1883 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1883 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 – Richard Lewis (from 25 April)
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
 * Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones

Events

 * 27 January – In the same storm, the James Gray is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl, and the Agnes Jack off Port Eynon. The Mumbles lifeboat puts out, and 5 of its crew are drowned in the rescue attempt, in which Jessie Ace and Margaret Wright assist.
 * 16 February – Six million tons of rock collapse at the Welsh Slate Company's underground quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
 * 1 February – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Lewis Merthyr Colliery.
 * 25 June – Six miners are killed in an accident at the New Duffryn Colliery, Rhymney.
 * July – The steamship Rishanglys leaves three seamen, who are believed to be suffering from cholera, on the island of Flat Holm; one of them subsequently dies.
 * 21 August – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Gelli Colliery, Gelli, Glamorgan.
 * 24 October – Cardiff University opens (under the name of University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire).
 * 31 October – 18 people are drowned when the German barque Alhambra sinks off Holyhead.
 * 13 November – Merthyr Tydfil-born Samuel Griffith becomes Premier of Queensland for the first time.
 * c. November? – Closure of Point of Ayr lighthouse.
 * Peak year for zinc production in Wales.
 * Penydarren Ironworks closes completely.
 * Welsh-Canadian artist Robert Harris is commissioned to paint the Meeting of the Delegates of British North America.

Awards
National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Cardiff
 * Chair – No winner
 * Crown – Anna Walter Thomas

New books

 * Rhoda Broughton – Belinda
 * Amy Dillwyn – A Burglary; or Unconscious Influence
 * John Jones (Myrddin Fardd) – Adgof Uwch Anghof
 * Robert Owen – Pilgrimage to Rome
 * Robert Williams (Trebor Mai) – Gwaith Barddonol Trebor Mai (posthumously published)

Music

 * Treorchy Male Voice Choir formed.

Sport

 * Football – Wrexham win the Welsh Cup for the second time in its six-year history.
 * Rugby union
 * Wales take part in the inaugural Home Nations Championship
 * First home international game played, hosted at St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea.
 * First Wales match against Scotland. Wales lose by three goals to one.

Births

 * 6 January (in Shirehampton) – Harry Uzzell, Wales international rugby union captain (died 1960)
 * 23 March – William Evans, Wales dual code international rugby player (died 1946)
 * 30 April – David John de Lloyd, composer (died 1948)
 * 7 May – Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, newspaper magnate (died 1968)
 * 12 May (in Glasgow) – James Walker, MP for Newport 1929–31 (died 1945)
 * 28 May (in Gayton) – Clough Williams-Ellis, architect (died 1978)
 * 12 June (in London) – Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, suffragette (died 1958)
 * 8 August – Iesu Grist Price, son of William Price (died 1884)
 * 13 September (in South Shields) – Percy Thomas, architect (died 1969)
 * 14 October – Dick Thomas, Wales international rugby player (died 1916)
 * 23 November – James 'Tuan' Jones, Wales and British Lion rugby player (died 1964)
 * 13 December – Sir Frederick Rees, historian and academic (died 1967)
 * date unknown – John Jones (Tydu), poet (died 1968)

Deaths

 * 25 January – John Elias Davies, harpist, 35
 * 29 January
 * John Owen (Owain Alaw), composer, 61
 * Owen Gethin Jones, industrialist and poet, 66
 * May – John Batchelor, businessman and politician, 63
 * 28 May – Hugh Jones, Principal of Llangollen Baptist College, 51
 * 18 August – Roger Vaughan, Benedictine monk and priest, Archbishop of Sydney, 49
 * 5 November – James Walton, Yorkshire-born textile inventor and industrialist, 80
 * 8 November – William Rees (Gwilym Hiraethog), poet, 81
 * 25 December – Townshend Mainwaring, politician, 76