1896 in Wales

← 1895 1894 1893 1896 in Wales → 1897 1898 1899
Centuries:	17th 18th 19th 20th 21st
Decades:	1870s 1880s 1890s 1900s 1910s
See also:	List of years in Wales 1896 in The United Kingdom Ireland Scotland

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1896 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

• Prince of Wales — Albert Edward
• Princess of Wales — Alexandra
• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales — Hwfa Môn

Events

• 28 January — In an underground explosion at Tylorstown Colliery, Rhondda, 57 miners are killed.^[1]
• February — Construction of the Snowdon Mountain Railway is completed.
• 27 March — Colonel Sir Francis Marindin makes an unofficial inspection of the Snowdon Mountain Railway line on behalf of the Board of Trade. This includes a demonstration of the automatic brakes.
• 6 April — The Snowdon Mountain Railway commences public operation. On the first trip down the mountain, locomotive No.1 "Ladas" with two carriages loses the rack and is derailed. A passenger dies after jumping from the carriage.^[2] The second train down collides with the wreckage of the first; services are suspended for a year.^[3]
• c. May — Opening of Empire Exhibition at Sophia Gardens, Cardiff, including a roller coaster.
• 14 May — Garth Pier, Bangor, opened by George Douglas-Pennant, 2nd Baron Penrhyn.
• June — The Prince and Princess of Wales visit Aberystwyth, where the prince is installed as chancellor of the University of Wales and the princess opens the new pier pavilion.
• 1 August — Aberystwyth Cliff Railway and camera obscura opened.
• 24 September — William Frost flies his Frost Airship Glider for the only time.
• 30 September—August 1897 — Lock-out of slate workers at Penrhyn Quarry.^[4]
• 11 October — While attending Sunday service in St Deiniol's Church, Hawarden (on a visit to Gladstone), the Archbishop of Canterbury, Edward White Benson, dies of a heart attack. His body is subsequently transported home by train.
• Bishop of Menevia, John Cuthbert Hedley, is one of a group of Roman Catholic bishops who successfully petition Pope Leo XIII to lift the ban on Catholic students attending British universities, providing that the universities agreed to allow Catholic professors to teach theology and history, "with such exhaustiveness and soundness that the minds of the young men may be effectively fortified against errors".^[5]
• Opening of Shotton steelworks.
• Opening of the first indoor swimming pool in Wales, at Cardiff.

Arts and literature

Awards

National Eisteddfod of Wales — held at Llandudno

• Chair — Ben Davies
• Crown — withheld

New books

• Owen Morgan Edwards — Cartrefi Cymru
• Bertrand Russell — German Social Democracy

Music

• Nicholas Bennett — Alawon fy Ngwlad
• David Jenkins — Four Welsh Airs

Film

• 5 May — Birt Acres' The Oxford and Cambridge University Boat Race (1895) becomes the first film in the UK to be commercially screened outside London when it is shown at Cardiff Town Hall.^[6]
• The first Royal news film ever shot in Britain shows the Prince and Princess of Wales visiting an exhibition in Cardiff.

Sport

• Football — The Welsh Cup is won by Bangor for the second time in its 17-year history.

Births

• 18 January — Walter James, 4th Baron Northbourne, agriculturist (died 1982)
• 7 March — Charlie Pugh, Wales national rugby player (died 1951)
• 21 March — Dai Edwards, Wales dual-code rugby international (died 1960)
• 1 May — Hubert William Lewis, VC recipient (died 1977)
• 6 May — Wilfred Hodder, Wales international rugby player (died 1957)
• 7 May — Edgar Morgan, dual-code rugby international (died 1983)
• 13 August — Walter Price, footballer
• 1 September — Steve Morris, Wales national rugby player (died 1965)
• 11 September — John Morris, Baron Morris of Borth-y-Gest, judge (died 1979)
• 15 September — Owen Temple-Morris, politician (died 1985)
• Hugh Percy Wilkins, selenographer (died 1960)

Deaths

• 17 January — Augusta Hall, Baroness Llanover, patron of the arts, 93
• 26 February — Octavius Vaughan Morgan, politician, 58
• 5 April — John Rogers Thomas, Welsh-descended American songwriter and composer, 66
• 10 April — John Evans Jones, Governor of Nevada, 55
• 23 July - Arthur Linton, cyclist, 27
• 1 August — William Robert Grove, lawyer, judge and scientist, 85
• 27 October — Richard Davies, businessman, ship-owner and politician, 77
• 25 December — John Ashton, composer, 66
• 30 December — Evan Herber Evans, Nonconformist leader, 60

References

1. "Welsh Coal Mines". Retrieved 2010-11-27.
2. The Snowdon Mountain Railway
3. Kardas, Handel (April 1997). "Britain's worst railway opening day — Ladas and the Snowdon Mountain Railway". Railway World. 58 (683): 66–71.
4. Lindsay, Jean (1974). A History of the North Wales Slate Industry. Newton Abbot: David & Charles. ISBN 0-7153-6264-X.
5. BBC News, "Bishop Hedley's Cathays Cemetery memorial restored and rededicated", 31 January 2012. Accessed 23 Oct 2014
6. "Overview of British Film History". Learn about movie posters.com. Retrieved 2007-04-07.