1878 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1878 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd


 * 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 – Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis
 * 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

Events

 * March
 * The 'basic' process, enabling the use of phosphoric iron ore in steelmaking, developed at the failing Blaenavon Ironworks by Percy Gilchrist and Sidney Gilchrist Thomas, is first made public.
 * The Swansea Improvements and Tramway Company SITC) opens a street tramway from Gower Street, Swansea, to join up with the Oystermouth Railway.
 * 16–17 July – Spanish seaman Joseph Garcia, just released from Usk Prison, murders all 5 members of the Watkins family at Llangybi, Monmouthshire.
 * 17 July – Swansea tramways are forced by legal action to return to horse-drawn operation after experimenting with steam locomotives.
 * 11 September – In a mining accident at the Prince of Wales Colliery, Abercarn, 268 men are killed.
 * Founding of Dr Williams School for Girls at Dolgellau with Eliza Ann Fewings as first head.
 * Opening of Marine Drive around the Great Orme at Llandudno.
 * A passenger ferry service is established between Bangor and Porthaethwy on the Menai Strait.
 * Industrialist John Corbett buys Ynysymaengwyn.
 * Slate industry in Wales: The Oakeley quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog absorbs the previously independently-worked Upper and Middle quarries.
 * The prison system in Wales is nationalised and brought under centralised government control.
 * Nanteos Cup first exhibited.

New books

 * Daniel Silvan Evans – Celtic Remains
 * William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog) – Llythyrau 'Rhen Ffarmwr

Music

 * John Owen (Owain Alaw) – Jeremiah (oratorio)

Sport

 * Football – The Welsh Cup competition takes place for the first time, and is won by Wrexham.

Births

 * 4 January – Augustus John, painter (died 1961)
 * 30 January – Reg Skrimshire, Wales and British Lions rugby union player (died 1963)
 * 24 February – Lou Phillips, Wales international rugby player (killed in action 1916)
 * 3 March – Edward Thomas, poet (killed in action 1917)
 * 12 March – Mary Sophia Allen, women's rights activist (died 1964)
 * 15 March – Thomas Richards, historian and librarian (died 1962)
 * 21 March – Edwin Thomas Maynard, Wales international rugby player (died 1961)
 * 16 April – Owen Thomas Jones, geologist (died 1967)
 * 26 May – Abel J. Jones, writer (died 1949)
 * 5 June – Billy O'Neill, Wales national rugby player (died 1955)
 * 8 June – Evan Roberts, religious revivalist (died 1951)
 * 20 June – Seymour Farmer, politician in Canada (died 1951)
 * 1 July – Billy Trew, rugby player and Welsh Triple Crown winning captain (died 1926)
 * 27 August – Edgar Rees Jones, lawyer and politician (died 1962)
 * 28 October – Charles Benjamin Redrup, aeronautical engineer (died 1961)
 * 30 October – Caradog Roberts, musician (died 1935)
 * 8 November – Dorothea Bate, palaeontologist (died 1951)
 * 31 December – Caradoc Evans, writer (died 1945)
 * date unknown – Richard Hughes Williams (Dic Tryfan), Welsh language short story writer (died 1919)

Deaths

 * 16 February – Alexander Jones, footballer, 23 (accidentally shot)
 * 25 February – Townsend Harris, Welsh-descended American diplomat, 73
 * 30 March – Peter Maurice, priest and writer, 74
 * 4 July – William Roos, Welsh artist and engraver, 70
 * 13 August – Francis Rice, 5th Baron Dynevor, 74
 * 30 September – Evan James, poet, lyricist of the Welsh national anthem, 69
 * 18 November – John Jones (Mathetes), clergyman and writer, 57
 * 20 November – William Thomas (Islwyn), poet, 46
 * 25 November – Llewelyn Lewellin, clergyman and academic, 80
 * 5 December – David Price, minister, 67
 * 13 December – David Charles, secretary of the University for Wales movement, 56