1870 in Wales

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.

Incumbent[]

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.
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.

Billiards — John Roberts, Sr. loses the English billiards championship after 21 years.
Association football — Druids of Rhiwabon formed.

7 January — , Baptist minister and journalist (died 1948)
13 January — Conway Rees, rugby player (died 1932)
11 March — , 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 — , 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)

16 March — Thomas Parry, Bishop of Barbados, 74
4 April — Owen Wynne Jones, writer, 42^[1]
1 May — , singer, 58
15 May — , soldier, 49
21 June — (Thomas ap Ieuan), minister and author, 46
27 May — John Etherington Welch Rolls, Monmouthshire landowner and father of 1st Baron Llangattock, 63^[2]
1 August — Levi Gibbon, balladeer, 92^[3]
8 September — , poet, 35
17 September — Joseph David Jones, composer, 43
16 November — Harry Longueville Jones, antiquary, 64^[4]

^ Thomas Mardy Rees (1908). Notable Welshmen (1700-1900): ... with Brief Notes, in Chronological Order, and Authorities. Also a Complete Alphabetical Index. Herald Office.
^ Greater London Council (1971). The survey of London. AMS Press. p. 40. ISBN 978-0-404-51650-5.
^ Robert Griffiths (July 1983). S.O. Davies--a socialist faith. Gomer Press. p. 21. ISBN 978-0-85088-887-4.
^ Notes and Queries. Oxford University Press. 1894. p. 468.