1883 in Wales

Centuries:	17th; 18th; 19th; 20th; 21st;
Decades:	1860s; 1870s; 1880s; 1890s; 1900s;
See also:	List of years in Wales; Timeline of Welsh history 1883 in The United Kingdom Scotland Elsewhere

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1883 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

27 January – In the same storm, the James Gray is wrecked on Tusker Rocks, Porthcawl, and the Agnes Jack off Port Eynon. The Mumbles lifeboat puts out, and 5 of its crew are drowned in the rescue attempt, in which Jessie Ace and Margaret Wright assist.^[1]
16 February – Six million tons of rock collapse at the Welsh Slate Company's underground quarry at Blaenau Ffestiniog.
1 February – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Lewis Merthyr Colliery.
25 June – Six miners are killed in an accident at the New Duffryn Colliery, Rhymney.
July – The steamship Rishanglys leaves three seamen, who are believed to be suffering from cholera, on the island of Flat Holm; one of them subsequently dies.^[2]
21 August – Five miners are killed in an accident at the Gelli Colliery, Gelli, Glamorgan.
24 October – Cardiff University opens (under the name of University College of South Wales and Monmouthshire).
31 October – 18 people are drowned when the German barque Alhambra sinks off Holyhead.
13 November – Merthyr Tydfil-born Samuel Griffith becomes Premier of Queensland for the first time.
c. November? – Closure of Point of Ayr lighthouse.
Peak year for zinc production in Wales.
Welsh-Canadian artist Robert Harris is commissioned to paint the Meeting of the Delegates of British North America.

Rhoda Broughton – Belinda
Amy Dillwyn – A Burglary; or Unconscious Influence
John Jones (Myrddin Fardd) – Adgof Uwch Anghof
Robert Owen – Pilgrimage to Rome
Robert Williams (Trebor Mai) – Gwaith Barddonol Trebor Mai (posthumously published)

Football – Wrexham win the Welsh Cup for the second time in its six-year history.
Rugby union
- Wales take part in the inaugural Home Nations Championship
- First home international game played, hosted at St. Helen's Rugby and Cricket Ground in Swansea.
- First Wales match against Scotland. Wales lose by three goals to one.

6 January (in Shirehampton) – Harry Uzzell, Wales international rugby union captain (died 1960)
23 March – William Evans, Wales dual code international rugby player (died 1946)
30 April – David John de Lloyd, composer (died 1948)^[4]
7 May – Gomer Berry, 1st Viscount Kemsley, newspaper magnate (died 1968)
12 May (in Glasgow) – James Walker, MP for Newport 1929–31 (died 1945)
28 May (in Gayton) – Clough Williams-Ellis, architect (died 1978)^[5]
12 June (in London) – Margaret Mackworth, 2nd Viscountess Rhondda, suffragette (died 1958)
8 August – Iesu Grist Price, son of William Price (died 1884)
13 September (in South Shields) – Percy Thomas, architect (died 1969)^[6]
14 October – Dick Thomas, Wales international rugby player (died 1916)
23 November – James 'Tuan' Jones, Wales and British Lion rugby player (died 1964)
13 December – Sir Frederick Rees, Welsh historian and academic
date unknown
- John Jones (Tydu), poet (died 1968)

^ "Mumbles Lifeboat Disasters". National Coastwatch. Retrieved 5 April 2019.
^ Guy, John (1984). "Saving Flat Holm's Cholera Hospital". Exploring Local History (8): 244–246.
^ "Winners of the Chair". National Eisteddfod of Wales. 3 October 2019.
^ Robert Evans; Maggie Humphreys (1 January 1997). Dictionary of Composers for the Church in Great Britain and Ireland. Bloomsbury Publishing. p. 210. ISBN 978-1-4411-3796-8.
^ Gale Group (July 2002). Contemporary Authors. Cengage Gale. p. 459. ISBN 978-0-7876-4595-3.
^ RIBA Journal. Royal Institute of British Architects. 1984. p. 31.
^ Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion (London, England) (1914). The Transactions of the Honourable Society of Cymmrodorion. The Society. p. 186.