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Charles Dickens publishes Oliver Twist in periodical form.
Oliver Twist, subtitled The Parish Boy's Progress, is the second novel by English author Charles Dickens, published by Richard Bentley in 1838. The story is about an orphan, Oliver Twist, who endures a miserable existence in a workhouse and then is placed with an undertaker. He escapes and travels to London where he meets the Artful Dodger, leader of a gang of juvenile pickpockets. Naively unaware of their unlawful activities, Oliver is led to the lair of their elderly criminal trainer Fagin. -
Victoria becomes queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) was born 24 May 1819 and died 22 January 1901. She was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India. -
William Wordsworth becomes poet laureate
With the death in 1843 of Robert Southey, Wordsworth became the Poet Laureate. He initially refused the honour, saying he was too old, but accepted when Prime Minister Robert Peel assured him "you shall have nothing required of you" -
Potato famine begins in Ireland; close to one million people die of starvation or famine-related diseases; massive emigration begins.
In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852. It is also known, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine. In the Irish language it is called an Gorta Mór meaning "the Great Hunger" or an Drochshaol, meaning "the bad life". -
Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elope
Elizabeth Barrett was one of the most influential poets of the Victorian era. Her husband published her last set of poems after her death in 1851 and yet again, was another hit in Britain and in America -
Ten Hours Act limits the number of hours that women and children can work in factories.
The Factory Acts were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to limit the number of hours worked by women and children. These acts first started in the textile industry, then later in all industries. The factory reform movement spurred the passage of laws to limit the hours that could be worked in factories and mills. The first aim of the movement was for a "ten hours bill" to limit to ten hours the working day of children. -
Ten Hours Act limits the number of hours that women and children can work in factories.
The Factory Acts were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to limit the number of hours worked by women and children. These acts first started in the textile industry, then later in all industries. The factory reform movement spurred the passage of laws to limit the hours that could be worked in factories and mills. The first aim of the movement was for a "ten hours bill" to limit to ten hours the working day of children. -
Japan opens trade to the West.
no one was allowed to leave until the arrival of the Black Ships of Commodore Matthew Perry and the forcible opening of Japan to Western trade. It was still illegal to leave Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. -
In France, Victor Hugo publishes Les Miserables
first published in 1862, that is considered one of the greatest novels of the nineteenth century. In the English-speaking world, the novel is usually referred to by its original French title, which can be translated from the French as The Miserables, The Wretched, The Miserable Ones, The Poor Ones, The Wretched Poor, or The Victims -
Lewis Carroll publishes Alice’s Adventures in Wonderland.
1865 novel written by English author Charles Lutwidge Dodgson under the pseudonym Lewis Carroll. It tells of a girl named Alice who falls down a rabbit hole into a fantasy world. -
L. Frank Baum publishes The Wonderful Wizard of Oz.
The story chronicles the adventures of a young girl named Dorothy Gale in the Land of Oz, after being swept away from her Kansas farm home in a cyclone. written by L. Frank Baum and illustrated by W. W. Denslow. -
Queen Victoria Dies.
Her reign of 63 years and seven months, which is longer than that of any other British monarch and the longest of any female monarch in history, is known as the Victorian era.
