| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1767 | - 1767—1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
|
| 2 | 1768 | - 6 Dec 1768—6 Dec 1768: The first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica' published in Edinburgh by
William Smellie
|
| 3 | 1769 | - 1769—1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
|
| 4 | 1770 | - 28 Apr 1770—28 Apr 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) ? Aug 21: formally claims
Australia for Britain
|
| 5 | 1776 | - 4 Jul 1776—4 Jul 1776: American Declaration of Independence
|
| 6 | 1779 | - 1779—1779: First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson
|
| 7 | 1782 | - 1782—1782: James Watt patents his steam engine
|
| 8 | 1783 | - 3 Nov 1783—3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
|
| 9 | 1784 | - 2 Aug 1784—2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
|
| 10 | 1789 | - 28 Apr 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
|
| 11 | 1791 | - 4 Dec 1791—4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer - world's oldest Sunday newspaper
|
| 12 | 1793 | - 11 Feb 1793—11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
|
| 13 | 1795 | - 1795—1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
|
| 14 | 1796 | - 14 May 1796—14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
|
| 15 | 1800 | - 1800—1800: Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy
|
| 16 | 1801 | - 24 Dec 1801—24 Dec 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
|
| 17 | 1803 | - 23 Jul 1803—23 Jul 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to
Croydon, horse-drawn)
|
| 18 | 1804 | - 21 Feb 1804—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 coin.
|
| 19 | 1805 | - 21 Oct 1805—21 Oct 1805: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
|
| 20 | 1812 | - Oct 1812—Oct 1812: Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses
|
| 21 | 1815 | - 1815—1815: Davy develops the safety lamp for miners
- 18 Jun 1815—18 Jun 1815: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena
|
| 22 | 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
|
| 23 | 1830 | - 15 Sep 1830—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!
|
| 24 | 1834 | - 18 Mar 1834—18 Mar 1834: 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' transported (to Australia) for Trades Union activities
- 1 May 1834—1 May 1834: Slavery abolished in British possessions
|
| 25 | 1836 | - 1836—1836: First Potato famine in Ireland
|
| 26 | 1837 | - 1 Jul 1837—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
|
| 27 | 1840 | - 10 Jan 1840—10 Jan 1840: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
|
| 28 | 1841 | - 6 Jun 1841—6 Jun 1841: June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
|
| 29 | 1843 | - 1843—1843: First Christmas card in England
|
| 30 | 1851 | - 1 May 1851—1 May 1851: Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ('Crystal Palace' exhibition) opened in Hyde Park
|
| 31 | 1853 | - 1853—1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
|
| 32 | 1854 | - 1854—1854: Cigarettes introduced into Britain
- 25 Oct 1854—25 Oct 1854: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
|
| 33 | 1859 | - 24 Nov 1859—24 Nov 1859: Charles Darwin publishes 'The Origin of Species'
|
| 34 | 1862 | - 20 Apr 1862—20 Apr 1862: First pasteurisation test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
|
| 35 | 1863 | - 10 Jan 1863—10 Jan 1863: First section of the London Underground Railway opens
|
| 36 | 1865 | - 14 Apr 1865—14 Apr 1865: End of American Civil War - slavery abolished in USA
|
| 37 | 1868 | - 1868—1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
|
| 38 | 1869 | - 1869—1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
|
| 39 | 1870 | - 1870—1870: Water closets come into wide use
|
| 40 | 1872 | - 1872—1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
|
| 41 | 1874 | - 5 Apr 1874—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
|
| 42 | 1876 | - 14 Feb 1876—14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone - Bell awarded the rights
|
| 43 | 1878 | - 1878—1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
|
| 44 | 1880 | - 1880—1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
|
| 45 | 1883 | - 27 Aug 1883—27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave
|
| 46 | 1884 | - 13 Oct 1884—13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
|
| 47 | 1885 | - Mar 1885—Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
|
| 48 | 1887 | - 1887—1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
|
| 49 | 1888 | - 20 Mar 1888—20 Mar 1888: Football League formed
|
| 50 | 1889 | - 3 Jun 1889—3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
|
| 51 | 1891 | - 1891—1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
|
| 52 | 1893 | - 1893—1893: Zip fastener invented
|
| 53 | 1895 | - Nov 1895—Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
|
| 54 | 1897 | - 1897—1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
|
| 55 | 1900 | - 1900—1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
|
| 56 | 1901 | - 1901—1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
- 12 Dec 1901—12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi - Morse
code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
|
| 57 | 1902 | - 1902—1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
|
| 58 | 1906 | - 1906—1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
|
| 59 | 1907 | - 1907—1907: First airship flies over London
|
| 60 | 1908 | - 1 Jul 1908—1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
|
| 61 | 1909 | - 25 Jul 1909—25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
|
| 62 | 1912 | - 14 Apr 1912—14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
|
| 63 | 1914 | - 4 Aug 1914—4 Aug 1914: Britain declares war on Germany, citing Belgian neutrality as reason
|
| 64 | 1917 | - 7 Nov 1917—7 Nov 1917: 'October' Revolution in Russia - Bolsheviks overthrow provisional government;
Lenin becomes Chief Commissar
|
| 65 | 1918 | - 1918—1918: Vote for women over 30, men over 21 (except peers, lunatics and felons)
- 8 Mar 1918—8 Mar 1918: Start of world-wide 'flu pandemic
|
| 66 | 1923 | - 16 Feb 1923—16 Feb 1923: Howard Carter unsealed the burial chamber of Tutankhamun
|
| 67 | 1926 | - 1926—1926: Adoption of children is legalised in Britain
|
| 68 | 1927 | - 1927—1927: Release of the first 'talkie' film (The Jazz Singer)
|
| 69 | 1928 | - 1928—1928: Women over 21 get vote in Britain - same qualification for both sexes
- 15 Sep 1928—15 Sep 1928: Sir Alexander Fleming accidentally discovers penicillin (results published 1929)
|
| 70 | 1929 | - 1929—1929: Minimum age for a marriage in Britain (which had been 14 for a boy and 12 for a girl)
now 16 for both sexes, with parental consent (or a licence) needed for anyone under 21
|
| 71 | 1934 | - 1934—1934: Hitler becomes Fuehrer of Germany
- 18 Jul 1934—18 Jul 1934: King George V opens Mersey Tunnel
|
