1788 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1788 to Wales and its people.
Incumbents
- Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey - Henry Paget
- Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 5th Duke of Beaufort
- Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire - Thomas Bulkeley, 7th Viscount Bulkeley
- Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Wilmot Vaughan, 1st Earl of Lisburne
- Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Vaughan
- Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire - Richard Myddelton
- Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire - Sir Roger Mostyn, 5th Baronet
- Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – John Stuart, Lord Mountstuart
- Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire - Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 4th Baronet
- Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – George Herbert, 2nd Earl of Powis
- Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Richard Philipps, 1st Baron Milford
- Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Edward Harley, 4th Earl of Oxford and Earl Mortimer
- Bishop of Bangor – John Warren
- Bishop of Llandaff – Richard Watson
- Bishop of St Asaph – Jonathan Shipley
- Bishop of St Davids – Edward Smallwell ; Samuel Horsley
Events
- 18 March – Great Sessions at Wrexham hear a graveyard dispute between the "Old" and "New" chapels at Llanuwchllyn.
- 4 June – Lloyd Kenyon, 1st Baron Kenyon, becomes Chief Justice of the King's Bench.
- date unknown – Architect John Nash, during his "Welsh interlude", designs the stable block at Plas Llanstephan
Arts and literature
New books
- Robert Jones (Robert ab Ioan) – Drych i'r Anllythrennog
- Nicholas Owen – British Remains.
- John Roberts (Siôn Robert Lewis) – Yr Athrofa Rad
- Hester Lynch Piozzi – ''Letters to and from the late Samuel Johnson''
Births
- 12 February – William Williams, MP
- 5 October – John Montgomery Traherne, antiquary.
- 28 December – Griffith Davies, actuary
- date unknown – Mary Morgan, servant hanged for killing her newborn child
- probable – Elijah Waring, English-born preacher, editor and writer
Deaths
- 30 January – Charles Edward Stuart, last Stuart claimant to the title of Prince of Wales, 67
- 25 May – David Thomas, noted bone-setter, 49
- 4 August – Evan Evans, priest and poet, 57
- 6 December – Jonathan Shipley, Bishop of Llandaff and St Asaph, 74
- date unknown – David Evans, canon of St Asaph, writer and musician, 82–83