1870 in Wales

← 1869 1868 1867 1870 in Wales → 1871 1872 1873
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1850s 1860s 1870s 1880s 1890s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1870 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1870 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales — The Prince Albert Edward, son of Queen Victoria of the United Kingdom
• Princess of Wales — Alexandra of Denmark

Events

• January — Francis Kilvert begins his famous diary.
• 10 February — In a mining accident at Morfa Colliery, Port Talbot, 30 men are killed.
• Sir George Gilbert Scott completes the restoration of Bangor Cathedral.
• The Druids of Rhiwabon are formed, the first football club in Wales.
• George Osborne Morgan introduces the Burials Bill and the Places of Worship (Acquisition of Land) Bill to Parliament.
• Timothy Richards Lewis discovers a nematoid worm, later Filaria sanguinis hominis.
• William Thomas Lewis, 1st Baron Merthyr of Senghenydd, begins acquiring the collieries later known as the Lewis Merthyr collieries in Rhondda.
• Jacob Lloyd is created a Knight of the Order of S. Gregory by Pope Pius IX.
• Thomas William Rhys Davids begins a series of articles for the Ceylon branch of the Royal Asiatic Society Journal.

Arts and literature

New books

• John Ceiriog Hughes — Oriau'r Haf
• David Lloyd Davies — Ceinwen Morgan neu y Rian Ddiwylliedig
• Richard Davies (Mynyddog) — Yr Ail Gynnig

Music

• John Ambrose Lloyd — Aberth Moliant

Sport

• Billiards — John Roberts, Sr. loses the English billiards championship after 21 years.

Births

• 7 January – John Tywi Jones, Baptist minister and journalist (died 1948)
• 13 January — Conway Rees, rugby player (died 1932)
• 11 March — Ivor Llewelyn Foster, singer (died 1959)
• 20 March — Eluned Morgan, author
• 25 March — Wallace Watts, Wales international rugby union player (died 1950)
• 19 June — Charles Nicholl, Wales international rugby union player (died 1939)
• 29 June
  • Arthur Boucher, Wales international rugby union player (died 1948)
  • Sir Charles Dillwyn-Venables-Llewellyn, 2nd Baronet, politician (died 1951)
• 27 July — Herbert Millingchamp Vaughan, historian (died 1948)
• 18 August — William Cope, 1st Baron Cope, politician and Wales international rugby player (died 1946)
• 1 September — Robert Roberts (Bob Tai'r Felin), folk singer (died 1951)
• 27 September — Thomas Jones (T. J.), civil servant (died 1955)
• 3 November — Norman Biggs, Wales international rugby player (died 1908)
• 15 November — William Elsey, Wales international rugby player (died 1936)
• 20 December — Sir David Davies, politician (died 1958)
• 29 December - Robert Dewi Williams, teacher, minister and writer (died 1955)
• 31 December - David John Jones, Dean of Llandaff (died 1949)
• date unknown
  • John Hughes Morris, missionary (died 1953)

Deaths

• 16 March — Thomas Parry, Bishop of Barbados, 74
• 4 April — Owen Wynne Jones, writer, 42
• 1 May — Ivor Fostor, singer, 58
• 15 May — Charles Hinde, soldier, 49
• 21 June — Thomas Evan James (Thomas ap Ieuan), minister and author, 46
• 27 May — John Etherington Welch Rolls, Monmouthshire landowner and father of 1st Baron Llangattock, 63
• 1 August — Levi Gibbon, balladeer, 92
• 8 September — David Parry (Dewi Moelwyn), poet, 35
• 17 September — Joseph David Jones, composer, 43
• 16 November — Harry Longueville Jones, antiquary, 64