This article is about the particular significance of the year 1879 to Wales and its people.

• Archdruid of the National Eisteddfod of Wales – Clwydfardd^[1]

• Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey – William Owen Stanley^[2][3][4][5]
• Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire – Joseph Bailey, 1st Baron Glanusk^[6]
• Lord Lieutenant of Caernarvonshire – Edward Douglas-Pennant, 1st Baron Penrhyn^[7]
• Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – Edward Pryse^[8][3]
• Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – John Campbell, 2nd Earl Cawdor
• Lord Lieutenant of Denbighshire – William Cornwallis-West
• Lord Lieutenant of Flintshire – Hugh Robert Hughes
• Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Christopher Rice Mansel Talbot^[9]
• Lord Lieutenant of Merionethshire – Edward Lloyd-Mostyn, 2nd Baron Mostyn^[10]
• Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Henry Somerset, 8th Duke of Beaufort^[11]
• Lord Lieutenant of Montgomeryshire – Edward Herbert, 3rd Earl of Powis^[12]
• Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – William Edwardes, 4th Baron Kensington^[3]
• Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – Arthur Walsh, 2nd Baron Ormathwaite

• Bishop of Bangor – James Colquhoun Campbell^[13][14]
• Bishop of Llandaff – Alfred Ollivant^[15]
• Bishop of St Asaph – Joshua Hughes^[16][15]
• Bishop of St Davids – Basil Jones^[15][17]

• 13 January – In a mining accident at Dinas Colliery, Llantrisant in the Rhondda, 63 men are killed.^[18]
• 22–23 January – Rorke's Drift is successfully defended by 139 British soldiers from the South Wales Borderers against an assault by 3,000 to 4,000 Zulu warriors.
• 2 May – Eleven Victoria Crosses are awarded to soldiers active in the defence of Rorke's Drift, the recipients including Privates John Williams and Robert Jones.^[19]
• 1 September – The ballroom of the Lord Nelson Hotel in Milford Haven becomes the first in the UK to be lit by electricity.^[20]
• 22 September – In a mining accident at Waunllwyd, Ebbw Vale, 84 men are killed.
• 3 October – Pryce Pryce-Jones opens his Royal Welsh Warehouse at Newtown, Montgomeryshire.
• 17 October – Official opening of the Severn Railway Bridge in Gloucestershire (destroyed in 1960).
• 29 November – Stradey Park opens as the home of Llanelli RFC.^[21] It remains the home for Llanelli RFC for nearly 130 years, and later for the regional side Scarlets, but closes in November 2008 when the teams' new home, Parc y Scarlets, opens in nearby Pemberton.
• date unknown
  • Railway engine drivers and firemen from Griffithstown form a craft union which becomes the Associated Society of Locomotive Engineers and Firemen.
  • The Croesor Tramway becomes the Portmadoc, Croesor and Beddgelert Tram Railway.^[22]
  • Butter (General) Market in Wrexham opens.^[23]
  • Welsh draper D H Evans opens his shop in London's Oxford Street.^[24]

• Football
  • 18 January – Wales play England for the first time, at Kennington Oval. Wales lose 2–1, but see their first international goal, scored by William Davies.
  • Newtown win the Welsh Cup in the second year of its existence.
• Rugby union
  • 18 January – Treherbert RFC play Cardiff for the first time.
  • Brecon RFC and Ebbw Vale RFC are founded.
• Tennis – The first tennis club in Wales is formed by the Newport Athletic Club.

• 1 January
  • Ernest Jones, psychiatrist (died 1958)
  • Willie Llewellyn, Wales international rugby union (died 1973)
• 15 March – David John Thomas, Wales international rugby union (died 1925)
• 7 April – Philip Turnbull, hockey player (died 1930)
• 23 June – Percy Bush, Wales international rugby union player (died 1955)
• 8 August – Arthur Harding, Wales international rugby union captain (died 1947)
• 28 August – E. E. Clive, actor and director (died 1940 in Hollywood)^[28]
• 29 August – Donough O'Brien, cricketer (died 1953)
• 3 September – Illtyd Buller Pole-Evans, botanist (died 1968)^[29]
• 4 September – Eliot Crawshay-Williams, politician and writer (died 1962)^[30]
• 12 September – Rupert Davies, Welsh-Canadian politician (died 1967)
• 2 October – Idris Bell, papyrologist (died 1967)^[31]
• 6 November – George Daggar MP, politician (died 1950)^[32]
• 9 November – S. O. Davies, politician (died 1972)
• 27 November – Dick Jones, Welsh international rugby player (died 1958)

• 22 January – John Vivian, MP, English-born member of the Vivian family, 60^[33]
• 20 February – John Orlando Parry, actor, pianist, artist, comedian and singer, 69^[34]
• 5 March – John Davies of Nercwys, minister and writer, 79^[35]
• 28 March – Robert Jones, Anglican priest and writer, 69
• 10 May – Robert Thompson Crawshay, ironmaster, 62^[36]
• 14 May – Thomas Nicholas, antiquary, 63^[37]
• 13 August – Edward Edwards, zoologist, 75^[38]
• 25 August – John Evans, Welsh-born Canadian politician, 63^[39]
• 23 September – Francis Kilvert, diarist, 39^[40]
• 11 December – William Thomas (Gwilym Marles), minister and writer, uncle of Dylan Thomas, 45^[41]

• 1879 in Ireland