The Timeline | 11th C | 12th C | 13th C | 14th C | 15th C | 16th C | 17th C | 18th C | 19th C | 20th C
YEAR |
MONARCH |
POLITICAL EVENTS, CONFLICTS AND PRIME MINISTERS |
SOCIAL HISTORY AND EPIDEMICS |
INVENTIONS AND DISCOVERIES |
NOTABLE EVENTS |
1800 | Sir Humphry Davy announces the anaesthetic properties of nitrous oxide | Census Act | |||
1801 | Henry Addington (Tory) | Earl of Mansfield's monument completed by John Flaxman | Regent's Canal opens First Ordnance Survey map published: the 1 inch map of Kent |
Census 10th March (of limited use to family historians) | |
1802 | John Flaxman illustrates Dante's "The Divine Comedy" | ||||
1804 | William Pitt the Younger (Tory) | World's first steam-hauled railway journey at Merthyr Tydfil, Wales | |||
1805 | Battle of Trafalgar | ||||
1806 | William Grenville, Lord Grenville (Whig) | State funeral of Lord Nelson | Birth of Isambard Kingdom Brunel | ||
1807 | Abolition of Slavery Act William Bentinck, Duke of Portland (Tory) |
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1808 to 1814 | Peninsular War | ||||
1809 | Spencer Perceval (Tory) | First 'free' settlers to NSW | |||
1810 | First curry house opens in England | ||||
1811 | Prince George appointed Regent when his father's health deteriorates (porphyria) | Jane Austen's "Sense and Sensibility" published | Census 27th May (of limited use to family historians) | ||
1812-15 | Anglo-American War | ||||
1812 | Spencer Perceval PM assassinated Robert Jenkinson, Earl of Liverpool (Tory) |
First commercial European paddle steamer | Rose's Act passed. Entry of baptisms, marriages and burials in Anglican churches standardised in bound volumes | ||
1813 | Publication of "Pride and Prejudice" by Jane Austen | Parishes begin recording baptism, marriages and burials in books and printed forms |
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1814 | Publication of "Mansfield Park" by Jane Austen | ||||
1815 | Napoleon defeated at the Battle of Waterloo | "Emma" by Jane Austen published | Leeds Liverpool canal completed | ||
1816 | Davy lamp improves mining safety René Laënnec invents the stethoscope The draisine (bicycle) appears in Germany |
Year without a summer following volcanic eruption | |||
1817 | Jane Austen's "Persuasion" and "Northanger Abbey" published postumously | ||||
1818 | Nelson's monument completed by John Flaxman | James Blundell, British obstetrician, performs the first successful human blood transfusion Curride (bicycle) appears in England (known as the hobbyhorse) |
Death of Queen Charlotte | ||
1819 | Peterloo Massacre | Jacques Offenbach French Composer born | |||
1820 | George IV 29th January |
Failure of the Cato Street Conspiracy | |||
1821 | Census May 28th (of limited value to family historians) | ||||
1822 | Birth of Louis Pasteur | Caledonian Canal completed | |||
1825 | First railway: Stockton-Darlington | ||||
1826 | Machine breaking & riots in Lancashire | First steamship crosses Atlantic | |||
1827 | George Canning (Tory) Frederick Robinson, Viscount Goderich (Tory) Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (Tory) |
Endoscope invented by Pierre Segalas | |||
1829 | The Catholic Relief Act passed - Catholics permitted to becomes MPs | Metropolitan Police established |
Stephenson's "Rocket" locomotive | WA declared British possession | |
1830 | William IV 26th June |
Charles Grey, Earl Grey (Whig ) | Liverpool & Midlands Railway opens | ||
1831 | Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction | Census: 30th May (of limited use to family historians) | |||
1831 to 1832 | First Cholera Epidemic | ||||
1832 | The Reform Bill of 1832 | ||||
1833 | Slavery Abolition Act | ||||
1834 | Poor Law Amendment Act William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne (Whig) Arthur Wellesley, Duke of Wellington (Tory) Sir Robert Peel (Tory) |
Tolpuddle Martyrs sentenced to transportation to Australia | |||
1835 | William Lamb, Viscount Melbourne (Whig) | ||||
1836 | Sentence of Tolpuddle Martyrs remitted under public pressure | Charles Dickens serializes "The Pickwick Papers" | |||
1837 | Victoria 20th June |
Electric Telegraph invented Alfred Bird invents custard powder |
Civil Registration introduced |
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1838 | Chartism:The People's Petition | |
Public Record Office established | ||
1839 to 1842 | First Afghan War | ||||
1839 | Foundation of the anti-Corn Law League | Macmillan produces the self propelled hobbyhorse Daguerrotype photographical process |
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1840 | Victoria married Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha | Uniform Penny Post introduced Charles Booth, Ship owner and Sociologist born |
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1841 | Sir Robert Peel (Tory) | Thomas Cook travel company founded | London-Brighton railway completed | Census: 6th June | |
1842 | Income Tax Act | Income tax re-introduced | Invention of Kilner jar enables easier home preservation of fruit and vegetables | ||
1843 | Rebecca riots in Wales | ||||
1844 | Nitrous oxide first used as an anesthetic by Dr. Horace Wells, American dentist Safety match invented in Sweden |
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1845 | Start of the Irish Potato Famine Last fatal duel fought in England |
RW Thompson (UK) patents the pneumatic tyre but no vehicles suitable to make it a commercial success! | Emigration from Ireland rises steeply | ||
1845 to 1872 | New Zealand Colonial Wars | ||||
1846 | Lord John Russell (Whig) Repeal of the Corn Laws | Dickens publishes "Dombey and Son" (1846-48) | Hans Christian Anderson's stories translated into English | ||
1847 | First use of chloroform in childbirth | Greenwich Mean Time adopted across mainland Great Britain | |||
1848 to 1849 | 2nd Cholera Epidemic | ||||
1848 | 1st Public Health Act | Foundation of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood | First aircraft to fly under its own power in Chard, Somerset | Influx of academic and middle class Europeans to London | |
1849 | Dickens releases "David Copperfield" | ||||
1850 | First Public Libraries Act | First convicts arrive in Perth on the 'Scindian' | |||
1851 | The Great Exhibition | Australian Gold Rush | Census: 30th March | ||
1852 | Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby (Conservative) George Hamilton-Gordon, Earl of Aberdeen (Conservative) |
Foundation of the Museum of Manufactures (later the Victoria & Albert Museum) Dickens releases "Bleak House" 1852-1853 |
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1853 | 3rd Cholera Epidemic | ||||
1853 | Compulsory Vaccination Act | Jacques Offenbach composes and performs "Pepito" | Alexander Wood invents hypodermic syringe | ||
1853 to 1856 | The Crimean War | Florence Nightingale and the Crimean War | |||
1854 | Broad Street cholera outbreak Dickens publishes "Hard Times" |
John Snow discovers cause of cholera | |||
1855 | Viscount Palmerston (Liberal) | Dickens releases "Little Dorrit" | Civil Registration introduced in Scotland | ||
1856 | Crinoline becomes popular | Synthetic dyes invented Bessemer converter enables large scale steel production |
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1856 | First commercial production of condensed milk | ||||
1857 | The Museum of Manufactures moved to South Kensington and became South Kensington Museum (later the Victoria and Albert Museum) | Matrimonial Causes Act |
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1857 to 1858 | Indian Mutiny | ||||
1858 | Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby (Conservative) Viscount Palmerston (Liberal) Jews permitted to become MPs India becomes British Colony. Beginning of the Raj |
Secular Court of Probate created | |||
1859 | Charles Darwin’s "On The Origin Of Species" published | Louis Pasteur paper published suggesting that microorganisms may cause many human and animal diseases | |
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1861 | Death of Prince Albert from typhoid | Census: 7th April | |||
1861 to 1865 | American Civil War | Lancashire Cotton Famine | |||
1863 | Formation of Football Association | First underground railway opens in London | |||
1864 | First diagnosis of swine fever in Bristol | Dickens serializes "Our Mutual Friend" until 1865 First diagnosis of swine fever in Bristol |
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1865 to 1866 | 4th Cholera Epidemic | ||||
1865 | Locomotives on Highways Act also known as the 'Red Flag Act' John Russell, Earl Russell (Liberal) |
Great Cattle Plague to 1857 Lewis Carrol (Charles Lutwidge Dodgson) published "Alice's Adventures in Wonderland" |
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1866 | Edward Stanley, Earl of Derby (Conservative) | ||||
1867 | Second Reform Act - number of voters doubled Canada becomes a Dominion |
Joseph Lister publishes paper on Antiseptic Principle of the Practice of Surgery | Suez canal opens. First commercially successful typewriter invented |
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1868 | Benjamin Disraeli (Conservative) William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal) |
Lousia Alcott's "Little Women" published Jacques Offenbach composes "Orpheus of the Underworld" |
Margarine invented in France by Hippolyte Mege-Mouriez | Last convicts transported to Western Australia | |
1870 | Education Act makes primary education compulsory | First Barnardo's Home opens Charles Dickens dies and "The Mystery of Edwin Drood" published postumously |
Germ theory of disease established by Robert Kock and Louis Pasteur | ||
1871 | Trade Unions legalized | Lewis Carroll's "Through The Looking Glass and what Alice Found There" published Benjamin Seebohm Rowntree, entrepreneur and philanthropist born |
James Starling invents pennyfarthing bicycle ("highwheeler") | Census: 2nd April | |
1872 | 2nd Public Health Act introduced | Compulsory vaccination against smallpox introduced | |||
1873 | Scottish Football Association founded Rangers Football Club founded |
First national Ordnance Survey taken | |||
1874 | Benjamin Disraeli (Conservative) | Bustles begin to be fashionable | |||
1875 | 3rd and 4th Public Health Act introduced and were compulsory | First electric dental drill patented by George Green | Civilians legally obliged to register births and deaths |
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1876 | Queen Victoria proclaimed Empress of India |
New Central Committee of Nation Society for Women's Suffrage founded Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Tom Sawyer" published |
Both Elisha Gray and Alexander Graham Bell file patents for the telephone | ||
1877 | First Lawn Tennis Championship at Wimbledon | Edison invents phonograph | |||
1878 | Joseph Swan invents and patents the electric light bulb | ||||
1878 to 1880 | Second Afghan War | ||||
1879 | Zulu War | First vaccine for Cholera introduced | |||
1880 | William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal) | Jacques Offenbach composes "The Tales of Hoffman" | First house in Britain lit by incandescent lamps | ||
1880 to 1881 | First Boer War | |
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1881 | Some women granted the vote in the Isle of Man | First vaccine for anthrax introduced | Census: 3rd April | ||
1883 | Robert Louis Stevenson's "Treasure Island" published | First electric railway opens in Brighton | 20th May - eruption of Krakatoa Cholera Epidemic in India |
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1884 | Mark Twain's "The Adventures of Huckleberry Finn" published | ||||
1885 | Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative) | Robert Louis Stevenson's "A Child's Garden of Verse" published | Modern style chain driven bicycle invented Benz builds first motor car |
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1886 | William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal) Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative) |
R L Stevenson's "Kidnapped" published | Coca Cola invented in USA by Dr John Stith Pemberton | ||
1887 | Adolf Frick invents contact lenses | Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee | |||
1888 | Oscar Wilde's "The Happy Prince and Other Tales" published | ||||
1889 | First municipal power station located in Bradford | ||||
1890 | Antitoxins discovered by Emil von Behring who used them to develop tetanus and diphtheria vaccines First domestic electrical appliances introduced First electric underground railway. King William Street to Stockwell, London. |
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1891 | Census: 5th April | ||||
1892 | William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal) | 1892 First electric heating. | |||
1893 | First Matabele War | Marconi invents Wireless Telegraph | |||
1894 | Earl of Rosebery (Liberal) | ||||
1895 | Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative) | Rontgen discovers X rays | |||
1896 | Second Matabele War | First vaccine for typhoid fever | |||
1897 | First vaccine for plague | Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee | |||
1898 | Marie Curie (1867-1934) discovers radioactive substances | ||||
1899 | Women gain the right to vote in Western Australia | Museum of South Kensington becomes the Victoria and Albert Museum | Bayer begin marketing Aspirin | ||
1899 to 1902 | Boer War |
1831 Michael Faraday discovers electromagnetic induction, the first steps in producing electricity as we know it today.
1878 The Gaiety Theatre is the first public building in London to be electrically lit.
1879 First electric lighting act 'the Liverpool (Corporation) Electric lighting act 1879.
1880 First house in Britain lit by incandescent lamps.
1883 First electric traction - electric trams running on Kew bridge.
1889 First municipal power station located in Bradford.
1890 First domestic electrical appliances introduced. First electric cooking.
1890 First electric underground railway. King William Street to Stockwell, London.
1892 First electric heating.