Primitive bicycle, the Dandy Horse, becomes popular
Britain returns to gold standard
Singapore founded by Sir Stamford Raffles
'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
Manchester cotton spinners' strike
March of the Manchester Blanketeers; Habeas Corpus suspended
Constable painted 'Flatford Mill'
Income tax abolished
For the first time British silver coins were produced with an intrinsic value substantially below their face value ? the first official 'token' coinage
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
Large scale emigration to North America
Trans-Atlantic packet service begins
The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena
Trial by Jury established in Scotland
Davy develops the safety lamp for miners
Treaty of Ghent signed ending the 1812 war between Britain and the US
'The Times' first printed by a 'mechanical apparatus' (at 1100 sheets per hour)
The British burn the White House
Convention of London signed, a treaty between the UK and the Dutch
Napoleon abdicates and is exiled to Elba
Invasion of France by Allies
Ireland: First recorded '12th of July' sectarian riots in Belfast
Jane Austen wrote 'Pride and Prejudice'
Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses
Start of American 'War of 1812' (to 1814) against England and Canada
Prime Minister, Spencer Perceval, assassinated ? shot as he entered the House of Commons by a bankrupt Liverpool broker, John Bellingham, who was subsequently hanged
Prince of Wales (future George IV) made Regent after George III deemed insane
John McAdam begins road construction in England, giving his name to the process of road metalling
Royal Opera House opens in London
Birth of Charles Darwin
Beethoven premieres his Fifth Symphony, Sixth Symphony, Fourth Piano Concerto and Choral Fantasy together in Vienna
'Hot Wednesday' ? temperature of 101?F in the shade recorded in London
Gas lighting in London streets
Parliament passes Act prohibiting slavery and the importation of slaves from 1808 ? but does not prohibit colonial slavery
Nelson buried in St Paul's cathedral, London
Dartmoor Prison opened (built by French prisoners)
Battle of Austerlitz; Napoleon defeats Austrians and Russians
Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
London docks opened
Spain declares war on Britain
Napoleon declares himself Emperor of the French
John Wedgwood (eldest son of the potter Josiah Wedgwood) founds The Royal Horticultural Society
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.
Matthew Flinders recommends that the newly discovered country, New Holland, be renamed 'Australia'
First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to Croydon, horse-drawn)
Peace of Amiens ends ? resumption of war with France ? The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5)
Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon sells French possessions in America to United States
Poaching made a Capital offense in England if capture resisted
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
Semaphore signaling perfected by Admiral Popham
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
Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000. Population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural)
Grand Union Canal opens in England
Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London
Union Jack becomes the official British flag
Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy
Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833)
Royal College of Surgeons founded
Herschel discovers infra-red light
Volta makes first electrical battery
?Rosetta Stone' discovered in Egypt made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations
Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure
Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York
Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain
Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die - Irish Parliament abolished (Feb-Oct)
First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner
First ?1 (and ?2) notes issued by Bank of England
French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later
England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments
Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore
Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical publications
The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to the coining press
Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
Pitt's Reign of Terror': More treason trials - leading radicals emigrate
Legacy Tax on sums over ?20 excluding those to wives, children, parents and grandparents
The Famine Year
Foundation of the Orange Order
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
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.
Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
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
Abolition of Parish Register duties
?5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
Britain declares war on France (1793-1802)
King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
Introduction of Money Orders in Britain
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
Boyle's Street Directory published
Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot
First publication of The Observer - world's oldest Sunday newspaper
John Bell, printer, abandons the long s' (the 's' that looks like an 'f')
Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain
Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
Mutiny on HMS Bounty - Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew ends up on Pitcairn Island
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
First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland
Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not enforced)
First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade - stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships
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
Gibbon completes Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire'
MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2 million)
John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years)
First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
Pitt's India Act - the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has power to guide Indian politics
Wesley breaks with the Church of England
First golf club founded at St Andrews
Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle
Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US)
Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry - repealed 1794) - led to a fall in entries!
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
James Watt patents his steam engine