Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
Britain declares war on Russia (Crimean War)
Cigarettes introduced into Britain
Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
Tasmania ceases to be a convict settlement
Wells Fargo established in USA
Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ('Crystal Palace' exhibition) opened in Hyde Park
Gold discovered in Australia
Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step to decimalisation - which finally occurred in 1971!
Waterloo railway station in London opens
Gold found at Sutter's Mill, California - starts the California gold rush
First commercial production of chewing gum
US Mormons make Salt Lake City their centre
An anesthetic used for the first time in England (James Simpson used ether to numb the pain of labour)
The sewing machine is patented by Elias Howe
The rubber band patented by Stephen Perry
Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham)
YMCA founded in London by Sir George Williams
Brunel's 'Great Britain' launched
The Great Hall of Euston station opened in London
First Christmas card in England
Treaty of Nanking - End of First Opium War - Britain gains Hong Kong
Ether used as an anesthetic for the first time (by Dr Crawford Long in America)
Income Tax reintroduced in Britain
June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
Penny Red replaces Penny Black postage stamp
Thomas Cook starts package tours
Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
Population Act relating to taking of censuses in Britain
Last convicts landed in NSW (some say 1842 or 1849, but these probably landed elsewhere)
First Opium War between Britain and China (to 1842) - Britain captures Hong Kong
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
Charles Goodyear invented vulcanized rubber
Coronation of Queen Victoria at Westminster Abbey
Euston Railway station opens - first in London
Queen Victoria moves into the first Buckingham Palace
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
William IV dies - accession of Queen Victoria (to 1901)
Pitman introduces his shorthand system
P&O Founded
Inauguration of the Arc de Triomphe in Paris
The Alamo falls to Mexican troops - death of Davy Crockett
Samuel Colt patented the 'revolver'
Telford's Menai Straits Bridge opened ? considered the world's first modern suspension bridge
First Potato famine in Ireland
Christmas becomes a national holiday
First railway boom period starts in Britain construction of Great Western Railway
Babbage invents forerunner of the computer