1731 in Wales

This article is about the particular significance of the year 1731 to Wales and its people.

Incumbents

Lord Lieutenant of North Wales (Lord Lieutenant of Anglesey, Caernarvonshire, Denbighshire, Flintshire, Merionethshire, Montgomeryshire) – George Cholmondeley, 2nd Earl of Cholmondeley{{cite book | author=J.C. Sainty | author-link=John Sainty (civil servant) | title=List of Lieutenants of Counties of England and Wales 1660-1974 | publisher=Swift Printers (Sales) Ltd | location=London | year=1979}}{{cite book | last = Nicholas | first = Thomas | title = Annals and antiquities of the counties and county families of Wales | publisher = Genealogical Pub. Co | location = Baltimore | year = 1991 | isbn = 9780806313146 | page=695}}
Lord Lieutenant of Glamorgan – Charles Powlett, 3rd Duke of Bolton{{cite book|author=Arthur Collins|title=The Peerage of England ... The third edition, corrected and enlarged in every family, with memoirs, not hitherto printed|publisher=H. Woodfall|date=1768|page=235}}
Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Lord Lieutenant of Monmouthshire – Sir William Morgan of Tredegar(until 24 April); Thomas Morgan (from 18 June)
Lord Lieutenant of Cardiganshire – John Vaughan, 2nd Viscount Lisburne
Lord Lieutenant of Carmarthenshire – vacant until 1755
Lord Lieutenant of Pembrokeshire – Sir Arthur Owen, 3rd Baronet
Lord Lieutenant of Radnorshire – James Brydges, 1st Duke of Chandos

Bishop of Bangor – Thomas Sherlock{{cite book|author1=E. B. Pryde|author2=D. E. Greenway|author3=S. Porter|author4=I. Roy|title=Handbook of British Chronology|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=zcgxEvGAK_kC&pg=PA292|date=23 February 1996|publisher=Cambridge University Press|isbn=978-0-521-56350-5|pages=292}}
Bishop of Llandaff – John Harris{{cite DWB| id=s-HARR-JOH-1680| title=Harris, John (1680–1738), bishop of Llandaff |last=Thomas|first=Lawrence|access-date=3 October 2021}}
Bishop of St Asaph – Francis Hare (until 25 November){{cite book|author=Arthur Philip Perceval|title=An Apology for the Doctrine of Apostolical Succession; with an appendix on the English Orders|year=1839|page=197}}{{cite book|author= Stephen Hyde Cassan|title=Lives of the Bishops of Bath|year=1829|page=162}}
Bishop of St Davids – Richard Smalbroke{{cite DNB|wstitle=Smalbroke, Richard}} (until 20 February)Elias Sydall (11 April to 2 November){{cite book|title=West Wales Historical Records: The Annual Magazine of the Historical Society of West Wales|publisher=W. Spurrell and son|year=1914|page=280}}{{cite book|title=Fasti ecclesiae Anglicanae or a calendar of the principal ecclesiastical dignitaries in England and Wales|publisher=University Press|year=1854|page=304}}

April - Trader Robert Jenkins has his ear cut off by Spanish coast guards in Cuba leading to the War of Jenkins' Ear in 1739.{{cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|url=https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will|url-access=registration|location=London|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|page=[https://archive.org/details/cassellschronolo0000will/page/303 303]}}
September 22 - Griffith Jones (Llanddowror) writes to the SPCK proposing that a Welsh school be set up at Llanddowror. This marks the beginning of the circulating schools movement.

Humphrey Lhuyd - Britannicae Descriptionis Commentariolum{{cite book|author=Robert Watt|title=Bibliotheca Britannica: Authors|url=https://books.google.com/books?id=YFHMXtCHzuMC&pg=PA11-IA3|year=1824|publisher=A. Constable|pages=604}}
Edward Samuel - Athrawiaeth yr Eglwys{{cite book|author=Gwilym Lleyn|title=Cambrian Bibliography: Containing an Account of the Books Printed in the Welsh Language, Or Relating to Wales, from the Year 1546 to the End of the Eighteenth Century|url=https://archive.org/details/cambrianbibliog00rowlgoog|year=1869|publisher=Printed and pub. by J. Pryse|pages=[https://archive.org/details/cambrianbibliog00rowlgoog/page/n353 358]}}

23 April - Henry Fielding's latest work, The Welsh Opera, is performed in Haymarket. It includes personal attacks on Frederick, Prince of Wales.Loftis, John. The Politics of Drama in Augustan England. Oxford: Clarendon, 1963. p. 105

20 May - Evan Evans (Ieuan Fardd), poet (died 1788){{Cite ODNB|id=8955|last=Jenkins|first=Geraint H.|title=Evans, Evan [pseud. Ieuan Fardd; called Ieuan Brydydd Hir] (1731–1788), scholar and poet}}
date unknown
Siôn Robert Lewis, author and hymn-writer (died 1806)
Aaron Williams, composer (died 1776)

January - Thomas Jones of Lincoln's Inn, founder of the Honourable and Loyal Society of Antient Britons{{cite book|title=Wales|publisher=Druid Press|year=1947|page=168}}
6 April - David Lloyd, Welsh-born American lawyer, 74{{cite ODNB|id=68177|first=Mary K.|last=Geiter|title=David Lloyd}}
24 April - William Morgan of Tredegar (the elder), Lord Lieutenant of Brecknockshire and Monmouthshire, 31{{cite book|title=The English Reports: House of Lords (1677-1865)|publisher=W. Green|year=1900|page=1350}}
September - Rowland Ellis, Quaker leader, 81 (in America){{cite DWB|id=s-ELLI-ROW-1650|title=Ellis, Rowland (1650-1731), Welsh-American Quaker|author=Robert (Bob) Owen|fewer-links=yes|access-date=4 October 2021}}
4 September - John Roberts, MP for Denbigh, 59?{{cite web|url = http://www.historyofparliamentonline.org/volume/1715-1754/member/roberts-john-1731| title= ROBERTS, John (d.1731), of Plas Newydd, Denb.|publisher= History of Parliament Online (1715-1754)|access-date = 4 October 2021}}
9 October - William Stanley, Dean of St Asaph, 85{{acad|id=STNY663W|name=Stanley, William}}