England
Queen Victoria Dies 22nd January 1901
Queen Victoria died in 1901 and is succeeded be her son Edward VII
Read MoreMetropolitan Police Act 1839
The Metropolitan Police Act of 1839 gave greatly increased powers to the Metropolitan Police. The district over which it operated was increased to cover a 15 mile radius from Charing Cross. Constables were given ‘all powers and privileges’ in the counties of Berks, Bucks and on the River Thames. Within the Port of London they…
Read MoreMetropolitan Police 1829
The early years of the C19th saw a London riddled with crime. Petty thieving, beatings and murders, along with rioting, meant that London was a particularly unsavoury and unsafe place especially at night. Although there were foot patrols, whose main role it was to protect property, there was no overall organised policing unit. Sir Robert…
Read MoreManchester Ship Canal 1894
The Manchester Ship Canal was opened in 1894 and was the largest river navigation canal in the world. It took six years to build and cost £15 million. It was 58km long and started at the Mersey estuary in Liverpool and terminated at the dock in Manchester. It allowed the newly created Port of Manchester…
Read MoreSir Robert Peel 1834
Sir Robert Peel(2nd Baronet) became the 29th Prime Minister of Britain in December 1834 He was the son of Sir Robert Peel (1st Baronet) of the Cotton Mill fame aka Burton-on-Trent , a major industrialist and wealth producer, see related articles. His mother was the first wife of his father Ellen YATES, who we believe…
Read MoreLord 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.
Read MoreHenry 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.
Read MoreBenjamin Disraeli 1874
Benjamin Disraeli becomes Prime Minister in February 1874.
Read MoreRepeal 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.
Read MoreHouses 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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