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Date |
Event(s) |
1 | 1803 | - 23 Jul 1803—23 Jul 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to
Croydon, horse-drawn)
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2 | 1804 | - 21 Feb 1804—21 Feb 1804: Richard Trevithick runs his railway engine on the Penydarren Railway (9.5 miles
from Pen-y-Darren to Abercynon in South Wales) this hauled a train with 10 tons of
iron and 70 passengers. It was commemorated by the Royal Mint in 2004 in the form of
A ?2 coin.
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3 | 1805 | - 21 Oct 1805—21 Oct 1805: Admiral Nelson's victory at Trafalgar
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4 | 1812 | - Oct 1812—Oct 1812: Napoleon retreats from Moscow with catastrophic losses
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5 | 1815 | - 1815—1815: Davy develops the safety lamp for miners
- 18 Jun 1815—18 Jun 1815: The Battle of Waterloo: Napoleon defeated and exiled to St. Helena
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6 | 1823 | - 1823—1823: 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 'very troublesome' according to some the Act was repealed all in a hurry at the beginning of the next session
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7 | 1830 | - 15 Sep 1830—15 Sep 1830: 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!
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8 | 1834 | - 18 Mar 1834—18 Mar 1834: 'Tolpuddle Martyrs' transported (to Australia) for Trades Union activities
- 1 May 1834—1 May 1834: Slavery abolished in British possessions
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9 | 1836 | - 1836—1836: First Potato famine in Ireland
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10 | 1837 | - 1 Jul 1837—1 Jul 1837: 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
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11 | 1840 | - 10 Jan 1840—10 Jan 1840: Uniform Penny Postage introduced nationally
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12 | 1841 | - 6 Jun 1841—6 Jun 1841: June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded (Population 18.5M)
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13 | 1843 | - 1843—1843: First Christmas card in England
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14 | 1851 | - 1 May 1851—1 May 1851: Great exhibition of the works of industry of all nations ('Crystal Palace' exhibition) opened in Hyde Park
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15 | 1853 | - 1853—1853: Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory in Britain
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16 | 1854 | - 1854—1854: Cigarettes introduced into Britain
- 25 Oct 1854—25 Oct 1854: Battle of Balaklava in Crimea (charge of the Light Brigade)
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17 | 1859 | - 24 Nov 1859—24 Nov 1859: Charles Darwin publishes 'The Origin of Species'
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18 | 1862 | - 20 Apr 1862—20 Apr 1862: First pasteurisation test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
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19 | 1863 | - 10 Jan 1863—10 Jan 1863: First section of the London Underground Railway opens
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20 | 1865 | - 14 Apr 1865—14 Apr 1865: End of American Civil War - slavery abolished in USA
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21 | 1868 | - 1868—1868: Last convicts landed in Australia (Western Australia)
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22 | 1869 | - 1869—1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
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23 | 1870 | - 1870—1870: Water closets come into wide use
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24 | 1872 | - 1872—1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
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25 | 1874 | - 5 Apr 1874—5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world - features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
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26 | 1876 | - 14 Feb 1876—14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone - Bell awarded the rights
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27 | 1878 | - 1878—1878: Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
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28 | 1880 | - 1880—1880: Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
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29 | 1883 | - 27 Aug 1883—27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave
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30 | 1884 | - 13 Oct 1884—13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
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31 | 1885 | - Mar 1885—Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
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32 | 1887 | - 1887—1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
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33 | 1888 | - 20 Mar 1888—20 Mar 1888: Football League formed
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34 | 1889 | - 3 Jun 1889—3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
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35 | 1891 | - 1891—1891: Primary education made free and compulsory
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36 | 1893 | - 1893—1893: Zip fastener invented
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37 | 1895 | - Nov 1895—Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
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38 | 1897 | - 1897—1897: Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
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39 | 1900 | - 1900—1900: School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
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40 | 1901 | - 1901—1901: Hubert Cecil Booth patents the vacuum cleaner
- 12 Dec 1901—12 Dec 1901: First successful radio transmission across the Atlantic, by Marconi - Morse
code from Cornwall to Newfoundland
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41 | 1902 | - 1902—1902: Marie Curie discovers radioactivity
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42 | 1906 | - 1906—1906: Introduction of free school meals for poor children
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43 | 1907 | - 1907—1907: First airship flies over London
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44 | 1908 | - 1 Jul 1908—1 Jul 1908: SOS became effective as an international signal of distress
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45 | 1909 | - 25 Jul 1909—25 Jul 1909: Bleriot flies across the Channel (36 minutes, Calais to Dover)
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46 | 1912 | - 14 Apr 1912—14 Apr 1912: The 'unsinkable' Titanic sinks on maiden voyage - loss of 1,513 lives
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