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
Slavery abolished in British possessions
'Tolpuddle Martyrs' transported (to Australia) for Trades Union activities
Babbage invents forerunner of the computer
Factory Act forbids employment of children below age of 9
Britain invades the Falkland Islands
Reform Bill passed ? Representation of the People Act
Electoral Registers introduced
Electric telegraph invented by Morse
'New' London Bridge opens (replaced 1973) ? old bridge (which had existed for over 600 years) then demolished
James Clark Ross discovers the North Magnetic Pole
A list of all parish registers dating prior to 1813 compiled
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!
Revolution in France, fall of Charles X and the Bourbons ? Louis Philippe (the Citizen King) on the throne
Uprisings and agitation across Europe: the Netherlands are split into Holland and Belgium
George Stephenson's Rocket wins the Rainhill trials (it was the only one to complete the trial!)
First Oxford/Cambridge Boat Race
London Metropolitan Police Force formed, nicknamed 'Bobbies' after Sir Robert Peel
Louis Braille invents his system of finger-reading for the blind
St Katharine Docks in London opened (designed by Thomas Telford)
Ohm's Law published
Stockton to Darlington Railway opens ? world's first service of locomotive-hauled passenger trains
National Gallery in London opens to the public
Royal National Lifeboat Institution (RNLI) founded (called the 'National Institution for the Preservation of Life from Shipwreck' until 1854)
RSPCA established
Portland cement patented
US President James Monroe delivers a speech establishing American neutrality in future European conflicts (the 'Monroe Doctrine')
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
Peel begins penal reforms ? death penalty abolished for over 100 crimes
Rugby Football 'invented' at Rugby School
Rubberised waterproof material produced by MacIntosh
Charles Babbage proposes a difference engine in a paper to the Royal Astronomical Society
Napoleon Bonaparte dies on St Helena
Faraday publishes 'Principles of electro-magnetic rotation'
Constable paints 'The Hay Wain'
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
Regent's Canal in London opens
Accession of George IV, previously Prince Regent
Cato Street Conspiracy ? plot to assissinate British cabinet
Abolition of the Spanish Inquisition
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
SS 'Savannah' first steamship to cross Atlantic reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26 Days reaching Liverpool 20 June 1819 (26 Days mostly under sail)
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