1869 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1869 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey (until 7 February); William Owen Stanley (from 2 March)
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Charles Morgan, 1st Baron Tredegar
 * Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn
 * 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

 * January
 * Henry Austin Bruce becomes MP for Renfrewshire.
 * Timothy Richards Lewis goes to India to study cholera.
 * 1 May – The Western Mail is published for the first time.
 * 19 May – Two days after John Young, the English manager of the Leeswood Green colliery, announces a pay cut, he is attacked by some of his workers.
 * 2 June – Seven men are tried at Mold for attacking John Young. A riot breaks out as those convicted are being transported to the railway station; soldiers fire on the crowd, killing four people.
 * 10 June
 * 53 men and boys are killed in the second underground explosion within two years at Ferndale Colliery in the Rhondda.
 * Three people are killed in a train derailment at Maesycwmmer in Glamorgan.
 * August – Anti-Irish riots at Pontlottyn in the Rhymney Valley result in one death.
 * 1 September – The Dyserth branch line is opened for goods traffic.
 * 30 October – The first edition of the Welsh-language periodical Y Goleuad is published.
 * unknown date
 * Landore steelworks at Swansea established by Carl Wilhelm Siemens.
 * John Hughes of Merthyr Tydfil buys land near the Sea of Azov, where he develops an ironworks and founds the city of Yuzovka (later Donetsk).
 * Joseph Leycester Lyne (Father Ignatius of Jesus) acquires land at Capel-y-ffin and begins construction of an Anglican Benedictine community, Llanthony Abbey.
 * Construction of the fort at St Catherine's Island, off Tenby.
 * Prehistoric burial remains are discovered at Parc le Breos on the Gower Peninsula.
 * John Owen of Tyn-llwyn is evicted from his farm for voting Tory.

Awards

 * The first official National Eisteddfod of Wales takes place at Holywell.

New books

 * J. H. Clark – History of Monmouthshire
 * John Hugh Evans – Pryddest Goffa i Thomas Aubrey
 * Jane Hughes – Galargan am y diweddar Barch. Henry Rees, Liverpool
 * David Watkin Jones (Dafydd Morgannwg) – Yr Ysgol Farddol
 * Nathaniel Jones (Cynhafal) – Elias y Thesbiad
 * John Petherick – Travels in Central Africa and Explorations of the Western Nile Tributaries
 * William Rowlands – Llyfryddiaeth y Cymry (Bibliography of the Welsh) (posthumous; ed. Daniel Silvan Evans)
 * Jane Williams (Ysgafell) – A History of Wales derived from Authentic Sources
 * Robert Williams (Trebor Mai) – Y Geninen

Music

 * Owen Jones – Hymnau Hen a Diweddar (collection of hymns)

Sport

 * Football – Ruabon footballers set up a club at Plas Madoc.
 * Mountaineering – Emmeline Lewis Lloyd attempts an ascent of the Matterhorn.

Births

 * 11 January – Ralph Sweet-Escott, English born, Wales rugby international (died 1907)
 * 9 April – John Hugh Edwards, politician (died 1945)
 * 19 May – John Henry Williams, Welsh politician (died 1936)
 * 20 May – Robert Griffith Berry, minister and writer (died 1945)
 * 12 August – Fred Parfitt, Wales international rugby player (died 1953)
 * 6 September – Walford Davies, composer (died 1944)
 * 24 September – Maud Cunnington, archaeologist (died 1951)
 * 29 October – Bill Morris, Wales international rugby player (died 1946)
 * 15 November – Percy Bennett, Wales international rugby player (died 1936)
 * 20 November – Herbert Tudor Buckland, architect working in Birmingham (died 1951)

Deaths

 * 23 March – William Williams (Caledfryn), poet, 68
 * 31 March – David Rees (Y Cynhyrfwr), Nonconformist leader and author, 67
 * 16 April – James Davies (Iago ap Dewi), poet, 68
 * 1 July – David Jones, banker and politician, 58
 * 14 July – Lloyd Kenyon, 3rd Baron Kenyon, 64
 * 26 August – William Williams (Creuddynfab), 55
 * October – John Jones (Talhaiarn), poet, 59 (suicide)
 * 7 October – George Rice-Trevor, 4th Baron Dynevor, politician, 74
 * 9 November – Harriet Windsor-Clive, 13th Baroness Windsor, philanthropist,
 * 15 December – David Williams, politician, 70
 * 17 December – Sarah Jacob, "the fasting girl", 12