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EVENT 1
Passage of the first Reform Act. -
INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION
There was the INDUSTRIAL REVOLUTION during this period. -
Period: to
VICTORIAN ERA
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EVENT 2
1837Ascension of Queen Victoria to the throne. -
EVENT 4
New Zealand becomes a British colony, through the Treaty of Waitangi. -
EVENT 3
Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfield. He had been naturalised and granted the British style of Royal Highness beforehand. For the next 17 years, he was known as HRH Prince Albert. -
EVENT 5
Birth of the Queen's heir-apparent The Prince Albert Edward, Duke of Cornwall (Duke of Rothesay). He was swiftly made Prince of Wales. Sir James Brooke founds the White Rajah dynasty of Sarawak. -
EVENT 6
Treaty of Nanking. The Massacre of Elphinstone's Army by the Afghans in Afghanistan results in the death or incarceration of 16,500 soldiers and civilians. The Mines Act of 1842 banned women/children from working in coal, iron, lead and tin mining. The Illustrated London News was first published. -
EVENT 7
Birth of The Princess Alice -
EVENT 8
Birth of The Prince Alfred -
EVENT 9
The Irish famine begins. Within 5 years it would become the UK's worst human disaster, with starvation and emigration reducing the population of Ireland itself by over 50%. The famine permanently changed Ireland’s and Scotland's demographics and became a rallying point for nationalist sentiment that pervaded British politics for much of the following century. -
EVENT 10
Repeal of the Corn Laws. -
EVENT 11
Birth of The Princess Helena. -
EVENT 12
Death of around 2,000 people a week in a cholera epidemic. -
EVENT 13
Birth of The Princess Louise. -
EVENT 14
Restoration of the Roman Catholic hierarchy in England and Wales. (Scotland did not follow until 1858.). -
EVENT 15
Birth of The Prince Arthur. -
EVENT 16
The Great Exhibition (the first World's Fair) is held at the Crystal Palace, with great success and international attention. The Victorian gold rush. In ten years the Australian population nearly tripled. -
EVENT 17
Birth of The Prince Leopold. -
EVENT 18
Crimean War: The United Kingdom declares war on Russia. -
EVENT 19
The Indian Mutiny, a widespread revolt in India against the rule of the British East India Company, is sparked by sepoys (native Indian soldiers) in the Company's army. The rebellion, involving not just sepoys but many sectors of the Indian population as well, is largely quashed within a year. In response to the mutiny, the East India Company is abolished in August 1858 and India comes under the direct rule of the British crown, beginning the period of the British Raj. Prince Albert is given the -
EVENT 20
Birth of The Princess Beatrice. -
EVENT 21
The Prime Minister, Lord Palmerston, responds to the Orsini plot against French emperor Napoleon III, the bombs for which were purchased in Birmingham, by attempting to make such acts a felony; the resulting uproar forces him to resign. -
EVENT 22
Charles Darwin publishes On the Origin of Species, which leads to various reactions. Victoria and Albert's first grandchild, Prince Wilhelm of Prussia, is born — he later became William II, German Emperor. John Stuart Mill publishes On Liberty, a defense of the famous harm principle. -
EVENT 23
Death of Prince Albert; Queen Victoria refuses to go out in public for many years, and when she did she wore a widow's bonnet instead of the crown. -
EVENT 24
The Prince of Wales marries Princess Alexandra of Denmark at Windsor. -
EVENT 25
Alice's Adventures in Wonderland is published. -
EVENT 26
An angry crowd in London, protesting against John Russell's resignation as Prime Minister, is barred from Hyde Park by the police; they tear down iron railings and trample on flower beds. Disturbances like this convince Derby and Disraeli of the need for further parliamentary reform. -
EVENT 27
The Constitution Act, 1867 passes and British North America becomes Dominion of Canada. -
EVENT 28
Britain purchased Egypt's shares in the Suez Canal as the African nation was forced to raise money to pay off its debts. -
EVENT 29
Scottish-born inventor Alexander Graham Bell patents the telephone. -
EVENT 30
The Princess Alice becomes Grand Duchess of Hesse when her husband succeeds as Louis IV, Grand Duke of Hesse. -
EVENT 21
Treaty of Berlin (1878). Cyprus becomes a Crown colony. The Princess Alice dies. Princess Louise's husband The Marchioness of Lorne is appointed Governor-General of Canada. First incandescent light bulb by Joseph Wilson Swan. -
EVENT 31
The Battle of Isandlwana is the first major encounter in the Anglo-Zulu War. Victoria and Albert's first great-grandchild, Princess Feodora of Saxe-Meiningen, is born. -
EVENT 31
The British suffer a smashing defeat at the Battle of Majuba Hill, leading to the signing of a peace treaty and later the Pretoria Convention, between the British and the reinstated South African Republic, ending the First Boer War. Sometimes claimed to mark the beginning of the decline of the British Empire, as it was the first time since the American Revolution that Great Britain had signed a treaty on unfavorable terms with anyone, or lost the final engagements of a war. -
EVENT 32
British troops begin the occupation of Egypt by taking the Suez Canal, in order to secure the vital trade route and passage to India, and the country becomes a protectorate. -
EVENT 33
Princess Louise and Lord Lorne return from Canada -
EVENT 34
The Fabian Society is founded in London by a group of middle class intellectuals, including Quaker Edward R. Pease, Havelock Ellis, and E. Nesbit, to promote socialism. Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany dies. -
EVENT 35
Prime Minister William Ewart Gladstone and the Liberal Party tries passing the First Irish Home Rule Bill, but the House of Commons rejects it. -
EVENT 36
The serial killer known as Jack the Ripper murders and mutilates five (and possibly more) prostitutes on the streets of London. Victoria's eldest daughter, the Princess Royal, becomes German Empress when her husband succeeds as Frederick III, German Emperor. Within months, Frederick dies, and their son becomes William II, German Emperor. The widowed Vicky becomes the Dowager Empress as is known as "Empress Frederick". -
EVENT 37
Under the Elementary Education Act 1870, basic State Education becomes free for every child under the age of 10. -
EVENT 38
Victoria and Albert's last grandchild, Prince Maurice of Battenberg, is born. -
EVENT 39
The Prince of Wales' eldest son Prince Albert Victor, Duke of Clarence dies of influenza. -
EVENT 40
The Prince Alfred, Duke of Edinburgh succeeds as Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha when his uncle dies. The Duchy skips over The Prince of Wales due to his renunciation of his succession rights to that Duchy. -
EVENT 41
British and Egyptian troops led by Horatio Kitchener defeat the Mahdist forces at the battle of Omdurman, thus establishing British dominance in the Sudan. Winston Churchill takes part in the British cavalry charge at Omdurman. -
EVENT 42
The Second Boer War is fought between the British Empire and the two independent Boer republics. -
EVENT 43
Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha dies. His nephew Prince Charles Edward, Duke of Albany succeeds him, because his brother Prince Arthur, Duke of Connaught and nephew Prince Arthur of Connaught had renounced their rights. -
EVENT 44
The death of Victoria sees the end of this era. The ascension of her eldest son, Edward, begins the Edwardian era; albeit considerably shorter, this was another time of great change.