1886 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1886 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

 * Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Richard Davies
 * Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk
 * Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn (until 31 March); John Ernest Greaves (from 17 May)
 * 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 – Robert Davies Pryce
 * 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
 * Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
 * Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones


 * Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd

Events

 * 9 June – Soprano Adelina Patti marries tenor Ernesto Nicolini in south Wales.
 * 1 September – The Great Western Railway opens the Severn Tunnel to regular goods and mineral traffic (and to passengers on 1 December).
 * September – Opening of the Llandudno Pier Pavilion Theatre.
 * 15 October
 * 20 people are drowned when the sailing ship Malleny is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl.
 * 18 people are drowned when the sailing ship Teviotdale is wrecked on Cefn Sidan Sands in Carmarthenshire.
 * 16 October
 * Statue of the Liberal politician John Batchelor unveiled in Cardiff
 * November
 * Serious flooding in Aberystwyth.
 * The keeper of the Mumbles lighthouse is swept out to sea and drowned.
 * The rivers Mawddach, Dee and Taff all flood.
 * Cantref Reservoir on the Taff Fawr is completed.
 * Opening of the Cardiff Stock Exchange.
 * Cymru Fydd is founded by the Liberal Party to further the cause of home rule.
 * The Welsh Land League is founded.
 * Beginning of the tithe revolt in Denbighshire.
 * The corporation of the Borough of Holt is dissolved.

Awards
National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Caernarfon
 * Chair – Richard Davies, "Gobaith"
 * Crown – John Cadfan Davies

New books

 * Rhoda Broughton – Doctor Cupid

Music

 * William Owen "of Prysgol" – Y Perl Cerddorol yn cynnwys tonau ac anthemau, cysegredig a moesol (sol-fa edition)

Sport

 * Football – Druids win the Welsh Cup for the fifth time in its nine-year history.
 * Rugby union – Abercynon RFC and Treorchy RFC are founded.

Births

 * 3 March – Jack Jones, Wales international rugby player (died 1951)
 * 4 March – Rowland Griffiths, Wales international rugby player (died 1914)
 * 5 March
 * Paul Radmilovic, competitive swimmer, 4-times Olympic gold medal winner (died 1968)
 * Freddie Welsh, né Thomas, World lightweight boxing champion (died 1927 in the United States)
 * 14 March – David Watts, Wales international rugby union player (died 1916)
 * 16 March – James Llewellyn Davies, VC winner (died 1917)
 * 28 March – John Osborn Williams, entrepreneur (died 1963)
 * 3 May – Morgan Jones, politician (died 1939)
 * 4 May – Olive Wheeler, educationalist (died 1963)
 * 6 June – John Morgan, Archbishop of Wales (died 1957)
 * 17 June – David Brunt, meteorologist (died 1965)
 * 11 July – Ernest Willows, aviation pioneer (died 1926)
 * 13 July – Huw Menai (Huw Owen Williams), poet (died 1961)
 * 22 September – Bil Perry, Welsh international rugby player (died 1970)
 * 29 September – Jack Williams, VC recipient (died 1953)
 * 9 November (probably) – S. O. Davies, politician (died 1972)
 * 10 November – Fred Birt, Wales international rugby union player (died 1956)
 * 22 December – David James Jones, philosopher and academic (died 1947)

Deaths

 * 28 February – John Jones, politician, 73
 * 12 March – Edward Arthur Somerset, politician, 69
 * 31 March – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn, 85
 * 7 May – Timothy Richards Lewis, surgeon and pathologist, 44
 * 9 June – Edward Williams, iron-master, 60)
 * 9 July – Roger Edwards, minister and writer, 75
 * 13 October – John Prichard, architect, 69
 * 29 October – Evan Evans, ("Evans Bach Nantyglo"), minister, 82