Europe

Lord Nelsons Statue 1843

In 1843, a statue of Lord Nelson was erected in the newly developed Trafalgar Square. The Square had been completed two years earlier to sweep away the squalid courts and cook houses that gave it the name Porridge Island.

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Henry Charles Harrod 1849

In 1849, Henry Charles Harrod, a tea dealer of Eastcheap, takes over a grocery shop at 8 Brompton Road, London, that later becomes Harrods department store.

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Repeal of the Navigation Acts 1850

The Repeal of the Navigation Acts by the British Parliament, on 26th June 1850, ends the restriction on foreign shipping, allowing US clipper ships to bring cargoes of China tea into British ports.

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Houses of Parliament Destroyed by fire 1834

On 16th October 1834, a group of workmen, working in the Houses of Parliament, were charged with burning two cartloads of old wooden tally sticks. This duty they duly discharged, using the furnaces in the basement of the House of Lords. As the day progressed the wooden floors and panelling became very hot but the…

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London Daily News 1850

The London Daily News is published on 21st January 1850. It is the first cheap newspaper to be produced on the streets of London and so news becomes more accessible to the working class and poor citizens of London. It is established by the architect Joseph Paxton and the paper’s first editor is Charles Dickens.

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