1823 in Wales

Black and white engraving of a cathedral.

1823 engraving of cathedral in Wrexham

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1823 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – Henry Paget, 1st Marquess of Anglesey
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Henry Somerset, 6th Duke of Beaufort
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Thomas Assheton Smith
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – William Edward Powell
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – George Rice, 3rd Baron Dynevor
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Robert Grosvenor, 1st Marquess of Westminster
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – John Crichton-Stuart, 2nd Marquess of Bute
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Sir Watkin Williams-Wynn, 5th Baronet
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Clive, 1st Earl of Powis
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Richard Philipps, 1st Baron Milford (until 28 November)
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – George Rodney, 3rd Baron Rodney

• Bishop of Bangor – Henry Majendie
• Bishop of Llandaff – William Van Mildert
• Bishop of St Asaph – John Luxmoore
• Bishop of St Davids – Thomas Burgess

Events

• 13 January – Edward Paget, former MP for Caernarvon, is appointed Commander-in-Chief of British forces in India.
• 23 January – In Paviland Cave on the Gower Peninsula, William Buckland inspects the "Red Lady of Paviland", the first identification of a prehistoric (male) human burial (first discovered on 21 December last).
• February
  • John Frost is sentenced to six months in prison for a libel against the town clerk of Newport.
  • Mercy Whitney describes the burial, in Hawaii, of the infant son of Isaac and Elizabeth Peke Davis: "A regular procession of two and two followed the corpse. Going into the fort in which the grave was dug seemed like entering a burying ground, more so than anything I have witnessed since I left America."
• 4 March – Llanuwchllyn-born John Richards is elected to the United States Congress.
• 26 March – The packet ship Alert sinks off The Skerries, Isle of Anglesey, with the loss of a hundred lives.
• Summer – Stanley Embankment completed by Thomas Telford carrying the Holyhead road between Anglesey and Holy Island.
• 23 August – A major eisteddfod is held at Mold.
• unknown date
  • The Welsh Literary Society of Brecon is established by Thomas Price (Carnhuanawc).
  • The Presbyterian Church of Wales draws up a "Confession of Faith" and becomes a separate body.
  • The Caergwrle Bowl, a decorated Middle Bronze Age artefact, is discovered.

Arts and literature

New books

• Felicia Hemans – The Siege of Valencia
• Huw Morys – Eos Ceiriog, sef casgliad o bêr ganiadau Huw Morus (posthumous, ed. Walter Davies)
• Ioan Siencyn – Casgliad o Ganiadau Difyr (posthumous)

Music

• David Charles – Hymnau ar Amrywiol Achosion (hymns)
• John Ellis – Eliot (hymn tune)

Births

• 8 January – Alfred Russel Wallace, biologist (d. 1913)
• 11 February – Llewellyn Turner, politician (d. 1903)
• March – Rowland Williams (Hwfa Môn), poet and archdruid (d. 1905)
• 19 April – Anna Laetitia Waring, poet and hymn-writer (d. 1910)
• 17 November – Sir John Evans, archaeologist (d. 1908)
• December – Caroline Elizabeth Williams, radical and champion of women's rights (d. 1908)

Deaths

• 26 February (in Switzerland) – John Philip Kemble, actor, brother of Sarah Siddons, 66
• 12 April – Diana Noel, 2nd Baroness Barham, philanthropist, 80
• 11 November – Sir Richard Richards, politician and judge, 71
• 28 November – Richard Philipps, 1st Baron Milford, landowner, 79
• 30 November – William Joseph Williams, American painter of Welsh parentage, 64
• 4 December – John Ryland Harris (Ieuan Ddu), printer, 20

See also

• 1823 in Ireland