1871 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1871 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

24 February – In a mining accident at Pentre Colliery, Rhondda, 38 men are killed.
21 March – Welsh-born journalist Henry Morton Stanley sets out for Africa to seek missing Scottish explorer and missionary Dr. David Livingstone.
June – Miners' strike in South Wales culminates in defeat for the union.
14 August – The Van Railway, built by David Davies Llandinam, opens to carry traffic from the Van lead mines to Caersws.
10 November – Stanley locates Livingstone in Ujiji, near Lake Tanganyika, and allegedly greets him saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?"
date unknown
*Lewis Jones is appointed governor of Chubut Province by the government of Argentina.
*Operations at the White Rock smelting works in Swansea are extended by Henry Hussey Vivian to include the treatment of silver and lead ore.

W. R. Ambrose – Hynafiaethau, Cofiannau a Hanes Presennol Nant Nantlle, y Traethawd Buddugol yn Eisteddfod Gadeiriol Pen-y-groes
Robert Fowler, MD – A Complete History of the Case of the Welsh Fasting-Girl
James Kenward – Ab Ithel
Thomas Purnell
*Dramatists of the Present Day
*''Correspondence and Works of Charles Lamb''

5 January – Percy Lloyd, Wales national rugby player
23 February – Jack Evans, Wales national rugby player
2 March – Billy Bancroft, sportsman
28 March – R. Silyn Roberts, Socialist and pacifist writer
1 April - Dai St. John, heavyweight boxer
6 April – Prince Alexander John of Wales, youngest son of the Prince and Princess of Wales
12 April – Ellis William Davies, politician
15 April – John Humphreys Davies, writer
11 May – George Howells, academic and writer
6 June – Evan Lloyd, Wales international rugby player
14 June – David Nicholl, rugby player
July - Owen Jones, footballer
2 July – Sir Evan Williams, 1st Baronet, industrialist
3 July – W. H. Davies, poet
13 August – Jack Elliott, Wales international rugby player
21 September – Alfred Brice, Wales international rugby player
1 October – Sir Lewis Lougher, industrialist and politician
10 October – Thomas Gwynn Jones, poet
3 November – Owen Badger, Wales national rugby player
27 November – Robert Evans (Cybi), writer
29 November – Ruth Herbert Lewis, social reformer and collector of Welsh folk songs
1 December – Bert Dauncey, Wales international rugby player
3 December – Sir Percy Emerson Watkins, civil servant
date unknown
*William Jenkins, politician
*Howard Passadoro, footballer
*Thomas Mardy Rees, historian and author

12 January – Richard Hughes, printer and publisher, 76/7
19 January – Thomas Jeremy Griffiths, minister, hymn-writer and teacher, about 75
30 January – Edward Howell, US politician of Welsh descent, 78
February – Robert Roberts, musician, 30
9 May – Edward Morgan, minister and writer, 53
23 July – Arthur James Johnes, judge, 62
2 August – David James (Dewi o Ddyfed), writer
3 October – David Marks, musician and composer, about 83
6 October – Edwin Wyndham-Quin, 3rd Earl of Dunraven and Mount-Earl, 59
2 December – Joseph Jones, Catholic priest and bard, 72