19th Century 1800-1899
Diamonds discovered South Africa 1869
Discovery South African diamonds 1869
Read MoreFirst and Second Opium Wars 1856-1860
First Opium War Britain defeats China (1839-1842 and Second Opium War 1856-1860 British and French occupy the forbidden city Beijing.
Read MoreKhaki uniforms for British troops 1848
British colonial troops in India in 1848, were issued with khaki uniforms to give them camouflage in the arid dusty conditions they found themselves in. Khaki is the Hindi word meaning ‘dust covered’. Take a look at old military photos, the type of uniform could give you a hint if your ancestor served overseas and…
Read MoreGold is discovered in california 1848
On 24th January 1848, a man called James Marshall from New Jersey, was helping to build a sawmill on the America River for a man called Johann Sutter. He went to free the wheel in the millrace and saw, in the shallow pool that formed, a nuggett of gold, just over the size of a…
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 MoreUnrest in Europe 1848
The year of 1848 saw much unrest throughout Europe. The demands from the people for constitutional change and more equality, saw uprisings in Paris, all over Italy, Vienna, Prague and Germany. In Britain there is a revival of the Chartist movement.
Read MoreDoppler Effect Discovered 1842
In 1842, Austrian Christian Doppler reveals his discovery that the frequency of waves emitted by a moving source changes when the source moves relative to the observer. This called the Doppler Effect.
Read MorePhotographs 1839
Louis Daguerre born in Seine-et-Oise if France in 1789, reveals to the world his process for making photographs, using a silver image on a copper plate. These images are known as daguerrotypes.
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…
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