1851 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1851 to Wales and its people.
Incumbents
- Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
- Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins
- Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Peter Drummond-Burrell, 22nd Baron Willoughby de Eresby ; Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet
- Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – William Edward Powell
- Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – George Rice, 3rd Baron Dynevor
- Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Robert Myddelton Biddulph
- Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Sir Stephen Glynne, 9th Baronet
- Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot
- Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn
- Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Capel Hanbury Leigh
- Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Charles Hanbury-Tracy, 1st Baron Sudeley
- Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir John Owen, 1st Baronet
- Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – John Walsh, 1st Baron Ormathwaite
- Bishop of Bangor – Christopher Bethell
- Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant
- Bishop of St Asaph – Thomas Vowler Short
- Bishop of St Davids – Connop Thirlwall
Events
- May
- * David Davies (Llandinam) marries Margaret Jones of Llanfair Caereinion.
- 24 September – Vale of Neath Railway opens from Neath to Aberdare.
- 27 August – William Bulkeley Hughes hosts a banquet at Bangor for Robert Stephenson.
- * Richard Fothergill III is prosecuted for running a "truck shop" at Aberdare.
Arts and literature
New books
- John Blackwell (Alun) – Ceinion Alun
- Richard Williams Morgan – ''A Tragedy of Powys Castle''
Music
- Thomas Jones (Gogrynwr) – Gweddi Habacuc
- John Ambrose Lloyd – Teyrnasoedd y Ddaear
- John Owen (Owain Alaw)
- *Deborah a Barac
- *''Gweddi Habacuc''
Births
- 8 February – Sir Marteine Lloyd, 2nd Baronet
- 10 March – William Haggar, pioneer of the film industry
- 24 March – Robert Ambrose Jones (Emrys ap Iwan)
- 15 June – Ernest Howard Griffiths, physicist
- 12 July – Elizabeth Phillips Hughes, promoter of women's education
- 27 December – Percy Gilchrist, industrialist
Deaths
- 1 January – George Insole, English-born coal shipper, 60
- 6 April – William Morgan Kinsey, travel writer, 62?
- 8 April – John Parry (Bardd Alaw), harpist and composer, 75
- 30 June
- *Thomas Phillips, founder of Llandovery College, 80
- *William Saunders, Welsh-language poet, 45
- 17 July – Aneurin Owen, historian, 58
- 13 August – Benjamin Gibson, classical scholar, younger brother of John Gibson, 40
- 22 November – Thomas Morgan, navy chaplain, 81