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 LewisDeath Of The Bishop Of Llandaff, The Times, 25 January 1905; page 4; Issue 37613; col A 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. unknown dates 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. Japanese knotweed is recorded at Maesteg - the first record of it growing wild in the UK.
Arts and literature 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)Dictionary of Welsh Biography entry
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, four-time 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) 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 – Bill 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
See also 1886 in Ireland
References