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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1799 | - 1799—1799: Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York
- 1799—1799: Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
- 9 January 1799—9 January 1799: Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure
- 12 July 1799—12 July 1799: 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
- 15 July 1799—15 July 1799: ?Rosetta Stone' discovered in Egypt made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
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| 2 | 1800 | - 1800—1800: Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy
- 1800—1800: Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)
- 1800—1800: Royal College of Surgeons founded
- 1800—1800: Herschel discovers infra-red light
- 1800—1800: Volta makes first electrical battery
- 2 July 1800—2 July 1800: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
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| 3 | 1801 | - 1801—1801: Grand Union Canal opens in England
- 1801—1801: Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London
- 1 January 1801—1 January 1801: Union Jack becomes the official British flag
- 10 March 1801—10 March 1801: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000. Population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural)
- 24 December 1801—24 December 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
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| 4 | 1802 | - 25 March 1802—25 March 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
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| 5 | 1803 | - 1803—1803: Poaching made a Capital offense in England if capture resisted
- 1803—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—1803: Semaphore signaling perfected by Admiral Popham
- 30 April 1803—30 April 1803: Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon sells French possessions in America to United States
- 12 May 1803—12 May 1803: Peace of Amiens ends ? resumption of war with France ? The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5)
- 23 July 1803—23 July 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to
Croydon, horse-drawn)
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| 6 | 1804 | - 1804—1804: Matthew Flinders recommends that the newly discovered country, New Holland, be renamed 'Australia'
- 21 February 1804—21 February 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 coin.
- 3 March 1804—3 March 1804: John Wedgwood (eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood) founds The Royal
Horticultural Society
- 2 December 1804—2 December 1804: Napoleon declares himself Emperor of the French
- 12 December 1804—12 December 1804: Spain declares war on Britain
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| 7 | 1805 | - 1805—1805: London docks opened
- 21 October 1805—21 October 1805: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
- 2 December 1805—2 December 1805: Battle of Austerlitz; Napoleon defeats Austrians and Russians
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| 8 | 1806 | - 1806—1806: Dartmoor Prison opened (built by French prisoners)
- 9 January 1806—9 January 1806: Nelson buried in St Paul's cathedral, London
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| 9 | 1807 | - 25 March 1807—25 March 1807: Parliament passes Act prohibiting slavery and the importation of slaves from 1808 ? but does not prohibit colonial slavery
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| 10 | 1808 | - 1808—1808: Gas lighting in London streets
- 13 July 1808—13 July 1808: 'Hot Wednesday' ? temperature of 101?F in the shade recorded in London
- 20 December 1808—20 December 1808: Beethoven premieres his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy together in Vienna
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| 11 | 1809 | - 12 February 1809—12 February 1809: Birth of Charles Darwin
- 18 September 1809—18 September 1809: Royal Opera House opens in London
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| 12 | 1810 | - 1810—1810: John McAdam begins road construction in England, giving his name to the process of
road metalling
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| 13 | 1811 | - 5 February 1811—5 February 1811: Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane
|
| 14 | 1812 | - 11 May 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 June 1812—18 June 1812: Start of American 'War of 1812' (to 1814) against England and Canada
- October 1812—October 1812: Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses
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| 15 | 1813 | - 1813—1813: Ireland: First recorded '12th of July' sectarian riots in Belfast
- 1813—1813: Jane Austen wrote 'Pride and Prejudice'
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| 16 | 1814 | - 1 January 1814—1 January 1814: Invasion of France by Allies
- 6 April 1814—6 April 1814: Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
- 13 August 1814—13 August 1814: Convention of London signed, a treaty between the UK and the Dutch
- 24 August 1814—24 August 1814: The British burn the White House
- 29 November 1814—29 November 1814: 'The Times' first printed by a 'mechanical apparatus' (at 1100 sheets per hour)
- 24 December 1814—24 December 1814: Treaty of Ghent signed ending the 1812 war between Britain and the US
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| 17 | 1815 | - 1815—1815: Trial by Jury established in Scotland
- 1815—1815: Davy develops the safety lamp for miners
- 18 June 1815—18 June 1815: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena
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| 18 | 1816 | - 1816—1816: Income tax abolished
- 1816—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—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 10000 years
- 1816—1816: Large scale emigration to North America
- 1816—1816: Trans-Atlantic packet service begins
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| 19 | 1817 | - 1817—1817: March of the Manchester Blanketeers; Habeas Corpus suspended
- 1817—1817: Constable painted 'Flatford Mill'
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| 20 | 1818 | - 1818—1818: Manchester cotton spinners' strike
- 20 October 1818—20 October 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
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| 21 | 1819 | - 1819—1819: Primitive bicycle, the Dandy Horse, becomes popular
- 1819—1819: Britain returns to gold standard
- 1819—1819: Singapore founded by Sir Stamford Raffles
- May 1819—May 1819: SS 'Savannah' first steamship to cross Atlantic reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26
Days reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26
Days mostly under sail)
- 16 August 1819—16 August 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
|
| 22 | 1820 | - 1820—1820: Cato Street Conspiracy ? plot to assissinate British cabinet
- 1820—1820: Abolition of the Spanish Inquisition
- 29 January 1820—29 January 1820: Accession of George IV, previously Prince Regent
- 1 August 1820—1 August 1820: Regent's Canal in London opens
- 17 August 1820—17 August 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
|
| 23 | 1821 | - 1821—1821: Faraday publishes 'Principles of electro-magnetic rotation'
- 1821—1821: Constable paints 'The Hay Wain'
- 5 May 1821—5 May 1821: Napoleon Bonaparte dies on St Helena
|
| 24 | 1822 | - 14 June 1822—14 June 1822: Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society
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| 25 | 1823 | - 1823—1823: New laws concerning marriage by license ? 'very troublesome' according to some the Act was repealed all in a hurry at the beginning of the next session
- 1823—1823: Peel begins penal reforms ? death penalty abolished for over 100 crimes
- 1823—1823: Rugby Football 'invented' at Rugby School
- 1823—1823: Rubberised waterproof material produced by MacIntosh
- 2 December 1823—2 December 1823: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in
future European conflicts (the 'Monroe Doctrine')
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| 26 | 1824 | - 1824—1824: RSPCA established
- 1824—1824: Portland cement patented
- 4 March 1824—4 March 1824: Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) founded (called the 'National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck' until 1854)
- 10 May 1824—10 May 1824: National Gallery in London opens to the public
|
| 27 | 1825 | - 27 September 1825—27 September 1825: Stockton to Darlington Railway opens ? world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains
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| 28 | 1827 | - 1827—1827: Ohm's Law published
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| 29 | 1828 | - 25 October 1828—25 October 1828: St Katharine Docks in London opened (designed by Thomas Telford)
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| 30 | 1829 | - 1829—1829: London Metropolitan Police Force formed, nicknamed 'Bobbies' after Sir Robert Peel
- 1829—1829: Louis Braille invents his system of finger-reading for the blind
- 10 June 1829—10 June 1829: First Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race
- 6 October 1829—6 October 1829: George Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill trials (it was the only one to
complete the trial!)
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| 31 | 1830 | - 1830—1830: Uprisings and agitation across Europe: the Netherlands are split into Holland and
Belgium
- July 1830—July 1830: Revolution in France, fall of Charles X and the Bourbons ? Louis Philippe (the
Citizen King) on the throne
- 15 September 1830—15 September 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!
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| 32 | 1831 | - 1831—1831: A list of all parish registers dating prior to 1813 compiled
- 1 June 1831—1 June 1831: James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole
- 1 August 1831—1 August 1831: 'New' London Bridge opens (replaced 1973) ? old bridge (which had existed for over 600 years) then demolished
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| 33 | 1832 | - 1832—1832: Electoral Registers introduced
- 1832—1832: Electric telegraph invented by Morse
- 7 June 1832—7 June 1832: Reform Bill passed ? Representation of the People Act
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| 34 | 1833 | - January 1833—January 1833: Britain invades the Falkland Islands
- 29 August 1833—29 August 1833: Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9
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| 35 | 1834 | - 1834—1834: Babbage invents forerunner of the computer
- 18 March 1834—18 March 1834: 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' transported (to Australia) for Trades Union activities
- 1 May 1834—1 May 1834: Slavery abolished in British possessions
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| 36 | 1835 | - 1835—1835: Christmas becomes a national holiday
- 1835—1835: First railway boom period starts in Britain construction of Great Western Railway
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| 37 | 1836 | - 1836—1836: First Potato famine in Ireland
- 30 January 1836—30 January 1836: Telford's Menai Straits Bridge opened ? considered the world's first modern suspension bridge
- 25 February 1836—25 February 1836: Samuel Colt patented the 'revolver'
- 6 March 1836—6 March 1836: The Alamo falls to Mexican troops - death of Davy Crockett
- July 1836—July 1836: Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
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| 38 | 1837 | - 1837—1837: Pitman introduces his shorthand system
- 1837—1837: P&O Founded
- 20 June 1837—20 June 1837: William IV dies - accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901)
- 1 July 1837—1 July 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 July 1837—13 July 1837: Queen Victoria moves into the first Buckingham Palace
- 20 July 1837—20 July 1837: Euston Railway station opens - first in London
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| 39 | 1838 | - 28 June 1838—28 June 1838: Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
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| 40 | 1839 | - 1839—1839: First Opium War between Britain and China (to 1842) - Britain captures Hong Kong
- 1839—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—1839: Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber
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| 41 | 1840 | - 1840—1840: Population Act relating to taking of censuses in Britain
- 1840—1840: Last convicts landed in NSW (some say 1842 or 1849, but these probably landed
elsewhere)
- 10 January 1840—10 January 1840: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
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| 42 | 1841 | - 1841—1841: Thomas Cook starts package tours
- 10 February 1841—10 February 1841: Penny Red replaces Penny Black postage stamp
- 6 June 1841—6 June 1841: June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
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| 43 | 1842 | - 1842—1842: Income Tax reintroduced in Britain
- 30 March 1842—30 March 1842: Ether used as an anesthetic for the first time (by Dr Crawford Long in America)
- 29 August 1842—29 August 1842: Treaty of Nanking - End of First Opium War - Britain gains Hong Kong
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| 44 | 1843 | - 1843—1843: First Christmas card in England
- 27 May 1843—27 May 1843: The Great Hall of Euston station opened in London
- 19 July 1843—19 July 1843: Brunel's 'Great Britain' launched
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| 45 | 1844 | - 6 June 1844—6 June 1844: YMCA founded in London by Sir George Williams
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| 46 | 1845 | - 1845—1845: Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham)
- 17 March 1845—17 March 1845: The rubber band patented by Stephen Perry
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| 47 | 1846 | - 10 September 1846—10 September 1846: The sewing machine is patented by Elias Howe
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| 48 | 1847 | - 1847—1847: US Mormons make Salt Lake City their centre
- January 1847—January 1847: An anesthetic used for the first time in England (James Simpson used ether to numb the pain of labour)
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| 49 | 1848 | - 1848—1848: First commercial production of chewing gum
- 24 January 1848—24 January 1848: Gold found at Sutter's Mill, California - starts the California gold rush
- 11 July 1848—11 July 1848: Waterloo railway station in London opens
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| 50 | 1849 | - 1849—1849: Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step to decimalisation - which finally
occurred in 1971!
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| 51 | 1851 | - 1851—1851: Gold discovered in Australia
- 1 May 1851—1 May 1851: Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ('Crystal Palace' exhibition) opened in Hyde Park
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| 52 | 1852 | - 1852—1852: Tasmania ceases to be a convict settlement
- 1852—1852: Wells Fargo established in USA
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| 53 | 1853 | - 1853—1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
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| 54 | 1854 | - 1854—1854: Cigarettes introduced into Britain
- 27 March 1854—27 March 1854: Britain declares war on Russia (Crimean War)
- 25 October 1854—25 October 1854: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
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| 55 | 1856 | - 1856—1856: End of Crimean War
- 29 January 1856—29 January 1856: Victoria Cross created by Royal Warrant, backdated to 1854 to recognise acts
during the Crimean War (first award ceremony 26 June 1857)
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| 56 | 1857 | - 1857—1857: Work starts on the laying of the Transatlantic cable
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| 57 | 1858 | - 1858—1858: 'The great stink' - smell of the River Thames forced Parliament to stop work
- 1858—1858: Royal Opera House opens in Covent Garden, London
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| 58 | 1859 | - 1859—1859: Peaceful picketing legalised in Britain
- 25 April 1859—25 April 1859: Work started on building the Suez canal (opened 17 Nov 1869)
- 4 May 1859—4 May 1859: Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge opened at Saltash giving rail link between Devon
and Cornwall
- 24 November 1859—24 November 1859: Charles Darwin publishes 'The Origin of Species'
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| 59 | 1860 | - 29 August 1860—29 August 1860: First tram service in Europe starts in Birkenhead
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| 60 | 1861 | - 25 May 1861—25 May 1861: American Civil War begins
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| 61 | 1862 | - 1862—1862: Lincoln issues first legal US paper money (Greenbacks)
- 20 April 1862—20 April 1862: First pasteurisation test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
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| 62 | 1863 | - 1863—1863: Football Association founded (UK)
- 1863—1863: Opening of state institution for criminally insane at Broadmoor, England
- 10 January 1863—10 January 1863: First section of the London Underground Railway opens
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| 63 | 1864 | - 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 March 1864—11 March 1864: The Great Sheffield Flood - over 250 died when a new dam broke while it was being filled for the first time
- 20 August 1864—20 August 1864: Red Cross established - Twelve nations sign the First Geneva Convention
- 8 December 1864—8 December 1864: Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon officially opened
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| 64 | 1865 | - 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—1865: First concrete roads built in Britain
- 14 April 1865—14 April 1865: End of American Civil War - slavery abolished in USA
- 14 April 1865—14 April 1865: Abraham Lincoln assassinated in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth
- 5 July 1865—5 July 1865: William Booth (1829-1912) founds Salvation Army, in London
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| 65 | 1867 | - 1 July 1867—1 July 1867: The British North America Act takes effect, creating the Canadian Confederation
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| 66 | 1868 | - 1868—1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
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| 67 | 1869 | - 1869—1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
- 23 November 1869—23 November 1869: Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
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| 68 | 1870 | - 1870—1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
- 1870—1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
- 1870—1870: Water closets come into wide use
- 1870—1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
- 1 October 1870—1 October 1870: First British postcard - halfpenny post
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| 69 | 1871 | - 27 March 1871—27 March 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
- 29 March 1871—29 March 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
- 29 June 1871—29 June 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
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| 70 | 1872 | - 1872—1872: Licensing hours introduced
- 1872—1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
- 4 December 1872—4 December 1872: American ship 'Mary Celeste' is found abandoned by the British brig 'Dei Gratia' in the Atlantic Ocean
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| 71 | 1874 | - 1874—1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
- 5 April 1874—5 April 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
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| 72 | 1875 | - 1875—1875: London's main sewage system completed
- 1 January 1875—1 January 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)
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| 73 | 1876 | - 14 February 1876—14 February 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone - Bell awarded the rights
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| 74 | 1877 | - 1877—1877: Edison invents microphone and phonograph
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| 75 | 1878 | - 1878—1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
- 1878—1878: Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
- 1878—1878: CID established at New Scotland Yard
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| 76 | 1879 | - 18 September 1879—18 September 1879: Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
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1799 - 1879 (79 years) 
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