1868 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1868 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar
 * Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (from 14 September)
 * Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse
 * Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd 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 – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn
 * Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort
 * Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Sudeley Hanbury-Tracy, 3rd Baron Sudeley
 * Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 3rd Baron Kensington
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite


 * Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
 * Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short
 * Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall

Events

 * 13 January – The brig Albion runs aground off Whitford Point and is abandoned by her seven crew members, all of whom drown.
 * 22 January – Sixteen vessels are lost in a gale off the Burry estuary, with a total of thirty lives lost.
 * 1 February – At the bridge over the Severn at Caersws an approach embankment, damaged by flood water, collapses under a train. The driver and fireman are killed.
 * July – Pastor Karl Herman Lunde begins fund-raising for the new Norwegian Seamen's Church in Cardiff.
 * 4 August – Opening of the Bala and Dolgelly Railway, completing the Ruabon to Barmouth Line via Corwen and alongside Bala Lake.
 * 20 August – Abergele rail disaster: 33 people die in a fire resulting from a collision between a mail train and a set of trucks at Llandulas station near Abergele, the greatest loss of life in a railway accident in Wales.
 * October – Work begins on Nant-y-Ffrith reservoir.
 * 2 December – The United Kingdom general election leaves Gladstone's Liberals the dominant party in Wales, with 21 seats.
 * Among the Conservative members who lose their seats are Crawshay Bailey and Henry Austin Bruce, the latter replaced by two MPs for the expanded constituency of Merthyr Tydfil: Richard Fothergill and Henry Richard.
 * Richard Davies becomes MP for Anglesey.
 * Love Jones-Parry wins Caernarvonshire from Douglas Pennant.
 * George Osborne Morgan is elected for the first time in Denbighshire, winning the seat from the lord lieutenant, Robert Myddelton Biddulph.
 * Farmers in Cardiganshire are evicted for returning a Liberal MP, Thomas Lloyd.
 * John Crichton-Stuart, 3rd Marquess of Bute, sponsors restoration work at Caerphilly Castle.
 * English manufacturer Frederick Walton, the inventor of linoleum, takes up residence on his father's Cwmllecoediog Estate near Aberangell, whose development he begins.
 * First publication of the Welsh-language periodical, Baner America, in the USA.
 * Y Dydd is founded, with Samuel Roberts (S. R.) as editor.
 * Iron Age crannog is discovered on an island in Llangorse Lake, near Brecon.

Awards

 * National Eisteddfod of Wales is held at Ruthin.

English language

 * William Forbes Skene – The Four Ancient Books of Wales

Welsh language

 * Robert Elis (Cynddelw) – Geiriadur Cymreig Cymraeg
 * John Ceiriog Hughes – Oriau eraill
 * Jabez Edmund Jenkins – Rhiangerdd – Gwenfron o'r Dyffryn
 * Griffith Jones (Glan Menai) – Enwogion Sir Aberteifi
 * Rhys Gwesyn Jones – Caru, Priodi, a Byw
 * John Phillips (Tegidon) – Y Ddeilen ar y Traeth

Music

 * William Lewis Barrett is appointed flautist at the Italian Opera of Lutz.
 * Gŵyl Ardudwy music festival is founded by John Roberts (Ieuan Gwyllt).
 * Publication of Llyfr Tonau ac Emynau, edited by Edward Stephen (Tanymarian) and Joseph David Jones.

Sport

 * Cricket
 * May – A team from Cadoxton play the United South of England (including W. G. Grace) at The Gnoll, Neath.

Births

 * 13 April (in Birkenhead) – Caradoc Rees, politician (d. 1924)
 * 29 May – Sydney Nicholls, Wales rugby international player (d. 1946)
 * 10 June
 * John Jones (Ioan Brothen), poet (d. 1940)
 * David Prosser, bishop (d. 1950)
 * 2 August – Sir Alfred Edward Lewis, banker (d. 1940)
 * 28 August – Thomas Charles Williams, minister (d. 1927)
 * 28 November – Arthur Linton, cyclist (d. 1896)
 * 30 November – Ernest Newman, English-born music critic of Welsh parentage (d. 1959)
 * 29 December – William Owen Jones (Eos y Gogledd), musician (d. 1928)
 * date unknown
 * Roger Doughty, English-born footballer of Welsh maternity (d. 1914)
 * David Matthews, politician (d. 1960)

Deaths

 * 13 January – John Parry, Mormon convert, 79
 * 25 April – Sarah Williams, English novelist of Welsh parentage, 30
 * 22 June – Owain Meirion, poet, 65
 * 3 August – Edward Welch, architect, 61/62
 * 17 August – William Nevill, 4th Earl of Abergavenny, 76
 * 11 September – Maria James, poet, 74
 * 16 September – John Vaughan, English ironmaster, 68
 * 24 November – Sir John Dorney Harding, lawyer, 59
 * date unknown – Dafydd Jones (Dewi Dywyll), balladeer (born 1803)