1855 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom-related events during the year of 1855
1855 in the United Kingdom |
Other years |
1853 | 1854 | 1855 (1855) | 1856 | 1857 |
Constituent countries of the United Kingdom |
England | Ireland | Scotland | Wales |
Sport |
1855 English cricket season |
Events from the year 1855 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
- Monarch – Victoria
- Prime Minister – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition) (until 30 January); Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (Whig) (starting 6 February)
Events
- 9 January – the Earl of Aberdeen loses a vote of no confidence against his government over the management of the Crimean War.
- 22 January – French political exile Emmanuel Barthélemy is hanged after being convicted of murdering a London man. Barthélemy had previously killed a fellow Frenchman in the last fatal duel in England, but had only been convicted of manslaughter on that occasion.
- 29 January – Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister.
- 5 February – Viscount Palmerston becomes Prime Minister.
- 8 February – the Devil's Footprints, a series of mysteriously hoof-like marks, appear in the snow in Devon and continue throughout the countryside for over 100 miles (160 km).
- 19 February – bread riots in Liverpool break out.[1]
- 28 February – Society of the Holy Cross (SSC) established as an association of Anglo-Catholic priests with a mission to the urban poor under the mastership of Charles Lowder.
- 11 April – the first pillar boxes in London are installed, at the suggestion of Rowland Hill.[2]
- 18 April – The Bowring Treaty is signed between the UK and the kingdom of Siam, allowing foreigners to trade freely in Bangkok.[3]
- 15 May – Great Gold Robbery from a train between London Bridge and Folkestone.[4]
- 15 June – stamp duty is removed from newspapers creating mass market media in the UK.[5]
- 29 June – The Daily Telegraph newspaper begins publication in London.[2]
- 16 July – Australian colonies granted self-governing status.[5]
- 31 July – Limited Liability Act protects investors in the event of corporate collapse.[5]
- 3 September – last Bartholomew Fair in London.[6]
- 9 September – Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55) (Crimean War): Sevastopol falls to the British and their allies.
- 17 October – Henry Bessemer files his patent for the Bessemer process for the production of steel.[7]
- 17 November – explorer David Livingstone discovers Victoria Falls in Africa.[2]
- 22 December – Metropolitan Board of Works established in London.
Undated
- James Clerk Maxwell unifies electricity and magnetism into a single theory, classical electromagnetism, thereby showing that light is an electromagnetic wave.
- The London School of Jewish Studies opens as the Jews' College, a rabbinical seminary, in London.
- Last minting of the fourpence coin (groat) for use in the U.K.
- The island of Samson, in the Isles of Scilly, is evacuated.[8]
Publications
- Samuel Orchart Beeton's weekly The Boys' Own Magazine (begins publication January).
- Mrs Archer Clive's novel Paul Ferroll.[9]
- Serialisation of Charles Dickens' novel Little Dorrit.
- Mrs Gaskell's novel North and South.
- Charles Kingsley's novel Westward Ho![5]
- William Makepeace Thackeray's novel The Newcomes.
- Anthony Trollope's novel The Warden.[5]
- The Ancient Music of Ireland, including the first published version of the Londonderry Air.
Births
- 21 January – Henry B. Jackson, admiral (died 1929).
- 1 May – Marie Corelli, novelist (died 1924).
- 23 May – Isabella Ford, socialist, feminist, trade unionist and writer (died 1924).
- 2 June – Archibald Berkeley Milne, admiral (died 1938).
- 28 August – Alexander Bethell, admiral (died 1932).
- 17 December – Frank Hedges Butler, wine merchant and founding member of the Aero Club of Great Britain (died 1928).
Deaths
- 3 January – Julius Hare, theological writer (born 1795).
- 10 January – Mary Russell Mitford, novelist and dramatist (born 1787).
- 25 January – Dorothy Wordsworth, poet and diarist (born 1771).
- 20 February – Joseph Hume, doctor and politician (born 1777).
- 27 February – Bryan Donkin, engineer and inventor (born 1768).
- 3 March – Copley Fielding, watercolour landscape painter (born 1787).[10]
- 31 March – Charlotte Brontë, author (born 1816).[11]
- 13 April – Sir Henry De la Beche, geologist (born 1796).
- 15 April – William John Bankes, MP, explorer and Egyptologist (born 1786; died in Venice).
- 5 May – Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, politician (born 1786).
- 23 May – Charles Robert Malden, explorer (born 1797).
- 28 June – Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan, commander of British forces in the Crimean War (born 1788).
- 6 July – Andrew Crosse, 'gentleman scientist', pioneer experimenter in electricity and poet (born 1784).[12]
- 8 July – Sir Edward Parry, Arctic explorer (born 1790).
- 30 August – Feargus O'Connor, political radical and Chartist leader (born 1794 in Ireland).
- 4 September – Emma Tatham, poet (born 1829).
- 18 September – James Finlay Weir Johnston, chemist (born 1796).
- 27 September – John Adamson, antiquary and expert on Portuguese (born 1787)
- 3 December – Robert Montgomery, poet (born 1807).
- 18 December – Samuel Rogers, poet (born 1763).
- 20 December – Thomas Cubitt, master builder (born 1785).
References
- ^ "Bread Riots in Liverpool". The Sun. London. 20 February 1855. p. 1.
- ^ a b c Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ Ingram, James C. (1971). Economic Change in Thailand 1850-1970. California: Stanford University Press. pp. 34.
- ^ Hanrahan, David C. (2011). The First Great Train Robbery. London: Robert Hale. ISBN 978-0-7090-9040-3.
- ^ a b c d e Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 274–276. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ Cavendish, Richard (2005). "London's Last Bartholomew Fair: September 3rd, 1855". History Today. 55 (9): 52.
- ^ van Dulken, Stephen (2001). Inventing the 19th Century: the great age of Victorian inventions. London: British Library. pp. 30–1. ISBN 0-7123-0881-4.
- ^ Tourist information Archived 2009-02-02 at the Wayback Machine. iknow-cornwall.co.uk.
- ^ Leavis, Q. D. (1965). Fiction and the Reading Public (2nd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus.
- ^ Anthony Vandyke Copley Fielding 1787–1855
- ^ "Charlotte Brontë | British author". Encyclopedia Britannica. Retrieved 17 April 2019.
- ^ Crosse, Andrew (1784-1855)
- v
- t
- e
1707–1800 ← Years in the United Kingdom (1801–present)
United Kingdom
of Great Britain
and Ireland
- 1801
- 1802
- 1803
- 1804
- 1805
- 1806
- 1807
- 1808
- 1809
- 1810
- 1811
- 1812
- 1813
- 1814
- 1815
- 1816
- 1817
- 1818
- 1819
- 1820
- 1821
- 1822
- 1823
- 1824
- 1825
- 1826
- 1827
- 1828
- 1829
- 1830
- 1831
- 1832
- 1833
- 1834
- 1835
- 1836
- 1837
- 1838
- 1839
- 1840
- 1841
- 1842
- 1843
- 1844
- 1845
- 1846
- 1847
- 1848
- 1849
- 1850
- 1851
- 1852
- 1853
- 1854
- 1855
- 1856
- 1857
- 1858
- 1859
- 1860
- 1861
- 1862
- 1863
- 1864
- 1865
- 1866
- 1867
- 1868
- 1869
- 1870
- 1871
- 1872
- 1873
- 1874
- 1875
- 1876
- 1877
- 1878
- 1879
- 1880
- 1881
- 1882
- 1883
- 1884
- 1885
- 1886
- 1887
- 1888
- 1889
- 1890
- 1891
- 1892
- 1893
- 1894
- 1895
- 1896
- 1897
- 1898
- 1899
- 1900
- 1901
- 1902
- 1903
- 1904
- 1905
- 1906
- 1907
- 1908
- 1909
- 1910
- 1911
- 1912
- 1913
- 1914
- 1915
- 1916
- 1917
- 1918
- 1919
- 1920
- 1921
- 1922
- 1923
- 1924
- 1925
- 1926
United Kingdom
of Great Britain and
Northern Ireland
- 1927
- 1928
- 1929
- 1930
- 1931
- 1932
- 1933
- 1934
- 1935
- 1936
- 1937
- 1938
- 1939
- 1940
- 1941
- 1942
- 1943
- 1944
- 1945
- 1946
- 1947
- 1948
- 1949
- 1950
- 1951
- 1952
- 1953
- 1954
- 1955
- 1956
- 1957
- 1958
- 1959
- 1960
- 1961
- 1962
- 1963
- 1964
- 1965
- 1966
- 1967
- 1968
- 1969
- 1970
- 1971
- 1972
- 1973
- 1974
- 1975
- 1976
- 1977
- 1978
- 1979
- 1980
- 1981
- 1982
- 1983
- 1984
- 1985
- 1986
- 1987
- 1988
- 1989
- 1990
- 1991
- 1992
- 1993
- 1994
- 1995
- 1996
- 1997
- 1998
- 1999
- 2000
- 2001
- 2002
- 2003
- 2004
- 2005
- 2006
- 2007
- 2008
- 2009
- 2010
- 2011
- 2012
- 2013
- 2014
- 2015
- 2016
- 2017
- 2018
- 2019
- 2020
- 2021
- 2022
- 2023
- 2024