Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
Putney Bridge opens in London
Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named 'Coca-Cola'
Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
Canadian Pacific Railway completed
Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave
Parcel post starts in Britain
Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
Gunfight at OK Corral
Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
Postal Orders introduced
Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
CID established at New Scotland Yard
Edison invents microphone and phonograph
Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone - Bell awarded the rights
London's main sewage system completed
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)
Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world - features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
American ship 'Mary Celeste' is found abandoned by the British brig 'Dei Gratia' in the Atlantic Ocean
Licensing hours introduced
Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
First British postcard - halfpenny post
GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
Water closets come into wide use
Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)