1881 in Wales
This article is about the particular significance of the year 1881 to Wales and its people.
Incumbents
- Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd
- Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – William Owen Stanley
- Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk
- Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn
- 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 – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn
- 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 – Alfred Ollivant
- Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes
- Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones
Events
- January – At least five people freeze to death during blizzards and extreme low temperatures throughout Wales.
- 4 March – Physician William Price marries 22-year-old Gwenllian Llywelyn in a Druidic ceremony at Pontypridd on his 81st birthday.
- 27 August – The Sunday Closing (Wales) Act prohibits the sale of alcohol on a Sunday. This is the first Act of Parliament in the United Kingdom since the 1542 Act of Union whose application is restricted to Wales.
- 13 October – 19 people drown when the Cyprian is wrecked off the Lleyn peninsula.
- date unknown
- *Welsh Regiment formed as part of the Childers Reforms of the British Army, incorporating the 41st (Welsh) Regiment of Foot.
- *River Vyrnwy is dammed to create Lake Vyrnwy.
Arts and literature
The Cambrian Academy of Art is formed by English and Welsh artists in North Wales.Awards
National Eisteddfod of Wales – held at Merthyr Tydfil- Chair – Evan Rees, "Cariad"
- Crown – Watkin Hezekiah Williams
New books
- Amy Dillwyn – Chloe Arguelle
- Daniel Owen – ''Y Dreflan''
Sport
- Rugby union
- *19 February – First Wales national game, played at Blackheath against England. Wales lose heavily.
- *12 March – The Welsh Rugby Union is formed as the Welsh Football Union in a meeting in Neath.
Births
- 1 January – George Latham, footballer
- 3 January – Lewis Pugh Evans, VC recipient
- 14 February – William John Gruffydd, academic and politician
- 9 April – John Hart Evans, Wales international rugby player
- 15 April – David Thomas, composer
- 16 April – Ifor Williams, academic
- 5 May – Rupert Price Hallowes, VC recipient
- 16 June – David Grenfell, politician
- 20 June – John Crichton-Stuart, 4th Marquess of Bute, landowner
- August – John Lewis, footballer
- 30 September – Philip Lewis Griffiths, lawyer
- 1 October – Cliff Pritchard, Wales international rugby player
- 28 October – Edward Evans, 1st Baron Mountevans, explorer
- 10 December – David Phillips Jones, Wales international rugby player
- December – George Hall, politician
- date unknown
- *Robert Williams, trade union leader
Deaths
- 3 January – William H. C. Lloyd, clergyman, 78
- 19 January – John Roose Elias, poet, 60
- 11 March – Thomas Brigstocke, portrait painter, 71
- 20 April – William Burges, architect, 53
- 7 June – William Milbourne James, judge, 74
- 26 July – George Borrow, author of Wild Wales, 78
- 13 October – Edwin Barber Morgan, Welsh-descended president of Wells Fargo, 67
- 20 November – Hugh Owen, educationist, 77
- 22 November – John Owen Griffith (Ioan Arfon), poet and critic, 53
- 10 December – Walter Powell, industrialist and politician, 39