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   Date  Event(s)
1570 
  • 25 Feb 1570—25 Feb 1570: Pope Pius V issued the papal bull 'Regnans in Excelsis' to excommunicate Elizabeth I and her followers in the Church of England
1571 
  • 1571—1571: Presbyterianism introduced into England by Thomas Cartwright
  • 1571—1571: Repeal of Act prohibiting lending of money on interest - gradual change from 'subsistence economy' to 'cash economy' resulted
  • 1571—1571: Beginning of penal legislation against Catholics in England
  • 23 Jan 1571—23 Jan 1571: Opening of the Royal Exchange in London, founded by Sir Thomas Gresham - this building destroyed in Great Fire of London 1666
1577 
  • 1577—1577: James Burbage opens first theatre in London
1579 
  • 1579—1579: Act of Uniformity in matters of religion enforced
1580 
  • 1580—1580: Congregational movement founded by Robert Browne about this time
  • 1580—1580: Colonisation of Ireland
  • 6 Apr 1580—6 Apr 1580: Dover Straits earthquake, largest in the recorded history of England, mentioned by Shakespeare - dozens of ships sunk and a tsunami hit Calais
1581 
  • 1581—1581: English Levant Company founded
  • 16 Jan 1581—16 Jan 1581: English Parliament outlaws Roman Catholicism
  • 4 Apr 1581—4 Apr 1581: Francis Drake knighted by Elizabeth I aboard the Golden Hind after circumnavigating the world
1583 
  • 1583—1583: University of Edinburgh founded
  • 1583—1583: Foundation of Cambridge University Press by Thomas Thomas
  • Aug 1583—Aug 1583: Sir Humphrey Gilbert attempts to establish English authority at St John's, Newfoundland
1584 
  • 4 Jun 1584—4 Jun 1584: Sir Walter Raleigh establishes first English colony in the New World, on Roanoke Island, Virginia (now in North Carolina) - the so-called 'Lost Colony'
1585 
  • 1585—1585: Foundation of Oxford University Press
10 1587 
  • 1587—1587: Introduction of potatoes to England
  • 8 Feb 1587—8 Feb 1587: Execution of Mary, Queen of Scots, at Fotheringay Castle, near Peterborough
  • 19 Apr 1587—19 Apr 1587: Sir Francis Drake sinks the Spanish fleet in Cadiz harbour
  • 11 Aug 1587—11 Aug 1587: Raleigh's second expedition to New World lands in North Carolina - first child born in the New World of English parents was Virginia Dare (Aug 18)
11 1588 
  • 1588—1588: Invention of shorthand by Dr Timothy Bright
  • 19 Jul 1588—19 Jul 1588: Spanish Armada sighted off the Lizard (had set sail from Lisbon in late May)
  • 29 Jul 1588—29 Jul 1588: Defeat of Spanish Armada off Gravelines
12 1591 
  • 1591—1591: Trinity College, Dublin, founded
13 1592 
  • 1592—1592: A Congregational (or Independent) Church formed in London
  • 1592—1592: Scotland: Presbyterian Church formally established - all ministers equal - no bishops - secular commissaries appointed by the Crown
14 1593 
  • 1593—1593: British statute mile established by law
15 1594 
  • 1594—1594: Hugh O'Neill, Earl of Tyrone, leads Irish rebellion against English rule (-1603)
16 1597 
  • 1597—1597: Poor Law Act for erection of parish workhouses for the Poor - Poor Rate collection allowed
17 1598 
  • 1598—1598: Bishop's transcripts of English and Welsh parish registers start - parish records were to be kept in 'great decent books of parchment' and copies or 'Bishop's Transcripts' of new entries were to be sent each month to the diocesan centre
18 1600 
  • 1 Jan 1600—1 Jan 1600: Scotland adopts New Year beginning 1st January (previously 25th March)
  • 31 Dec 1600—31 Dec 1600: British East India Company founded
19 1601 
  • 1601—1601: Great English Poor Law Act passed
  • 1601—1601: First use of fruit juice as a preventative for scurvy by James Lancaster
20 1602 
  • 20 Mar 1602—20 Mar 1602: Dutch East India Company founded
  • 8 Nov 1602—8 Nov 1602: Bodleian Library at Oxford University opened to the public
21 1603 
  • 24 Mar 1603—24 Mar 1603: Death of Elizabeth I: union of Scottish and English crowns - under King James VI of Scots and I of England (d. 1625)
  • 25 Jul 1603—25 Jul 1603: Coronation - James VI of Scotland is crowned first king of Great Britain
22 1604 
  • 1 Nov 1604—1 Nov 1604: Shakespeare: Othello' first presented
23 1605 
  • 5 Nov 1605—5 Nov 1605: Gunpowder plot at Westminster (Guy Fawkes, etc)
24 1606 
  • 1606—1606: The London Company chartered to colonise Virginia: the Susan Constant, Godspeed, and Discovery leave England on 19th De c taking 144 days to reach America
  • 1606—1606: Episcopacy established in Scotland (against wishes of the Scots)
  • 31 Jan 1606—31 Jan 1606: Guy Fawkes and co-conspirators executed
  • 12 Mar 1606—12 Mar 1606: Adoption of Union Flag as the flag of Great Britain' (the term Union Jack is used officially only when the Union Flag is flown from the Jack Mast of a Royal Naval vessel)
25 1607 
  • 14 May 1607—14 May 1607: Jamestown, Virginia settled - to become the first permanent British colony in North America
26 1608 
  • 1608—1608: First use of telescope by Galileo - he observed the moons of Jupiter two years later in Jan 1610
27 1610 
  • 1610—1610: James VI & I established the Episcopal Church in Scotland - Prebyterians persecuted and many of their records lost
28 1611 
  • 1611—1611: Authorised (King James) Version of Bible in Britain
  • 22 May 1611—22 May 1611: James VI & I created the title of baronet
29 1613 
  • 1613—1613: A copper farthing was produced, as a silver coin would be too small
  • 29 Jun 1613—29 Jun 1613: The Globe Theatre in London burns during a performance of Henry the Eighth (finally pulled down in 1644)
30 1616 
  • 23 Apr 1616—23 Apr 1616: Tuesday Apr 23 (Julian calendar): Death of Shakespeare
31 1618 
  • 1618—1618: Sir Walter Raleigh beheaded for allegedly conspiring against James I
32 1619 
  • 4 Dec 1619—4 Dec 1619: (Nov 24 old style): Colonists from Berkeley Parish in England disembark in Virginia and give thanks to God (considered by many to be the first Thanksgiving in the Americas)
33 1620 
  • 1620—1620: Manufacture of coke (the fuel, not the drink!) patented by Dud Dudley
  • 21 Dec 1620—21 Dec 1620: (Dec 16 old style): The Mayflower reaches America - founds Plymouth, New England (had initially set sail from Southampton on Aug 5)
34 1621 
  • 1621—1621: Chimneys to be made of brick and to be four and a half feet above the roof
35 1622 
  • 1622—1622: First English newspaper appeared - Weekly News'
36 1624 
  • 1624—1624: Monopoly Act in England: patents protected
  • 1624—1624: Edmund Gunter introduces the surveyor's chain (measurement of length)
37 1625 
  • 1625—1625: The size of bricks standardised in England around this time
  • 27 Mar 1625—27 Mar 1625: Death of King James VI & I
38 1628 
  • 1 Mar 1628—1 Mar 1628: Writs issued by Charles I that every county in England (not just seaport towns) pay ship tax by this date
39 1629 
  • 10 Mar 1629—10 Mar 1629: Parliament dissolved by King Charles I - did not meet for another 11 yea
40 1633 
  • Jun 1633—Jun 1633: Galileo summoned by Inquisition for publishing in favour of Copernican theory
41 1635 
  • 1635—1635: Letter Office of England & Scotland started
  • 1635—1635: Flintlock small arms invented around this time (replaces matchlock)
42 1636 
  • 1636—1636: Hackney Carriages in use by now in London
43 1638 
  • 1638—1638: King Charles regarded protests against the prayerbook as treason - forced Scots to choose between their church and the King - a ?Covenant' swearing to resist these changes to the Death was signed in Greyfriars Church Edinburgh and was accepted by hundreds of thousands of Scots (revival of Presbyterian Church)
44 1639 
  • 1639—1639: Act of Toleration in England established religious toleration
45 1640 
  • 3 Nov 1640—3 Nov 1640: Charles I forced to recall Parliament (the 'Long Parliament') due to Scottish invasion
46 1641 
  • 1641—1641: Charles I's policies cause insurrection in Ulster and Civil War in England
  • 1641—1641: Charles I and the English Parliament acknowledge the Prebyterian Church in Scotland
  • 23 Oct 1641—23 Oct 1641: 50,000 Irish killed in an uprising in Ulster
47 1642 
  • 1642—1642: The Civil War interrupted the keeping of parish registers
  • 1642—1642: English theatres closed by Puritans (till 1660)
  • 22 Aug 1642—22 Aug 1642: Charles I raises his standard at Nottingham - First Civil War in England (to 1649)
  • 13 Nov 1642—13 Nov 1642: Battle of Turnham Green - Royalist forces withdraw in face of the Parliamentarian army and fail to take London
  • 24 Nov 1642—24 Nov 1642: Abel Janszoon Tasman discovers Van Diemen's Land (now Tasmania)
  • 18 Dec 1642—18 Dec 1642: Abel Janszoon Tasman first European to set foot in New Zealand
48 1643 
  • 13 Dec 1643—13 Dec 1643: Battle of Alton - victory for Parliamentarians - Sir Richard Bolle killed in St Lawrence's church
49 1644 
  • 29 Jun 1644—29 Jun 1644: Battle of Cropredy Bridge - Royalists beat the Parliamentarian forces
  • 2 Jul 1644—2 Jul 1644: Battle of Marston Moor, near York - Parliamentarian forces beat the Royalists
50 1645 
  • 1645—1645: Battle of Philiphaugh in Scotland
  • 1645—1645: Scotland: Each county and burgh ordered to raise and maintain a number of foot soldiers, according to population, to serve as militia - population of Scotland estimated at 420,000
  • 1645—1645: Plague made its last appearance in Scotland
  • 14 Jun 1645—14 Jun 1645: Battle of Naseby: Parliament's New Model Army crushes the Royalist forces
51 1646 
  • 5 May 1646—5 May 1646: Charles I surrenders to the Scottish Army at Newark
  • 20 Jun 1646—20 Jun 1646: Royalists sign articles of surrender at Oxford
52 1648 
  • 1648—1648: Society of Friends (Quakers) founded by George Fox
  • 1648—1648: First practical thermometers made
53 1649 
  • 1649—1649: Cromwell's Irish campaign starts
  • 1649—1649: King Charles II proclaimed King of Scots and England in Scotland
  • 6 Jan 1649—6 Jan 1649: 'Rump' Parliament votes to put Charles I on trial
  • 30 Jan 1649—30 Jan 1649: King Charles I executed
  • 19 May 1649—19 May 1649: Commonwealth declared
  • 20 Dec 1649—20 Dec 1649: Theatres banned by Cromwell
  • 20 Dec 1649—20 Dec 1649: Christmas banned by Cromwell
54 1650 
  • 1650—1650: Coffee brought to England about this time
55 1651 
  • 1651—1651: The second English Civil War (1651-1652)
  • 1651—1651: Scottish prisoners transported to the British settlements in America
  • 3 Sep 1651—3 Sep 1651: Battle of Worcester
56 1653 
  • 1653—1653: Commonwealth registers start
  • 1653—1653: Under the Act of Settlement Cromwell's opponents stripped of land
  • 1653—1653: Provincial probate courts abolished - probates granted only in London
  • 20 Apr 1653—20 Apr 1653: Cromwell dissolves the Rump Parliament
  • 16 Dec 1653—16 Dec 1653: Oliver Cromwell becomes Lord Protector of the Commonwealth of England, Scotland and Ireland
57 1657 
  • 1657—1657: Post Office established by Act of Parliament [others say 1660]
  • 1657—1657: A few Jews permitted to settle in England
58 1658 
  • 1658—1658: Richard Cromwell (son of Oliver) Lord Protector (-1660)
  • 3 Sep 1658—3 Sep 1658: Death of Oliver Cromwell
59 1659 
  • 1659—1659: Start of national meteorological Temperature records in the UK
  • 6 Feb 1659—6 Feb 1659: Date of first known bank cheque to be drawn
60 1660 
  • 1660—1660: Commonwealth registers ended, Parish Registers resumed
  • 1660—1660: Provincial Probate Courts re-established
  • 1660—1660: Clarendon code restricts Puritans' religious freedom
  • 1660—1660: Composition of light discovered by Newton
  • 1660—1660: Honourable East India Company founded by British
  • 1 Jan 1660—1 Jan 1660: Samuel Pepys starts his diary
  • 29 May 1660—29 May 1660: Restoration of British monarchy (Charles II) - 'Oak Apple Day' - theatres reopened
  • 17 Oct 1660—17 Oct 1660: Ten Regicides are executed at Charing Cross or Tyburn
  • 28 Nov 1660—28 Nov 1660: Twelve men, including Christopher Wren, Robert Boyle, John Wilkins, and Sir Robert Moray decide to found what is later known as the Royal Society
  • 8 Dec 1660—8 Dec 1660: First actress plays in London (Margaret Hughes as Desdemona)
61 1661 
  • 1661—1661: Restoration of Episcopacy in Scotland
  • 1661—1661: Board of Trade founded in London
  • 1661—1661: Hand-struck postage stamps first used
  • 1661—1661: Corporation Act prevents non-Anglicans from holding municipal office
  • 30 Jan 1661—30 Jan 1661: Oliver Cromwell formally 'executed', having been dead for over two years!
62 1662 
  • 1662—1662: 'Hearth Tax' introduced - until 1689 (1690 in Scotland)
  • 1662—1662: Poor Relief Act or Act of Settlement' - gave JPs the power to return any wandering poor to the parish of origin (repealed 1834)
  • 1662—1662: Tea introduced to Britain
  • 24 Aug 1662—24 Aug 1662: Act of Uniformity - Acceptance of Book of Common Prayer required - About 2,000 vicars and rectors driven from their parishes as nonconformists (Presbyterians and Independents) - Persecution of all non-conformists - Presbyterianism dis-established - Episcopalian Church of England restored
63 1664 
  • 29 May 1664—29 May 1664: Oak Apple Day - the birthday of Charles II and the day when he entered London at the Restoration; commanded by Act of Parliament in 1664 to be observed as a day of thanksgiving. A special service (expunged in 1859) was inserted in the Book of Common Prayer and people wore sprigs of oak with gilded oak-apples on that day.
  • 27 Aug 1664—27 Aug 1664: Nieuw Amsterdam becomes New York as 300 English soldiers under Col. Mathias Nicolls take the town from the Dutch under orders from Charles II. The town is renamed after the King's brother James, Duke of York
64 1665 
  • 1665—1665: Great Plague of London (July-October) kills over 60,000
  • 1665—1665: Five-mile Act restricts non-conformist ministers in Britain
  • 7 Nov 1665—7 Nov 1665: The ?London Gazette' first published - one of the official journals of record of the United Kingdom government and the oldest continuously published newspaper in the United Kingdom
65 1666 
  • 1666—1666: Use of semaphore signalling pioneered by Lord Worcester
  • 1666—1666: Newton formulated Laws of Gravity
  • 2 Sep 1666—2 Sep 1666: Great Fire of London, after a drought beginning 27 June (2-6 Sep)
66 1668 
  • 1668—1668: British East India Company obtains control of Bombay
  • 1668—1668: Newton constructs reflecting telescope
67 1669 
  • 31 May 1669—31 May 1669: Last entry in Pepys's diary
68 1670 
  • 26 May 1670—26 May 1670: King Charles II and King Louis XIV of France sign the Secret Treaty of Dover
69 1671 
  • 9 May 1671—9 May 1671: Thomas Blood caught stealing the Crown Jewels
70 1672 
  • 1672—1672: High Court of Justiciary established in Scotland
  • 1672—1672: War with Holland (to 1674) - British Army increased to 10,000 men
71 1673 
  • 1673—1673: First Test Act deprives British Catholics and Non-conformists of Public Office
72 1674 
  • 10 Nov 1674—10 Nov 1674: Treaty of Westminster - Netherlands cedes New Netherlands (on the eastern coast of North America) to Britain
73 1675 
  • 1675—1675: Beginning of Whig party under Shaftsbury
  • 1675—1675: Rebuilding of St Paul's started by Wren (completed 1710)
  • 4 Mar 1675—4 Mar 1675: John Flamsteed appointed first Astronomer Royal of England
  • 10 Aug 1675—10 Aug 1675: Building of Royal Greenwich Observatory started
74 1676 
  • 1676—1676: Compton Census, named after its initiator Henry Compton, Bishop of London, was intended to discover the number of Anglican conformists, Roman Catholic recusants and Protestant dissenters in England and Wales from enquiries made in individual parishes
75 1677 
  • 1677—1677: Lee's Collection of Names of Merchants in London' published
76 1678 
  • 1678—1678: Extension of Test Act to peers
77 1679 
  • 1679—1679: Tories first so named
  • 27 May 1679—27 May 1679: Habeas Corpus Act becomes law in England - (later repealed from time to time)
78 1680 
  • 1680—1680: William Dockwra(y) begins his London Penny Post
  • 1680—1680: Dodo becomes extinct in Mauritius through over-hunting
79 1681 
  • 1681—1681: Second Test Act (against non-conformists) passed by Westminster Parliament
  • 1681—1681: Oil lighting first used in London streets
80 1682 
  • 1682—1682: Pennsylvania founded by William Penn
  • 1682—1682: Library of Advocates founded in Edinburgh - later National Library of Scotland
  • 1682—1682: Halley observes the comet which bears his name
81 1683 
  • 1683—1683: Wild boar become extinct in Britain
  • 6 Jun 1683—6 Jun 1683: Ashmolean Museum opened at Oxford - first museum in Britain
82 1685 
  • 1685—1685: James the Second (1685-1689, died 1701) - Monmouth rebellion and battle of Sedgemoor - British Army raised to 20,000 men
  • 1685—1685: Earl of Argyll's Invasion of Scotland
  • 1685—1685: Judge Jeffreys and the Bloody Assizes - 320 executed, 800 transported
83 1686 
  • 1686—1686: Release of all prisoners held for their religious beliefs
84 1687 
  • 4 Apr 1687—4 Apr 1687: James II issues the Declaration of Indulgence, suspending laws against Catholics and non-conformists
  • 5 Jul 1687—5 Jul 1687: Newton published his Philosophiae Naturalis Principia Mathematica' - written in Latin
85 1688 
  • 1688—1688: British Army raised to 40,000
  • 1688—1688: Bill of Rights limits the powers of the monarchy over parliament
  • 1688—1688: Hearth Tax abolished
  • 1688—1688: Mutiny Act
  • Feb 1688—Feb 1688: Edward Lloyd's Coffee House opens - later became Lloyd's of London
  • Nov 1688—Nov 1688: The Glorious Revolution: James II abdicates
  • 5 Nov 1688—5 Nov 1688: William of Orange lands at Torbay
  • Dec 1688—Dec 1688: Siege of Londonderry (began Dec 1688; ended 28 Jul 1689)
86 1689 
  • 1689—1689: Devonport naval dockyard established
  • 13 Feb 1689—13 Feb 1689: William III and Mary II, daughter of James II, jointly take the throne (only William, however, has regal power)
  • 12 Mar 1689—12 Mar 1689: Deposed James VII & II flees to Ireland - defeated at the Battle of the Boyne (1 Jul 1690)
  • 24 May 1689—24 May 1689: Toleration Act passed for Protestant non-conformists
  • 27 Jul 1689—27 Jul 1689: Battle of Killiecrankie in Scotland - Jacobites defeated Government troops but at high cost
  • 16 Dec 1689—16 Dec 1689: Bill of Rights passed by Parliament, ending King's divine right to raise taxes or wage war
87 1690 
  • 20 May 1690—20 May 1690: England passes Act of Grace, forgiving Roman Catholic followers of James II
88 1692 
  • 1692—1692: Land Tax introduced - originally designed as an annual tax on personal estate, public offices and land. For practical purposes, however, assessors tended to avoid assessing items of wealth other than landed property so that it became known as the Land Tax.
  • 1692—1692: French intention to invade England came to nothing
  • 13 Feb 1692—13 Feb 1692: The massacre of Glencoe - Clan Campbell sides with King William and murders members of Clan McDonald
89 1693 
  • 4 Aug 1693—4 Aug 1693: Date traditionally ascribed to Dom Pierre P?rignon 's invention of Champagne
90 1694 
  • 1694—1694: National Debt came into effect in England
  • 1694—1694: Stamp Duties introduced into Britain from Holland
  • 1694—1694: Mary II death leaves William III as sole ruler
  • 1694—1694: Triennial Act, new Parliamentary elections every three years
  • 1694—1694: Scotland: Poll Tax imposed on all over sixteen, except the destitute and insane (-1699)
  • 27 Jul 1694—27 Jul 1694: Bank of England founded by William Paterson (a Scot)
91 1695 
  • 1695—1695: Freedom of Press in England granted
  • 1695—1695: Bank of Scotland founded
  • 1695—1695: Act of Parliament imposes a fine on all who fail to inform the parish minister of the birth of a child (repealed 1706)
  • 1695—1695: Start of Dissenters' lists in parish registers - children born but not christened in the parish church - some were named 'Papist' and others 'Protestants'
92 1697 
  • 2 Dec 1697—2 Dec 1697: Official opening of St Paul's Cathedral
93 1698 
  • 1698—1698: Invention of steam engine by Capt Thomas Savery
  • 1698—1698: Darien Expedition: a disastrous attempt to establish a Scots settlement in Panama
  • 1698—1698: Duties (taxes) on entries in parish registers - repealed after five years
  • 4 Jan 1698—4 Jan 1698: Most of the Palace of Whitehall in London destroyed by fire
  • 14 Nov 1698—14 Nov 1698: Eddystone Lighthouse (Henry Winstanley's) first lit; completed 10 days earlier
94 1700 
  • 1700—1700: Population in England and Scotland approx 7.5 million
95 1701 
  • 1701—1701: Act of Settlement bars Catholics from the British throne
  • 23 May 1701—23 May 1701: After being convicted of piracy and murdering William Moore, Captain William Kidd hanged in London
96 1702 
  • 8 Mar 1702—8 Mar 1702: Anne Stuart becomes Queen
  • 11 Mar 1702—11 Mar 1702: First English daily newspaper The Daily Courant (till 1735)
97 1703 
  • 4 Aug 1703—4 Aug 1703: British take Gibraltar
  • 24 Nov 1703—24 Nov 1703: Climate: Most violent storms of the millennium cause vast damage across southern England - about a third of Britain's merchant fleet lost, and Eddystone lighthouse destroyed on 27 November (Nov 24 - Dec 2)
98 1704 
  • 1704—1704: Penal Code enacted - Catholics barred from voting, education and the military
  • 13 Aug 1704—13 Aug 1704: Battle of Blenheim
99 1705 
  • 1705—1705: First workable steam pumping engine devised by Thomas Newcomen (some say c1710 or 1711)
  • 1705—1705: Isaac Newton knighted (for his work at the Royal Mint)
100 1706 
  • 1706—1706: First evening newspaper The Evening Post' issued in London
101 1707 
  • 16 Jan 1707—16 Jan 1707: Union with Scotland - Scots agree to send 16 peers and 45 MPs to English Parliament in return for full trading privileges - Scottish Parliament meets for the last time in March
  • 1 May 1707—1 May 1707: English and Scottish Parliaments united by an Act of the English Parliament - The Kingdom of Great Britain established - largest free-trade area in Europe at the time
102 1708 
  • 1708—1708: First Jacobite rising in Scotland
  • 1708—1708: Earliest Artillery Muster Rolls
103 1709 
  • 1709—1709: Second Eddystone lighthouse completed
  • 1709—1709: First Copyright Act pass
  • 1709—1709: Bad harvests throughout Europe - bread riots in Britain
  • 2 Feb 1709—2 Feb 1709: Alexander Selkirk rescued from shipwreck on a desert island, inspiring the book Robinson Crusoe (published in 1719) by Daniel Defoe
104 1710 
  • 1710—1710: Tax on Apprentice Indentures introduced
105 1711 
  • 1711—1711: Incorporation of South Sea Company, in London
  • 11 Aug 1711—11 Aug 1711: First race meeting at Ascot
106 1712 
  • 1712—1712: Imposition of Soap Tax (abolished 1853)
  • 1712—1712: Last trial for witchcraft in England (Jane Wenham)
  • 1712—1712: Toleration Act passed - first relief to non-Anglicans
107 1713 
  • 1713—1713: By this year there are some 3,000 coffee houses in London
108 1714 
  • 1714—1714: Longitude Act: prize of ?20,000 offered to the inventor of a workable method of determining a ship's longitude (won by John Harrison in 1773 for his chronometer).
  • 1714—1714: Schism Act, prevents Dissenters from being schoolmasters in England
  • 1714—1714: Landholders forced to take the Oath of Allegiance and renounce Roman Catholicism
  • 1 Aug 1714—1 Aug 1714: Queen Anne Stuart dies - George I Hanover becomes king (1714-1727).
109 1715 
  • 1715—1715: Second Jacobite rebellion in Scotland, under the Old Pretender ('The Fifteen')
  • 1 Aug 1715—1 Aug 1715: Riot Act passed
110 1716 
  • 1716—1716: The Septennial Act of Britain leads to greater electoral corruption - general elections now to be held once every 7 years instead of every 3 (until 1911)
  • 1716—1716: Climate: Thames frozen so solid that a spring tide lifted the ice bodily 13ft without interrupting the frost fair
111 1717 
  • 1717—1717: First Masonic Lodge opens in London
  • 1717—1717: Value of the golden guinea fixed at 21 shillings
112 1719 
  • 1719—1719: Third abortive Jacobite rising
113 1720 
  • 1720—1720: South Sea Bubble, a stock-market crash on Exchange Alley - government assumes control of National Debt
  • 1720—1720: Manufacturing towns start to increase in population - rise of new wealth
  • 1720—1720: Wallpaper becomes fashionable in England
114 1721 
  • 2 Apr 1721—2 Apr 1721: Robert Walpole (Whig) becomes first Prime Minister (to 1742)
115 1722 
  • 1722—1722: Last trial for witchcraft in Scotland
  • 1722—1722: Knatchbull's Act, poor laws
116 1723 
  • 1723—1723: Excise tax levied for coffee, tea, and chocolate
  • 1723—1723: The Waltham Black Acts add 50 capital offences to the penal code - people could be sentenced to death for theft and poaching - repealed in 1827
  • 1723—1723: The Workhouse Act or Test - to get relief, a poor person has to enter Workhouse
117 1724 
  • 1724—1724: Rapid growth of gin drinking in England
  • 1724—1724: Longman's founded (Britain's oldest publishing house)
118 1726 
  • 1726—1726: First circulating library opened in Edinburgh
  • 1726—1726: Invention of the chronometer by John Harrison
119 1727 
  • 1727—1727: Board of Manufacturers established in Scotland
  • 11 Jun 1727—11 Jun 1727: George I dies - George II Hanover becomes king
120 1729 
  • 9 Nov 1729—9 Nov 1729: Treaty of Seville signed between Britain, France and Spain - Britain maintained control of Port Mahon and Gibraltar
121 1730 
  • 1730—1730: Irish famine
122 1731 
  • 1731—1731: Invention of seed drill by Jethro Tull [others say 1701]
  • 1731—1731: Invention of sextant by John Hadley
123 1732 
  • 7 Dec 1732—7 Dec 1732: Covent Garden Opera House opens
124 1733 
  • 1733—1733: Excise crisis: Sir Robert Walpole wanted to add excise tax to tobacco and wine - Pulteney and Bolingbroke oppose the excise tax
  • 1733—1733: Law forbidding the use of Latin in parish registers generally obeyed - some continued in Latin for a few years
  • 1733—1733: John Kay invents the flying shuttle, revolutionised the weaving industry
125 1734 
  • 1734—1734: Kent's Directory published
126 1737 
  • 1737—1737: Licensing Act restricts the number of London theatres and subects plays to censorship of the Lord Chamberlain (till 1950s)
127 1738 
  • 24 May 1738—24 May 1738: John Wesley has his conversion experience
128 1739 
  • 1739—1739: Wesley and Whitefield commence great Methodist revival
  • 7 Apr 1739—7 Apr 1739: Dick Turpin, highwayman, hanged at York
  • 23 Oct 1739—23 Oct 1739: War of Jenkins' Ear starts: Robert Walpole reluctantly declares war on Spain
129 1741 
  • 1741—1741: Benjamin Ingham founded the Moravian Methodists or Inghamites - Earliest Moravian registers
130 1742 
  • 1742—1742: England goes to war with Spain - incited by William Pitt the Elder (Earl of Chatham) for the sake of trade
131 1743 
  • 16 Jun 1743—16 Jun 1743: (June 27 in Gregorian calendar): Battle of Dettingen - last time a British sovereign (George II) led troops in battle
132 1744 
  • 1744—1744: Tune 'God Save the King' makes its appearance
133 1745 
  • 1745—1745: Jacobite rebellion in Scotland ('The Forty-five')
  • 19 Aug 1745—19 Aug 1745: Bonnie Prince Charlie (The Young Pretender) lands in the western Highlands - raises support among Episcopalian and Catholic clans - The Pretender's army invades Perth, Edinburgh, and England as far as Derby
134 1746 
  • 16 Apr 1746—16 Apr 1746: Battle of Culloden - last battle fought in Britain - 5,000 Highlanders routed by the Duke of Cumberland and 9,000 loyalists Scots - Young Pretender Charles flees to Continent, ending Jacobite hopes forever - the wearing of the kilt prohibited
135 1747 
  • 1747—1747: Abolition of Heritable Jurisdictions in Scotland
  • 1747—1747: Act for Pacification of the Highlands
136 1749 
  • 27 Apr 1749—27 Apr 1749: First performance of Handel's Music for the Royal Fireworks (in Green Park, London)
137 1750 
  • Feb 1750—Feb 1750: Series of earthquakes in London and the Home Counties cause panic with predictions of an apocalypse (Feb/Mar)
  • 16 Nov 1750—16 Nov 1750: Original Westminster Bridge opened (replaced in 1862 due to subsidence)
138 1751 
  • Mar 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
139 1752 
  • 1752—1752: Benjamin Franklin invents the lightning conductor
  • 1 Jan 1752—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—3 Sep 1752: Julian Calendar dropped and Gregorian Calendar adopted in England and Scotland, making this Sep 14
140 1753 
  • 1753—1753: Private collection of Sir Hans Sloane forms the basis of the British Museum
  • 1 May 1753—1 May 1753: Publication of ?Species Plantarum' by Linnaeus and the formal start date of plant taxonomy
141 1754 
  • 1754—1754: Hardwicke Act (1753): Banns to be called, and Printed Marriage Register forms to be used - Quakers & Jews exempt
  • 1754—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—1754: First British troops not belonging to the East India Company despatched to India
142 1755 
  • 1755—1755: Publication of Dictionary of the English Language' by Dr Samuel Johnson
  • 1755—1755: Period of canal construction began in Britain (till 1827)
  • 2 Dec 1755—2 Dec 1755: Second Eddystone Lighthouse destroyed by fire
143 1756 
  • 15 May 1756—15 May 1756: The Seven Years War with France (Pitt's trade war) begins
  • Jun 1756—Jun 1756: Black Hole of Calcutta - 146 Britons imprisoned, most die according to British sources
144 1757 
  • 1757—1757: The foundation laid for the Empire of India
  • 14 Mar 1757—14 Mar 1757: Admiral Byng shot at Portsmouth for failing to relieve Minorca
  • 23 Jun 1757—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
145 1758 
  • 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
146 1759 
  • 1759—1759: Wesley builds 356 Methodist chapels
  • 15 Jan 1759—15 Jan 1759: British Museum opens to the public in London
  • 16 Oct 1759—16 Oct 1759: Third Eddystone Lighthouse (John Smeaton's) completed
147 1760 
  • 1760—1760: Carron Iron Works in operation in Scotland
  • 5 May 1760—5 May 1760: First use of hangman's drop
  • 25 Oct 1760—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'
148 1761 
  • 16 Jan 1761—16 Jan 1761: British capture Pondicherry, India from the French
149 1762 
  • 1762—1762: Cigars introduced into Britain from Cuba
150 1763 
  • 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
151 1764 
  • 1764—1764: Lloyd's Register of shipping first prepared
  • 1764—1764: Practice of numbering houses introduced to London
  • 1764—1764: James Hargeaves invents the Spinning Jenny (but destroyed 1768)
  • 1764—1764: Mozart produces his first symphony at age eight
152 1765 
  • 1765—1765: The potato becomes the most popular food in Europe
  • 22 Mar 1765—22 Mar 1765: Stamp Act passed - imposed a tax on publications and legal documents in the American colonies (repealed the following year)
153 1766 
  • 1766—1766: Start of 'composite' national records on rainfall in the UK
  • 5 Dec 1766—5 Dec 1766: Christie's auction house founded in London by James Christie
154 1767 
  • 1767—1767: Newcomen's steam pumping engine perfected by James Watt
155 1768 
  • 9 Jan 1768—9 Jan 1768: Philip Astley starts his circus in London
  • 6 Dec 1768—6 Dec 1768: The first edition of the Encyclopaedia Britannica' published in Edinburgh by William Smellie
156 1769 
  • 1769—1769: Arkwright invents water frame (textile production)
  • 1769—1769: Capt James Cook maps the coast of New Zealand
  • 6 Sep 1769—6 Sep 1769: David Garrick organises first Shakespeare festival at Stratford-upon-Avon
157 1770 
  • 1770—1770: Clyde Trust created to convert the River Clyde, then an insignificant river, into a major thoroughfare for maritime communications
  • 28 Apr 1770—28 Apr 1770: Capt James Cook lands in Australia (Botany Bay) ? Aug 21: formally claims Australia for Britain
158 1771 
  • 1771—1771: Right to report Parliamentary debates established in England
159 1772 
  • 1772—1772: First Travellers' Cheques issued by the London Credit Exchange Company
  • 1772—1772: Morning Post' first published (until 1937)
  • 14 May 1772—14 May 1772: Judge Mansfield rules that there is no legal basis for slavery in England
160 1774 
  • 13 Sep 1774—13 Sep 1774: Cook arrives on Easter Island
161 1775 
  • 19 Apr 1775—19 Apr 1775: Battle of Lexington: first action in American War of Independence (1775- 1783)
162 1776 
  • 1776—1776: Somerset House in London becomes the repository of records of population
  • 1776—1776: Watt and Boulton produce their first commercial steam engine
  • 4 Jul 1776—4 Jul 1776: American Declaration of Independence
  • 7 Sep 1776—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]
163 1777 
  • 1777—1777: Samuel Miller of Southampton patents the circular saw.
164 1779 
  • 1779—1779: Marc Isambard Brunel opens the first steamdriven sawmill at Chatham Dockyard in Kent
  • 1779—1779: First iron bridge built, over the Severn by John Wilkinson
  • 1779—1779: First Spinning Mills operational in Scotland
  • 14 Feb 1779—14 Feb 1779: Capt James Cook killed on Hawaii
  • 23 Sep 1779—23 Sep 1779: Naval engagement between Britain and USA off Flamborough Head
165 1780 
  • 1780—1780: Male Servants Tax
  • 1780—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—1780: Fountain pen invented
  • 1780—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—4 May 1780: First Derby run at Epsom (some say 2nd June)
  • 2 Jun 1780—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
166 1782 
  • 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—1782: James Watt patents his steam engine
167 1783 
  • 1783—1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry - repealed 1794) - led to a fall in entries!
  • 3 Sep 1783—3 Sep 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US)
  • 3 Nov 1783—3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
168 1784 
  • 1784—1784: Pitt's India Act - the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has power to guide Indian politics
  • 1784—1784: Wesley breaks with the Church of England
  • 1784—1784: First golf club founded at St Andrews
  • 1784—1784: Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
  • 2 Aug 1784—2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
169 1785 
  • 1785—1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2 million)
  • 1 Jan 1785—1 Jan 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years)
170 1787 
  • 1787—1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
171 1788 
  • 1788—1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
  • 1788—1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not enforced)
  • 1788—1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships
  • 1788—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—1788: Gibbon completes Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
  • 26 Jan 1788—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
172 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
173 1790 
  • 1790—1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
174 1791 
  • 1791—1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the long s' (the 's' that looks like an 'f')
  • 1791—1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
  • 4 Dec 1791—4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer - world's oldest Sunday newspaper
175 1792 
  • 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—1792: Boyle's Street Directory published
  • 1792—1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot
  • 1 Oct 1792—1 Oct 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain
  • 1 Dec 1792—1 Dec 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
176 1793 
  • 11 Feb 1793—11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
  • 15 Apr 1793—15 Apr 1793: ?5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
177 1794 
  • 1794—1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties
  • 6 Oct 1794—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
178 1795 
  • 1795—1795: The Famine Year
  • 1795—1795: Foundation of the Orange Order
  • 1795—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—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—1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
179 1796 
  • 1796—1796: Pitt's Reign of Terror': More treason trials - leading radicals emigrate
  • 1796—1796: Legacy Tax on sums over ?20 excluding those to wives, children, parents and grandparents
  • 14 May 1796—14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
180 1797 
  • 1797—1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments
  • 1797—1797: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore
  • 1797—1797: Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical publications
  • 1797—1797: The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to the coining press
  • 22 Feb 1797—22 Feb 1797: French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later
  • 26 Feb 1797—26 Feb 1797: First ?1 (and ?2) notes issued by Bank of England
181 1798 
  • 1798—1798: First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner
  • Feb 1798—Feb 1798: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish Parliament abolished (Feb-Oct)
  • 1 Aug 1798—1 Aug 1798: Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
182 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 Jan 1799—9 Jan 1799: Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure
  • 12 Jul 1799—12 Jul 1799: 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
  • 15 Jul 1799—15 Jul 1799: ?Rosetta Stone' discovered in Egypt made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
183 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 Jul 1800—2 Jul 1800: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
184 1801 
  • 1801—1801: Grand Union Canal opens in England
  • 1801—1801: Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London
  • 1 Jan 1801—1 Jan 1801: Union Jack becomes the official British flag
  • 10 Mar 1801—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—24 Dec 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
185 1802 
  • 25 Mar 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
186 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 Apr 1803—30 Apr 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 Jul 1803—23 Jul 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to Croydon, horse-drawn)
187 1804 
  • 1804—1804: Matthew Flinders recommends that the newly discovered country, New Holland, be renamed 'Australia'
  • 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.
  • 3 Mar 1804—3 Mar 1804: John Wedgwood (eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood) founds The Royal Horticultural Society
  • 2 Dec 1804—2 Dec 1804: Napoleon declares himself Emperor of the French
  • 12 Dec 1804—12 Dec 1804: Spain declares war on Britain
188 1805 
  • 1805—1805: London docks opened
  • 21 Oct 1805—21 Oct 1805: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
  • 2 Dec 1805—2 Dec 1805: Battle of Austerlitz; Napoleon defeats Austrians and Russians
189 1806 
  • 1806—1806: Dartmoor Prison opened (built by French prisoners)
  • 9 Jan 1806—9 Jan 1806: Nelson buried in St Paul's cathedral, London
190 1807 
  • 25 Mar 1807—25 Mar 1807: Parliament passes Act prohibiting slavery and the importation of slaves from 1808 ? but does not prohibit colonial slavery
191 1808 
  • 1808—1808: Gas lighting in London streets
  • 13 Jul 1808—13 Jul 1808: 'Hot Wednesday' ? temperature of 101?F in the shade recorded in London
  • 20 Dec 1808—20 Dec 1808: Beethoven premieres his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy together in Vienna
192 1809 
  • 12 Feb 1809—12 Feb 1809: Birth of Charles Darwin
  • 18 Sep 1809—18 Sep 1809: Royal Opera House opens in London
193 1810 
  • 1810—1810: John McAdam begins road construction in England, giving his name to the process of road metalling
194 1811 
  • 5 Feb 1811—5 Feb 1811: Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane
195 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 Jun 1812—18 Jun 1812: Start of American 'War of 1812' (to 1814) against England and Canada
  • Oct 1812—Oct 1812: Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses
196 1813 
  • 1813—1813: Ireland: First recorded '12th of July' sectarian riots in Belfast
  • 1813—1813: Jane Austen wrote 'Pride and Prejudice'
197 1814 
  • 1 Jan 1814—1 Jan 1814: Invasion of France by Allies
  • 6 Apr 1814—6 Apr 1814: Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
  • 13 Aug 1814—13 Aug 1814: Convention of London signed, a treaty between the UK and the Dutch
  • 24 Aug 1814—24 Aug 1814: The British burn the White House
  • 29 Nov 1814—29 Nov 1814: 'The Times' first printed by a 'mechanical apparatus' (at 1100 sheets per hour)
  • 24 Dec 1814—24 Dec 1814: Treaty of Ghent signed ending the 1812 war between Britain and the US
198 1815 
  • 1815—1815: Trial by Jury established in Scotland
  • 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
199 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
200 1817 
  • 1817—1817: March of the Manchester Blanketeers; Habeas Corpus suspended
  • 1817—1817: Constable painted 'Flatford Mill'
201 1818 
  • 1818—1818: Manchester cotton spinners' strike
  • 20 Oct 1818—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
202 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 Aug 1819—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
203 1820 
  • 1820—1820: Cato Street Conspiracy ? plot to assissinate British cabinet
  • 1820—1820: Abolition of the Spanish Inquisition
  • 29 Jan 1820—29 Jan 1820: Accession of George IV, previously Prince Regent
  • 1 Aug 1820—1 Aug 1820: Regent's Canal in London opens
  • 17 Aug 1820—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
204 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
205 1822 
  • 14 Jun 1822—14 Jun 1822: Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society
206 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 Dec 1823—2 Dec 1823: US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts (the 'Monroe Doctrine')
207 1824 
  • 1824—1824: RSPCA established
  • 1824—1824: Portland cement patented
  • 4 Mar 1824—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—10 May 1824: National Gallery in London opens to the public
208 1825 
  • 27 Sep 1825—27 Sep 1825: Stockton to Darlington Railway opens ? world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains
209 1827 
  • 1827—1827: Ohm's Law published
210 1828 
  • 25 Oct 1828—25 Oct 1828: St Katharine Docks in London opened (designed by Thomas Telford)
211 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 Jun 1829—10 Jun 1829: First Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race
  • 6 Oct 1829—6 Oct 1829: George Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill trials (it was the only one to complete the trial!)
212 1830 
  • 1830—1830: Uprisings and agitation across Europe: the Netherlands are split into Holland and Belgium
  • Jul 1830—Jul 1830: Revolution in France, fall of Charles X and the Bourbons ? Louis Philippe (the Citizen King) on the throne
  • 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!
213 1831 
  • 1831—1831: A list of all parish registers dating prior to 1813 compiled
  • 1 Jun 1831—1 Jun 1831: James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole
  • 1 Aug 1831—1 Aug 1831: 'New' London Bridge opens (replaced 1973) ? old bridge (which had existed for over 600 years) then demolished
214 1832 
  • 1832—1832: Electoral Registers introduced
  • 1832—1832: Electric telegraph invented by Morse
  • 7 Jun 1832—7 Jun 1832: Reform Bill passed ? Representation of the People Act
215 1833 
  • Jan 1833—Jan 1833: Britain invades the Falkland Islands
  • 29 Aug 1833—29 Aug 1833: Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9
216 1834 
  • 1834—1834: Babbage invents forerunner of the computer
  • 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
217 1835 
  • 1835—1835: Christmas becomes a national holiday
  • 1835—1835: First railway boom period starts in Britain construction of Great Western Railway
218 1836 
  • 1836—1836: First Potato famine in Ireland
  • 30 Jan 1836—30 Jan 1836: Telford's Menai Straits Bridge opened ? considered the world's first modern suspension bridge
  • 25 Feb 1836—25 Feb 1836: Samuel Colt patented the 'revolver'
  • 6 Mar 1836—6 Mar 1836: The Alamo falls to Mexican troops - death of Davy Crockett
  • Jul 1836—Jul 1836: Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
219 1837 
  • 1837—1837: Pitman introduces his shorthand system
  • 1837—1837: P&O Founded
  • 20 Jun 1837—20 Jun 1837: William IV dies - accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901)
  • 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
  • 13 Jul 1837—13 Jul 1837: Queen Victoria moves into the first Buckingham Palace
  • 20 Jul 1837—20 Jul 1837: Euston Railway station opens - first in London
220 1838 
  • 28 Jun 1838—28 Jun 1838: Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
221 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
222 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 Jan 1840—10 Jan 1840: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
223 1841 
  • 1841—1841: Thomas Cook starts package tours
  • 10 Feb 1841—10 Feb 1841: Penny Red replaces Penny Black postage stamp
  • 6 Jun 1841—6 Jun 1841: June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
224 1842 
  • 1842—1842: Income Tax reintroduced in Britain
  • 30 Mar 1842—30 Mar 1842: Ether used as an anesthetic for the first time (by Dr Crawford Long in America)
  • 29 Aug 1842—29 Aug 1842: Treaty of Nanking - End of First Opium War - Britain gains Hong Kong
225 1843 
  • 1843—1843: First Christmas card in England
  • 27 May 1843—27 May 1843: The Great Hall of Euston station opened in London
  • 19 Jul 1843—19 Jul 1843: Brunel's 'Great Britain' launched
226 1844 
  • 6 Jun 1844—6 Jun 1844: YMCA founded in London by Sir George Williams
227 1845 
  • 1845—1845: Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham)
  • 17 Mar 1845—17 Mar 1845: The rubber band patented by Stephen Perry
228 1846 
  • 10 Sep 1846—10 Sep 1846: The sewing machine is patented by Elias Howe
229 1847 
  • 1847—1847: US Mormons make Salt Lake City their centre
  • Jan 1847—Jan 1847: An anesthetic used for the first time in England (James Simpson used ether to numb the pain of labour)
230 1848 
  • 1848—1848: First commercial production of chewing gum
  • 24 Jan 1848—24 Jan 1848: Gold found at Sutter's Mill, California - starts the California gold rush
  • 11 Jul 1848—11 Jul 1848: Waterloo railway station in London opens
231 1849 
  • 1849—1849: Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step to decimalisation - which finally occurred in 1971!
232 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
233 1852 
  • 1852—1852: Tasmania ceases to be a convict settlement
  • 1852—1852: Wells Fargo established in USA
234 1853 
  • 1853—1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
235 1854 
  • 1854—1854: Cigarettes introduced into Britain
  • 27 Mar 1854—27 Mar 1854: Britain declares war on Russia (Crimean War)
  • 25 Oct 1854—25 Oct 1854: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
236 1856 
  • 1856—1856: End of Crimean War
  • 29 Jan 1856—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)
237 1857 
  • 1857—1857: Work starts on the laying of the Transatlantic cable