1861 in the United Kingdom
From Infogalactic: the planetary knowledge core
 1861 in the United Kingdom: |
| Other years |
| 1859 | 1860 | 1861 | 1862 | 1863 |
| Sport |
| 1861 English cricket season |
Events from the year 1861 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
- Monarch — Victoria
- Prime Minister — The Viscount Palmerston (Liberal)
Events
- 1 January — First steam-powered merry-go-round recorded, in Bolton.[1]
- 15 February — About 350 convicts held on St Mary's Island at Chatham Dockyard take over their prison in a riot.[2]
- 20 February — Storms damage the Crystal Palace in London and cause the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.[3]
- 21 to 26 March — Major fire in Southwark destroys several buildings.[4]
- 30 March — William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.
- 7 April — United Kingdom Census.
- 12 April — American Civil War breaks out, leading to Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861–1865).
- 13 May — British government resolves to remain neutral in the American Civil War.[4]
- 17 May — Thomas Cook runs the first package holiday from London to Paris.[3]
- 31 July — Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act codifies company law.[4]
- 6 August — Criminal law consolidation Acts (drafted by Charles Sprengel Greaves) granted Royal Assent, generally coming into effect on 1 November. The death penalty is limited to murder, embezzlement, piracy, high treason and to acts of arson perpetrated upon docks or ammunition depots; the age of consent is codified as twelve. The Home Secretary takes over the power to reprieve or commute sentences from the judiciary and Privy Council.[5]
- Accessories and Abettors Act, codifying the law on accessories and abettors.
- Coinage Offences Act, codifying the law on counterfeiting of coins.
- Criminal Statutes Repeal Act.
- Forgery Act, codifying the law on forgery.
- Larceny Act, codifying the law on larceny and related offences.
- Malicious Damage Act, codifying the law on criminal damage.
- Offences against the Person Act, codifying the law on violent offence against the person.
- 27 August — Last execution in Britain for attempted murder — Martin Doyle in Chester.
- 16 September — Post Office Savings Bank opens.[4]
- 24 October — HMS Warrior, the world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled armored battleship is completed and commissioned.
- 8 November — Trent Affair: Union captained ship USS San Jacinto intercepts the British mail packet Trent at sea and removes two Confederate diplomats.[6]
- 25 November — A tenement collapses in the Old Town, Edinburgh, killing 35 with 15 survivors.
- 1 December — Trent Affair: British government dispatches its response, partly drafted by The Prince Consort.[7]
Undated
The first colour photograph by James Clerk Maxwell.
- James Clerk Maxwell demonstrates the principle of three-colour photography (see picture).[8]
- British Empire establishes bases in Lagos to stop the slave trade.
- Perpetual Truce of Peace and Friendship signed between Bahrain and the U.K.
- Construction commences on Royal Museum in Edinburgh.
- Crimean War Memorial unveiled in London, including sculptures of Other Ranks.
- William Morris founds the influential furnishing company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.
Publications
- Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management.
- Charles Dickens' novel Great Expectations complete in book form.
- George Eliot's novel Silas Marner.
- F. T. Palgrave's anthology Golden Treasury of English Songs and Lyrics, 1st edition.
- Charles Reade's novel The Cloister and the Hearth.
- Anthony Trollope's novels Framley Parsonage (book form) and Orley Farm (serialisation begins).
- Mrs Henry Wood's 'sensation novel' East Lynne.
- The anthology Hymns Ancient and Modern.[9] This includes the setting "Eventide" by the music editor William Henry Monk for the hymn Abide with Me.
Births
- 15 February — Halford Mackinder, geographer (died 1947)
- 12 June — William Attewell, cricketer (died 1927)
- 19 June — Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, soldier (died 1928)
- 20 June — Frederick Hopkins, biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (died 1947)
- 23 September — Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, poet and novelist (died 1907)
- 16 October — J. B. Bury, historian (died 1927)
Deaths
- 29 January — Catherine Gore, novelist and dramatist (born 1799)
- 16 March — Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent and mother of Queen Victoria (born 1786, Germany)
- 29 June — Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (born 1806)
- 21 October - Edward Dickinson Baker, United States Senator from Oregon from 1860 till 1861. (born 1811)
- 14 December — Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria (born 1819)
References
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