1871 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1871 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – William Owen Stanley
 * 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 – Joshua Hughes
 * Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall

Events

 * 24 February – In a mining accident at Pentre Colliery, Rhondda, 38 men are killed.
 * 21 March – Welsh-born journalist Henry Morton Stanley sets out for Africa to seek missing Scottish explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone.
 * June – Miners' strike in South Wales culminates in defeat for the union.
 * 14 August – The Van Railway, built by David Davies Llandinam, opens to carry traffic from the Van lead mines to Caersws.
 * 10 November – Stanley locates Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and allegedly greets him saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
 * date unknown
 * Lewis Jones is appointed governor of Chubut Province by the government of Argentina.
 * Operations at the White Rock smelting works in Swansea are extended by Henry Hussey Vivian to include the treatment of silver and lead ore.

Awards

 * Evan Jones (Gurnos) wins a bardic chair at Ystradyfodwg.

New books

 * W. R. Ambrose – Hynafiaethau, Cofiannau a Hanes Presennol Nant Nantlle, y Traethawd Buddugol yn Eisteddfod Gadeiriol Pen-y-groes
 * Robert Fowler, MD – A Complete History of the Case of the Welsh Fasting-Girl
 * James Kenward – Ab Ithel
 * Thomas Purnell
 * Dramatists of the Present Day
 * Correspondence and Works of Charles Lamb

Music

 * John Thomas (Pencerdd Gwalia) is appointed harpist to Queen Victoria.

Sport

 * Rugby union – Neath RFC is founded.

Births

 * 5 January – Percy Lloyd, Wales national rugby player (died 1959)
 * 23 February – Jack Evans, Wales national rugby player (died 1924)
 * 2 March – Billy Bancroft, sportsman (died 1959)
 * 28 March – R. Silyn Roberts, Socialist and pacifist writer (died 1930)
 * 1 April - Dai St. John, heavyweight boxer (died 1899)
 * 6 April – Prince Alexander John of Wales, youngest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales (died 1871)
 * 12 April – Ellis William Davies, politician (died 1939)
 * 15 April – John Humphreys Davies, writer (died 1926)
 * 11 May – George Howells, academic and writer (died 1955)
 * 6 June – Evan Lloyd, Wales international rugby player (died 1951)
 * 14 June – David Nicholl, rugby player (died 1918)
 * July - Owen Jones, footballer (died 1955)
 * 2 July – Sir Evan Williams, 1st Baronet, industrialist (died 1959)
 * 3 July – W. H. Davies, poet (died 1940)
 * 13 August – Jack Elliott, Wales international rugby player (died 1938)
 * 21 September – Alfred Brice, Wales international rugby player (died 1938)
 * 1 October – Sir Lewis Lougher, industrialist and politician (died 1955)
 * 10 October – Thomas Gwynn Jones, poet (died 1949)
 * 3 November – Owen Badger, Wales national rugby player (died 1939)
 * 27 November – Robert Evans (Cybi), writer (died 1956)
 * 29 November (in England) – Ruth Herbert Lewis, social reformer and collector of Welsh folk songs (died 1946)
 * 1 December – Bert Dauncey, Wales international rugby player (died 1955)
 * 3 December – Sir Percy Emerson Watkins, civil servant (died 1946)
 * date unknown
 * William Jenkins, politician (died 1944)
 * Howard Passadoro, footballer (died 1921)
 * Thomas Mardy Rees, historian and author (died 1953)

Deaths

 * 12 January – Richard Hughes, printer and publisher, 76/7
 * 19 January – Thomas Jeremy Griffiths, minister, hymn-writer and teacher, about 75
 * 30 January – Edward Howell, US politician of Welsh descent, 78
 * February – Robert Roberts, musician, 30
 * 9 May – Edward Morgan, minister and writer, 53
 * 23 July – Arthur James Johnes, judge, 62
 * 2 August – David James (Dewi o Ddyfed), writer (born 1803)
 * 3 October – David Marks, musician and composer, about 83
 * 6 October – Edwin Wyndham-Quin, 3rd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, 59
 * 2 December – Joseph Jones, Catholic priest and bard, 72