1876 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1876 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – William Owen Stanley
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk
 * 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 – William Cornwallis-West
 * Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Hugh Robert Hughes
 * 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, 4th Baron Kensington
 * Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Arthur Walsh, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite
 * Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell
 * Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
 * Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones
 * Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd (first official holder of the position

Events

 * January – The Argentine government appoints Antonio Oneto as civil authority over the Welsh colony in Patagonia, the population of which numbers 690.
 * 9 January – The death of John Russell, Viscount Amberley, leaves Bertrand Russell an orphan.
 * 19 May – Sir Edmund Buckley, 1st Baronet, files for bankruptcy in Manchester with debts exceeding £500,000, causing his Dinas Mawddwy estate to be put up for sale.
 * June – Francis Kilvert becomes vicar of Saint Harmon, Radnorshire.
 * 13 July – Act of Parliament allows the North Wales Narrow Gauge Railways Company to abandon plans for a line between Croesor Junction and Betws-y-Coed.
 * 22 July – Art Treasures & Industrial Exhibition of North Wales & the Border Counties in Wrexham is opened.
 * 19 August – Judge John Johnes is murdered at his home on Dolaucothi Estate by his butler.
 * 2 December – Cardiff RFC plays its first match, against Newport.
 * 18 December – In a mining accident at South Wales Pit, Abertillery, twenty men are killed.

New books

 * George Thomas Orlando Bridgeman – History of the Princes of South Wales

Music

 * Eos Bradwen – Bugeiles yr Wyddfa
 * Joseph Parry composes the hymn tune Aberystwyth (published 1879) which becomes the basis of the pan-African anthem Nkosi Sikelel' iAfrika

Sport

 * Football
 * 2 February – Llewelyn Kenrick sets up the Football Association of Wales in a meeting at the Wynnstay Arms hotel in Wrexham, in response to a challenge issued by The Field magazine, to organize an international match between Wales and Scotland or Ireland.
 * 25 March – Wales play first international football match, against Scotland in Glasgow, losing 4–0.
 * Formation of Caernarfon athletics club, later Caernarfon Town.
 * Rugby union – Aberavon RFC, Cardiff RFC, Cardigan RFC, Llandaff RFC, Merthyr RFC and Pontypridd RFC are established.

Births

 * 7 March – Edgar Evans, naval petty officer and Antarctic explorer (died 1912)
 * 19 June – Joe Pullman, Wales international rugby union player (died 1955)
 * 22 June – Gwen John, artist (died 1939)
 * 15 July
 * Jehoida Hodges, Welsh international rugby union player (died 1930)
 * Jack Rhapps, Dual-code rugby international (died 1950)
 * 24 July – Viv Huzzey, Welsh international rugby union player (died 1929)
 * 18 September – Charles Kemeys-Tynte, 8th Baron Wharton (died 1934)
 * 17 November – Dicky Owen, Welsh international rugby union player (died 1932)

Deaths

 * 3 January – Rosser Beynon, musician, 64
 * 19 February – Daniel Davies, Baptist preacher, 78
 * 24 February – Joseph Jenkins Roberts, President of Liberia, son of a Welsh planter, 66
 * 23 April (at Karlsruhe) – Frances Bunsen, painter, 85
 * 2 May – Daniel Thomas Williams (Tydfylyn), poet and musician (born 1820)
 * 15 June – John Ormsby-Gore, 1st Baron Harlech, politician, 60
 * 19 July (in the United States) – George E. Pugh, Welsh-American politician, 53
 * 8 August – Lady Sarah Elizabeth Hay-Williams, English-born artist and illustrator, 75
 * 21 August – C. W. Evan, Congregationalist minister in colonial South Australia, age unknown
 * 9 November – John David Jenkins, philanthropist, 58
 * 17 November – Thomas Rees (Twm Carnabwth), leader of Rebecca Riots
 * 20 November – Robert Herbert Williams (Corfanydd), musician (born 1805)
 * 25 December – Adrian Stephens, inventor of the steam whistle, 81