
 * 20 November — Sir Joseph Bailey, 1st Baronet, ironmaster, 75
 * 18 December — John Salusbury Piozzi Salusbury, nephew of Hester Thrale, 65
 * 27 December — John Williams, Archdeacon of Cardigan and warden of Llandovery College, 66