1872 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1872 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 (until 21 March); William Cornwallis-West (from 5 June)
 * 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 (until 1 January); William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington (from 6 February)
 * 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

 * 5 January — In a mining accident at Blackwood Colliery, five men are killed.
 * 2 March — In a mining accident at Victoria Colliery, Ebbw Vale, nineteen men are killed.
 * 18 June — A derailment occurs in the Pencader Tunnel on the Carmarthen & Cardigan Railway.
 * 12 July — Cardiff Tramways Company begins operation of horse trams.
 * 15 July — The Colwyn Bay Hotel is opened.
 * 1 August — Minffordd railway station is opened.
 * 9 October — University College Wales, Aberystwyth, opens with 26 students; Thomas Charles Edwards is its first principal.
 * unknown dates
 * Stocks are used on the last recorded occasion in the UK, at Adpar in Cardiganshire, when a man is imprisoned in them for drunkenness.
 * Nitrocellulose manufacture at Penrhyndeudraeth begins.

New books

 * R. D. Blackmore — The Maid of Sker
 * Thomas Thomas — Hynodion Hen Bregethwyr Cymru

Music

 * The South Wales "Cor Mawr", conducted by Griffith R. Jones (Caradog) wins a national choral competition at Crystal Palace.

Sport

 * Cricket — First game played at Elwy Grove Park, St Asaph.
 * Football — 28 September: Wrexham Football Club is founded. They play at the Racecourse Ground.

Births

 * 21 February — Evan Lorimer Thomas, clergyman and academic (died 1953)
 * 16 March — Vernon Hartshorn, politician (died 1931)
 * 6 May — William Llewellyn Thomas, Wales international rugby player (died 1943)
 * 10 May — Tom Pearson, Wales international rugby player (died 1957)
 * 18 May — Bertrand Russell, philosopher (died 1970)
 * 14 July — David Morgan, Wales international rugby player (died 1933)
 * 14 September — Albert Jenkin, Wales international rugby player (died 1961)
 * 8 October — John Cowper Powys, Anglo-Welsh writer (died 1963)
 * date unknown — Thomas Jeremiah Williams, lawyer and politician (died 1919)

Deaths

 * 1 January — William Edwardes, 3rd Baron Kensington, Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire, 70
 * 9 January — Crawshay Bailey, industrialist
 * 21 March — Robert Myddelton Biddulph, landowner and politician, 66
 * 24 March — James Williams, clergyman and philanthropist, 81
 * 13 April — Thomas Vowler Short, Bishop of St Asaph
 * 3 August — William Davies Evans, chess player, 82
 * 18 August — Evan Jones, missionary, 84
 * 22 August — Evan Davies, educator, 84
 * 26 September — William Williams (Carw Coch), poet
 * 28 September — Lleyson Hopkin Davy, government representative, brewer and industrialist, 89/90
 * 16 October — David Lewis, MP for Carmarthen, 75
 * 11 November — Mary Anne Disraeli, wife of British prime minister Benjamin Disraeli, 80