| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1837 | - 1837: Pitman introduces his shorthand system
- 1837: P&O Founded
- 20 Jun 1837: William IV dies – accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901)
- 1 Jul 1837: Compulsory registration of Births, Marriages & Deaths in England & Wales –
Registration Districts were formed covering several parishes; initially they had the same
boundaries as the Poor Law boundaries set up in 1834
- 13 Jul 1837: Queen Victoria moves into the first Buckingham Palace
- 20 Jul 1837: Euston Railway station opens – first in London
|
| 2 | 1838 | - 28 Jun 1838: Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
|
| 3 | 1839 | - 1839: First Opium War between Britain and China (to 1842) – Britain captures Hong Kong
- 1839: Scottish blacksmith Kirkpatrick MacMillan refines the primitive bicycle, adding a
mechanical crank drive to the rear wheel, thus creating the first true "bicycle" in the modern
sense
- 1839: Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber
|
| 4 | 1840 | - 1840: Population Act relating to taking of censuses in Britain
- 1840: Last convicts landed in NSW (some say 1842 or 1849, but these probably landed
elsewhere)
- 10 Jan 1840: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
|
| 5 | 1841 | - 1841: Thomas Cook starts package tours
- 10 Feb 1841: Penny Red replaces Penny Black postage stamp
- 6 Jun 1841: June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
|
| 6 | 1842 | - 1842: Income Tax reintroduced in Britain
- 30 Mar 1842: Ether used as an anaesthetic for the first time (by Dr Crawford Long in America)
- 29 Aug 1842: Treaty of Nanking – End of First Opium War – Britain gains Hong Kong
|
| 7 | 1843 | - 1843: First Christmas card in England
- 27 May 1843: The Great Hall of Euston station opened in London
- 19 Jul 1843: Brunel's 'Great Britain' launched
|
| 8 | 1844 | - 6 Jun 1844: YMCA founded in London by Sir George Williams
|
| 9 | 1845 | - 1845: Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham)
- 17 Mar 1845: The rubber band patented by Stephen Perry
|
| 10 | 1846 | - 10 Sep 1846: The sewing machine is patented by Elias Howe
|
| 11 | 1847 | - 1847: US Mormons make Salt Lake City their centre
- Jan 1847: An anaesthetic used for the first time in England (James Simpson used ether to numb the pain of labour)
|
| 12 | 1848 | - 1848: First commercial production of chewing gum
- 24 Jan 1848: Gold found at Sutter's Mill, California – starts the California gold rush
- 11 Jul 1848: Waterloo railway station in London opens
|
| 13 | 1849 | - 1849: Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step to decimalisation – which finally
occurred in 1971!
|
| 14 | 1851 | - 1851: Gold discovered in Australia
- 1 May 1851: Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ("Crystal Palace" exhibition) opened in Hyde Park
|
| 15 | 1852 | - 1852: Tasmania ceases to be a convict settlement
- 1852: Wells Fargo established in USA
|
| 16 | 1853 | - 1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
|
| 17 | 1854 | - 1854: Cigarettes introduced into Britain
- 27 Mar 1854: Britain declares war on Russia (Crimean War)
- 25 Oct 1854: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
|
| 18 | 1856 | - 1856: End of Crimean War
- 29 Jan 1856: Victoria Cross created by Royal Warrant, backdated to 1854 to recognise acts
during the Crimean War (first award ceremony 26 June 1857)
|
| 19 | 1857 | - 1857: Work starts on the laying of the Transatlantic cable
|
| 20 | 1858 | - 1858: 'The great stink' – smell of the River Thames forced Parliament to stop work
- 1858: Royal Opera House opens in Covent Garden, London
|
| 21 | 1859 | - 1859: Peaceful picketing legalised in Britain
- 25 Apr 1859: Work started on building the Suez canal (opened 17 Nov 1869)
- 4 May 1859: Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge opened at Saltash giving rail link between Devon
and Cornwall
- 24 Nov 1859: Charles Darwin publishes "The Origin of Species"
|
| 22 | 1860 | - 29 Aug 1860: First tram service in Europe starts in Birkenhead
|
| 23 | 1861 | - 25 May 1861: American Civil War begins
|
| 24 | 1862 | - 1862: Lincoln issues first legal US paper money (Greenbacks)
- 20 Apr 1862: First pasteurisation test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
|
| 25 | 1863 | - 1863: Football Association founded (UK)
- 1863: Opening of state institution for criminally insane at Broadmoor, England
- 10 Jan 1863: First section of the London Underground Railway opens
|
| 26 | 1864 | - 1864: A man-powered submarine, "Hunley", sank a Federal steam ship, USS Housatonic, at the entrance to Charleston harbour in 1864 – the first recorded successful attack by a submarine on a surface ship
- 11 Mar 1864: The Great Sheffield Flood – over 250 died when a new dam broke while it was being filled for the first time
- 20 Aug 1864: Red Cross established – Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention
- 8 Dec 1864: Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon officially opened
|
| 27 | 1865 | - 1865: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917) becomes first woman doctor in England [she later became the first woman mayor in England, in Aldeburgh 1908]
- 1865: First concrete roads built in Britain
- 14 Apr 1865: End of American Civil War – slavery abolished in USA
- 14 Apr 1865: Abraham Lincoln assassinated in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth
- 5 Jul 1865: William Booth (1829-1912) founds Salvation Army, in London
|
| 28 | 1867 | - 1 Jul 1867: The British North America Act takes effect, creating the Canadian Confederation
|
| 29 | 1868 | - 1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
|
| 30 | 1869 | - 1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
- 23 Nov 1869: Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
|
| 31 | 1870 | - 1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
- 1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
- 1870: Water closets come into wide use
- 1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
- 1 Oct 1870: First British postcard – halfpenny post
|
| 32 | 1871 | - 27 Mar 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
- 29 Mar 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
- 29 Jun 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
|
| 33 | 1872 | - 1872: Licensing hours introduced
- 1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
- 4 Dec 1872: American ship "Mary Celeste" is found abandoned by the British brig "Dei Gratia" in the Atlantic Ocean
|
| 34 | 1874 | - 1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
- 5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world – features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
|
| 35 | 1875 | - 1875: London's main sewage system completed
- 1 Jan 1875: Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies followed during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956)
|
| 36 | 1876 | - 14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone – Bell awarded the rights
|
| 37 | 1877 | - 1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph
|
| 38 | 1878 | - 1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
- 1878: Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
- 1878: CID established at New Scotland Yard
|
| 39 | 1879 | - 18 Sep 1879: Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
|
| 40 | 1880 | - 1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
- 1880: Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
- 2 Aug 1880: Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
|
| 41 | 1881 | - 1881: Postal Orders introduced
- 1881: Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
- Sep 1881: Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity
supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
- 26 Oct 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral
|
| 42 | 1882 | - 1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
|
| 43 | 1883 | - 1883: Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
- 24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
- 1 Aug 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
- 27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java – 30,000 killed by tidal wave
|
| 44 | 1884 | - 31 May 1884: John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
- 13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
|
| 45 | 1885 | - 1885: Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
- 1885: Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
- 1885: Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
- 1885: Canadian Pacific Railway completed
- Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
- 5 Sep 1885: The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
- 29 Sep 1885: First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
|
| 46 | 1886 | - 20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
- May 1886: Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named
"Coca-Cola"
- 29 May 1886: Putney Bridge opens in London
|
1837 - 1886 (49 years)
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