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John McMULLEN

Male Abt 1750 -


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   Date  Event(s)
1750 
  • Feb 1750: Series of earthquakes in London and the Home Counties cause panic with predictions of an apocalypse (Feb/Mar)
  • 16 Nov 1750: Original Westminster Bridge opened (replaced in 1862 due to subsidence)
1751 
  • Mar 1751: Chesterfield's Calendar Act passed – royal assent to the bill was given on 22 May 1751 – decision to adopt Gregorian Calendar in 1752: "In and throughout all his Majesty's Dominions and Countries in Europe, Asia, Africa, and America, belonging or subject to the Crown of Great Britain, the said Supputation, according to which the Year of Useful dates in British history 03/01/2009 12:12 our Lord beginneth on the 25th Day of March, shall not be made use of from and after the last Day of December 1751; and that the first Day of January next following the said last Day of December shall be reckoned, taken, deemed and accounted to be the first Day of the Year of our Lord 1752"
1752 
  • 1752: Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning conductor
  • 1 Jan 1752: Beginning of the year 1752 [Scotland had adopted January as the start of the year in 1600, and some other countries in Europe had adopted the Gregorian calendar as early as 1582]
  • 3 Sep 1752: Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England and Scotland, making this Sep 14
1753 
  • 1753: Private collection of Sir Hans Sloane forms the basis of the British Museum
  • 1 May 1753: Publication of "Species Plantarum" by Linnaeus, and the formal start date of plant taxonomy
1754 
  • 1754: Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be used – Quakers & Jews exempt
  • 1754: In the General Election, the Cow Inn at Haslemere, Surrey caused a national scandal by subdividing the freehold to create eight votes instead of one
  • 1754: First British troops not belonging to the East India Company despatched to India
1755 
  • 1755: Publication of "Dictionary of the English Language" by Dr Samuel Johnson
  • 1755: Period of canal construction began in Britain (till 1827)
  • 2 Dec 1755: Second Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed by fire
1756 
  • 15 May 1756: The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins
  • Jun 1756: Black Hole of Calcutta – 146 Britons imprisoned, most die according to British sources
1757 
  • 1757: The foundation laid for the Empire of India
  • 14 Mar 1757: Admiral Byng shot at Portsmouth for failing to relieve Minorca
  • 23 Jun 1757: The Nawab of Bengal tries to expel the British, but is defeated at the battle of Plassey (Palashi, June 23) – the East India Company forces are led by Robert Clive
1758 
  • 1758: India stops being merely a commercial venture – England begins dominating it politically – The East India Company retains its monopoly although it ceased to trade
10 1759 
  • 1759: Wesley builds 356 Methodist chapels
  • 15 Jan 1759: British Museum opens to the public in London
  • 16 Oct 1759: Third Eddystone Lighthouse (John Smeaton's) completed
11 1760 
  • 1760: Carron Iron Works in operation in Scotland
  • 5 May 1760: First use of hangman's drop
  • 25 Oct 1760: George II dies – George III Hanover, his grandson, becomes king. The date conventionally marks the start of the so-called "first Industrial Revolution"
12 1761 
  • 16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
13 1762 
  • 1762: Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
14 1763 
  • 1763: Treaty of Paris – gives back to France everything Pitt fought to obtain – (Newfoundland [fishing], Guadaloupe and Martininque [sugar], Dakar [gum]) – but English displaces French as the international language
15 1764 
  • 1764: Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared
  • 1764: Practice of numbering houses introduced to London
  • 1764: James Hargeaves invents the Spinning Jenny (but destroyed 1768)
  • 1764: Mozart produces his first symphony at age eight
16 1765 
  • 1765: The potato becomes the most popular food in Europe
  • 22 Mar 1765: Stamp Act passed – imposed a tax on publications and legal documents in the American colonies (repealed the following year)
17 1766 
  • 1766: Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK
  • 5 Dec 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
18 1767 
  • 1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
19 1768 
  • 9 Jan 1768: Philip Astley starts his circus in London
  • 6 Dec 1768: The first edition of the "Encyclopaedia Britannica" published in Edinburgh by William Smellie
20 1769 
  • 1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
  • 1769: Capt James Cook maps the coast of New Zealand
  • 6 Sep 1769: David Garrick organises first Shakespeare festival at Stratford-upon-Avon
21 1770 
  • 1770: Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major thoroughfare for maritime communications
  • 28 Apr 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) — Aug 21: formally claims Australia for Britain
22 1771 
  • 1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
23 1772 
  • 1772: First Travellers' Cheques issued by the London Credit Exchange Company
  • 1772: "Morning Post" first published (until 1937)
  • 14 May 1772: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England
24 1774 
  • 13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
25 1775 
  • 19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775–1783)
26 1776 
  • 1776: Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population
  • 1776: Watt and Boulton produce their first commercial steam engine
  • 4 Jul 1776: American Declaration of Independence
  • 7 Sep 1776: First attack on a warship by a submarine – David Bushnell's "Turtle" attacked HMS Eagle in New York harbour. The attack was perhaps spectacular (a charge did detonate beneath the ship), but was nevertheless unsuccessful. "Turtle" was a one man affair, man-powered [Les Moore]
27 1777 
  • 1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
28 1779 
  • 1779: Marc Isambard Brunel opens the first steamdriven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent
  • 1779: First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson
  • 1779: First Spinning Mills operational in Scotland
  • 14 Feb 1779: Capt James Cook killed on Hawaii
  • 23 Sep 1779: Naval engagement between Britain and USA off Flamborough Head
29 1780 
  • 1780: Male Servants Tax
  • 1780: The English Reform Movement – until now, only landowners and tenants (freeholders with 40 shillings per year or more) allowed to vote, and in open poll books
  • 1780: Fountain pen invented
  • 1780: About this time the word 'Quiz' entered the language, said to have been invented as a wager by Mr Daly, a Dublin theatre manager
  • 4 May 1780: First Derby run at Epsom (some say 2nd June)
  • 2 Jun 1780: Jun 2–8: The Gordon Riots – Parliament passes a Roman Catholic relief measure – for days, London is at the mercy of a mob and destruction is widespread
30 1782 
  • 1782: Gilbert's Act establishes outdoor poor relief – the way of life of the poor beginning to alter due to industrialisation – New factories in rapidly expanding towns required a workforce that would adjust to new work patterns
  • 1782: James Watt patents his steam engine
31 1783 
  • 1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry – repealed 1794) – led to a fall in entries!
  • 3 Sep 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US)
  • 3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
32 1784 
  • 1784: Pitt's India Act – the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has power to guide Indian politics
  • 1784: Wesley breaks with the Church of England
  • 1784: First golf club founded at St Andrews
  • 1784: Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
  • 2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
33 1785 
  • 1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2 million)
  • 1 Jan 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years)
34 1787 
  • 1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
35 1788 
  • 1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
  • 1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not enforced)
  • 1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade – stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships
  • 1788: King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis – Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox attack ministry of William Pitt – trying to obtain full regal powers for the Prince of Wales
  • 1788: Gibbon completes "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire"
  • 26 Jan 1788: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales (left Portsmouth 13 May 1787) — the 'First Fleet'; eleven ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip
36 1789 
  • 28 Apr 1789: Mutiny on HMS Bounty – Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew ends up on Pitcairn Island
37 1790 
  • 1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
38 1791 
  • 1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the "long s" (the "s" that looks like an "f")
  • 1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
  • 4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer – world's oldest Sunday newspaper
39 1792 
  • 1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press) – Fox gets Libel Act through Parliament, requiring a jury and not a judge to determine libel
  • 1792: Boyle's Street Directory published
  • 1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot
  • 1 Oct 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain
  • 1 Dec 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
40 1793 
  • 11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
  • 15 Apr 1793: £5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
41 1794 
  • 1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties
  • 6 Oct 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High Treason – he argued that, since reform of parliament would lead to revolution and revolution to executing the King, the desire for reform endangered the King's life and was therefore treasonous
42 1795 
  • 1795: The Famine Year
  • 1795: Foundation of the Orange Order
  • 1795: Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's wage to subsistence level – towards the end of the eighteenth century, the number of poor and unemployed increased dramatically – price increases during the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815) far outstripped wage rises – many small farmers were bankrupted by the move towards enclosures and became landless labourers – their wages were often pitifully low
  • 1795: Pitt and Grenville introduce "The Gagging Acts" or "Two Bills" (the Seditious Meetings and Treasonable Practices Bills) – outlawed the mass meeting and the political lecture.
  • 1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
43 1796 
  • 1796: Pitt's "Reign of Terror": More treason trials – leading radicals emigrate
  • 1796: Legacy Tax on sums over £20 excluding those to wives, children, parents and grandparents
  • 14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
44 1797 
  • 1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments
  • 1797: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore
  • 1797: Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical publications
  • 1797: The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to the coining press
  • 22 Feb 1797: French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later
  • 26 Feb 1797: First £1 (and £2) notes issued by Bank of England
45 1798 
  • 1798: First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner
  • Feb 1798: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die – Irish Parliament abolished (Feb-Oct)
  • 1 Aug 1798: Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
46 1799 
  • 1799: Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York
  • 1799: Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
  • 9 Jan 1799: Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure
  • 12 Jul 1799: 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
  • 15 Jul 1799: "Rosetta Stone" discovered in Egypt, made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
47 1800 
  • 1800: Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy
  • 1800: Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)
  • 1800: Royal College of Surgeons founded
  • 1800: Herschel discovers infra-red light
  • 1800: Volta makes first electrical battery
  • 2 Jul 1800: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
48 1801 
  • 1801: Grand Union Canal opens in England
  • 1801: Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London
  • 1 Jan 1801: Union Jack becomes the official British flag
  • 10 Mar 1801: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000. Population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural)
  • 24 Dec 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
49 1802 
  • 25 Mar 1802: Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands – the "Peace of Amiens," as it was known, brought a temporary peace of 14 months during the Napoleonic Wars – one of its most important cultural effects was that travel and correspondence across the English Channel became possible again
50 1803 
  • 1803: Poaching made a Capital offence in England if capture resisted
  • 1803: Richard Trevithick built another steam carriage and ran it in London as the first self-propelled vehicle in the capital and the first London bus
  • 1803: Semaphore signalling perfected by Admiral Popham
  • 30 Apr 1803: Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon sells French possessions in America to United States
  • 12 May 1803: Peace of Amiens ends – resumption of war with France – The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5)
  • 23 Jul 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to Croydon, horse-drawn)
51 1804 
  • 1804: Matthew Flinders recommends that the newly discovered country, New Holland, be renamed "Australia"
  • 21 Feb 1804: Richard Trevithick runs his railway engine on the Penydarren Railway (9.5 miles from Pen-y-Darren to Abercynon in South Wales) – this hauled a train with 10 tons of iron and 70 passengers. It was commemorated by the Royal Mint in 2004 in the form of a £2.00 coin.
  • 3 Mar 1804: John Wedgwood (eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood) founds The Royal Horticultural Society
  • 2 Dec 1804: Napoleon declares himself Emperor of the French
  • 12 Dec 1804: Spain declares war on Britain
52 1805 
  • 1805: London docks opened
  • 21 Oct 1805: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
  • 2 Dec 1805: Battle of Austerlitz; Napoleon defeats Austrians and Russians
53 1806 
  • 1806: Dartmoor Prison opened (built by French prisoners)
  • 9 Jan 1806: Nelson buried in St Paul's cathedral, London
54 1807 
  • 25 Mar 1807: Parliament passes Act prohibiting slavery and the importation of slaves from 1808 – but does not prohibit colonial slavery
55 1808 
  • 1808: Gas lighting in London streets
  • 13 Jul 1808: 'Hot Wednesday' – temperature of 101°F in the shade recorded in London
  • 20 Dec 1808: Beethoven premieres his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy together in Vienna
56 1809 
  • 12 Feb 1809: Birth of Charles Darwin
  • 18 Sep 1809: Royal Opera House opens in London
57 1810 
  • 1810: John McAdam begins road construction in England, giving his name to the process of road metalling
58 1811 
  • 5 Feb 1811: Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane
59 1812 
  • 11 May 1812: Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, assassinated – shot as he entered the House of Commons by a bankrupt Liverpool broker, John Bellingham, who was subsequently hanged
  • 18 Jun 1812: Start of American "War of 1812" (to 1814) against England and Canada
  • Oct 1812: Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses
60 1813 
  • 1813: Ireland: First recorded "12th of July" sectarian riots in Belfast
  • 1813: Jane Austen wrote "Pride and Prejudice"
61 1814 
  • 1 Jan 1814: Invasion of France by Allies
  • 6 Apr 1814: Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
  • 13 Aug 1814: Convention of London signed, a treaty between the UK and the Dutch
  • 24 Aug 1814: The British burn the White House
  • 29 Nov 1814: "The Times" first printed by a 'mechanical apparatus' (at 1,100 sheets per hour)
  • 24 Dec 1814: Treaty of Ghent signed ending the 1812 war between Britain and the US
62 1815 
  • 1815: Trial by Jury established in Scotland
  • 1815: Davy develops the safety lamp for miners
  • 18 Jun 1815: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena
63 1816 
  • 1816: Income tax abolished
  • 1816: For the first time British silver coins were produced with an intrinsic value substantially below their face value – the first official 'token' coinage
  • 1816: Climate: the 'year without a summer' – followed a volcanic explosion of the mountain "Tambora" in Indonesia the previous year, the biggest volcanic explosion in 10,000 years
  • 1816: Large scale emigration to North America
  • 1816: Trans-Atlantic packet service begins
64 1817 
  • 1817: March of the Manchester Blanketeers; Habeas Corpus suspended
  • 1817: Constable painted "Flatford Mill"
65 1818 
  • 1818: Manchester cotton spinners' strike
  • 20 Oct 1818: 'Convention of 1818' signed between the United States and the United Kingdom which, among other things, settled the US-Canada border on the 49th parallel for most of its length
66 1819 
  • 1819: Primitive bicycle, the Dandy Horse, becomes popular
  • 1819: Britain returns to gold standard
  • 1819: Singapore founded by Sir Stamford Raffles
  • May 1819: SS "Savannah" first steamship to cross Atlantic, reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26 days, mostly under sail)
  • 16 Aug 1819: Peterloo Massacre at Manchester – a large, orderly group of 60,000 meets at St. Peter's Fields, Manchester – demand Parliamentary Reform – mounted troops charge on the meeting, killing 11 people and and maiming many others
67 1820 
  • 1820: Cato Street Conspiracy – plot to assissinate British cabinet
  • 1820: Abolition of the Spanish Inquisition
  • 29 Jan 1820: Accession of George IV, previously Prince Regent
  • 1 Aug 1820: Regent's Canal in London opens
  • 17 Aug 1820: Trial of Queen Caroline to prove her infidelities so George IV can divorce her – George tries to secure a Bill of Pains and Penalties against her – Caroline is virtually acquitted because bill passed by such a small majority of Lords
68 1821 
  • 1821: Faraday publishes "Principles of electro-magnetic rotation"
  • 1821: Constable paints "The Hay Wain"
  • 5 May 1821: Napoleon Bonaparte dies on St Helena
69 1822 
  • 14 Jun 1822: Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society
70 1823 
  • 1823: New laws concerning marriage by licence – 'very troublesome' according to some: "the Act was repealed, all in a hurry, at the beginning of the next session"
  • 1823: Peel begins penal reforms – death penalty abolished for over 100 crimes
  • 1823: Rugby Football 'invented' at Rugby School
  • 1823: Rubberised waterproof material produced by MacIntosh
  • 2 Dec 1823: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts (the 'Monroe Doctrine')
71 1824 
  • 1824: RSPCA established
  • 1824: Portland cement patented
  • 4 Mar 1824: Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) founded (called the "National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck" until 1854)
  • 10 May 1824: National Gallery in London opens to the public
72 1825 
  • 27 Sep 1825: Stockton to Darlington Railway opens – world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains
73 1827 
  • 1827: Ohm's Law published
74 1828 
  • 25 Oct 1828: St Katharine Docks in London opened (designed by Thomas Telford)
75 1829 
  • 1829: London Metropolitan Police Force formed, nicknamed "Bobbies" after Sir Robert Peel
  • 1829: Louis Braille invents his sytem of finger-reading for the blind
  • 10 Jun 1829: First Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race
  • 6 Oct 1829: George Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill trials (it was the only one to complete the trial!)
76 1830 
  • 1830: Uprisings and agitation across Europe: the Netherlands are split into Holland and Belgium
  • Jul 1830: Revolution in France, fall of Charles X and the Bourbons – Louis Philippe (the Citizen King) on the throne
  • 15 Sep 1830: George Stephenson's Liverpool & Manchester Railway opened by the Duke of Wellington – first mail carried by rail, and first death on the railway as William Huskisson, a leading politician, is run over!
77 1831 
  • 1831: A list of all parish registers dating prior to 1813 compiled
  • 1 Jun 1831: James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole
  • 1 Aug 1831: 'New' London Bridge opens (replaced 1973) – old bridge (which had existed for over 600 years) then demolished
78 1832 
  • 1832: Electoral Registers introduced
  • 1832: Electric telegraph invented by Morse
  • 7 Jun 1832: Reform Bill passed – Representation of the People Act
79 1833 
  • Jan 1833: Britain invades the Falkland Islands
  • 29 Aug 1833: Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9
80 1834 
  • 1834: Babbage invents forerunner of the computer
  • 18 Mar 1834: 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' transported (to Australia) for Trades Union activities
  • 1 May 1834: Slavery abolished in British possessions
81 1835 
  • 1835: Christmas becomes a national holiday
  • 1835: First railway boom period starts in Britain – construction of Great Western Railway
82 1836 
  • 1836: First Potato famine in Ireland
  • 30 Jan 1836: Telford's Menai Straits Bridge opened – considered the world's first modern suspension bridge
  • 25 Feb 1836: Samuel Colt patented the 'revolver'
  • 6 Mar 1836: The Alamo falls to Mexican troops – death of Davy Crockett
  • Jul 1836: Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
83 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
84 1838 
  • 28 Jun 1838: Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
85 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
86 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
87 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)
88 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
89 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
90 1844 
  • 6 Jun 1844: YMCA founded in London by Sir George Williams
91 1845 
  • 1845: Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham)
  • 17 Mar 1845: The rubber band patented by Stephen Perry
92 1846 
  • 10 Sep 1846: The sewing machine is patented by Elias Howe
93 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)
94 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
95 1849 
  • 1849: Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step to decimalisation – which finally occurred in 1971!
96 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
97 1852 
  • 1852: Tasmania ceases to be a convict settlement
  • 1852: Wells Fargo established in USA
98 1853 
  • 1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
99 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)
100 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)
101 1857 
  • 1857: Work starts on the laying of the Transatlantic cable
102 1858 
  • 1858: 'The great stink' – smell of the River Thames forced Parliament to stop work
  • 1858: Royal Opera House opens in Covent Garden, London
103 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"
104 1860 
  • 29 Aug 1860: First tram service in Europe starts in Birkenhead