1854 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1854 to Wales and its people.
Incumbents
- Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey ; Henry Paget, 2nd Marquess of Anglesey
- Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – John Lloyd Vaughan Watkins
- Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Sir Richard Williams-Bulkeley, 10th Baronet
- Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – William Edward Powell ; Thomas Lloyd, Coedmore
- Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 1st Earl Cawdor
- 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 ; Robert Davies Pryce
- 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
- Late August — Third cholera pandemic in Cardiff.
- 31 October — David Davies (Dai'r Cantwr) receives a conditional pardon for his role in the Rebecca Riots.
- 5 November — At the Battle of Inkerman, Hugh Rowlands carries out the actions that lead to his becoming the first Welshman to win the Victoria Cross.
- 11 November — In Australia, Welsh-born John Basson Humffray is elected the first president of the Ballarat Reform League.
- unknown dates
- *Thorne Island fortification completed.
- *Betsi Cadwaladr volunteers to serve as a nurse in the Crimean War.
- *Love Jones-Parry is High Sheriff of Caernarvonshire.
- *The Telegraphic Despatch is published in Swansea, the first newspaper in Wales to come out more than once a week.
- *A penny newspaper, the Herald Cymraeg, is founded at Caernarfon, with James Evans as editor.
- *John Williams (Ab Ithel) becomes editor of the Cambrian Journal.
Arts and literature
New books
English language
- Thomas Prichard — The Heroines of Welsh History
- Samuel Prideaux Tregelles — ''Account of the Printed Text of the New Testament''
Welsh language
- John Edwards (Eos Glan Twrch) — Llais o'r Llwyn: sef Barddoniaeth, ar Amryfal Destynau
- Samuel Evans (Gomerydd) — Y Gomerydd
- Owen Wynne Jones — Fy Oriau Hamddenol
- William Thomas (Islwyn) — ''Barddoniaeth''
Music
- David Richards — ''Y Blwch Cerddorol''
Births
- 1 January — Peter Morris, baseball player
- 8 April — Robert Arthur Williams, clergyman and poet
- 17 April — Sir John Eldon Bankes, judge
- 30 April — William Critchlow Harris, Welsh-Canadian architect
- 10 July — John Lloyd Williams, botanist and composer
- 16 December — J. D. Rees, colonial administrator
Deaths
- 14 January — Charles Rodney Morgan, politician, 25
- 3 April — Edward Lloyd, 1st Baron Mostyn, politician, 85
- 10 April — William Edward Powell, politician, 66
- 29 April — Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey, soldier and politician, 85
- 24 May — John Rowlands of Y Llys, alleged father of Sir Henry Morton Stanley, 39
- 12 November — Charles Kemble, actor, 79
- 28 December — Rowland Williams, clergyman and writer, 75
- 29 December — Joseph Tregelles Price, industrialist, 70