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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1787 | - 1787: Windsor, Great Britain - In Windsor Great Park, King George III alights from carriage and addresses oak tree as King of Prussia, but eventually recovers from this attack of dementia; first colonies in Australia, first iron boat launched
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| 2 | 1788 | - 1788: Great Britain - Time to travel from London to Manchester reduced from 4.5 days to 28 hours
- 22 Jan 1788: Great Britain - Birth of Lord Byron (died 1824)
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| 3 | 1789 | - 1789: France - French Revolution, Louis XVI, many aristocrats and others executed, France declares war on European monarchies
- 1789: France - The guillotine is invented.
- 1789: Great Britain - The French Revolution sounded the death knoll toward elaborate and affected dress and hairdos. The powdered wig and towering women's hair styles passed from fashion. Simpler, more practical clothes emerged. Boys wore the skeleton suit, often with a comfortable open collar, and by the end of the century with plebian long trousers.
- 1789: USA - Thomas Jefferson brought a pasta making machine back with him when he returned to America after serving as ambassador to France.
- 1789: Switzerland - Dr. Pierre Ordinaire creates an absinthe elixir
- 30 Apr 1789: USA - George Washington first president of the United States 1789-1797.
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| 4 | 1790 | |
| 5 | 1791 | |
| 6 | 1792 | - 1792: Italy - Volta discovered he could arrange metals in a series in such a way that chemical energy is converted into electrical energy; that is, two dissimilar metals are submerged in an electrolyte and connected by an circuit and thereby exchange electrons. By 1800, he had invented the so-called voltaic cell, a pile of such metals 'consisting of pairs of silver and zinc disks separated by pieces of moist cardboard'
- 1792: Great Britain - Coal gas is used for lighting for the first time. Mary Wollstonecraft publishes her Vindication of the Rights of Women
- 1792: Great Britain - Cartwright invents steam-powered weaving loom
- 1792: Great Britain - The first ambulance.
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| 7 | 1793 | - 1793: Great Britain - Economic depression
- 1793: Great Britain - Speculative 'Canal Bubble' bursts
- 1793: Great Britain - Board of Agriculture formed to popularise new methods and machinery
- 1793: Great Britain - Britain becomes foremost world trader during period to 1815
- 1793: Great Britain - Eli Whitney invents the cotton gin which efficiently separates cotton fibers from the seeds, allowing one person to do a job once done by 50 people. This profoundly changes the economics of raising cotton, revitalizing slavery in the American South.
- 1 Feb 1793: Great Britain - France declares war on Britain
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| 8 | 1794 | - 1794: Great Britain - Erasmus Darwin, Charles' grandfather, proposed that 'warm-blooded animals have arisen from one living filament...possessing the faculty of continuing to improve by its own inherent activity, and of delivering those improvements by generation to its posterity.'
- 1794: Great Britain - Metric system introduced in France
- 1794: Great Britain - More lower-class radicalism, Habeas Corpus suspended again, instigators charged with treason, in Scotland found guilty and transported
- 1794: Great Britain - Welshman Philip Vaughan invents ball bearings.
- 1794: Great Britain - Total of 40,000 British troops die in West Indies in war with France over two year period
- 1 Jun 1794: Great Britain - Howe defeats French fleet at Ushant
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| 9 | 1795 | |
| 10 | 1796 | - 1796: Great Britain - Edward Jenner investigated the folk tale that milk maids were immune to small pox, the virus variola major, and in a brief series of experiments confirmed that exposure to cow pox, the virus vaccinia, rendered immunity
- 1796: Italy - General Napoleon Bonaparte appears on scene, attacks Austrian armies
- 1796: Ceylon - British conquer Ceylon
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| 11 | 1797 | - 1797: Europe - All Europe makes peace with France save Britain, sea battle off Cape St. Vincent (off Spanish coast), Jervis and Nelson (then Captain) utterly defeat big French and Spanish fleet
- 1797: Great Britain - Royal Navy sailors at Spithead and the Nore mutiny over deplorable conditions
- 1797: USA - John Adams president of the USA 1797-1801.
- 1797: Great Britain - A British inventor, Henry Maudslay invents the first metal or precision lathe.
- 1797: Great Britain - Wittemore patents a carding machine.
- 1797: Great Britain - John Hetherington in London develops the top hat.
- 1797: Great Britain - Major Dubied purchased the formula for an 'absinthe elixir' and together with his son, Henri-Louis Pernod sets up an absinthe factory in Switzerland.
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| 12 | 1798 | |
| 13 | 1799 | |
| 14 | 1800 | |
| 15 | 1801 | - 1801: UK - The first British Census is undertaken
- 1801: UK - Population of England and Wales now 10 million, Great Britain estimated at 11 million, biggest increases in North and West Midlands, London now 1 million plus, Manchester 137,201, Glasgow and Edinburgh 100,000 plus, England has 8 towns larger than 50,000, 6 of them in the North; Lord Dundas travels on Scottish canal in small steamboat - beginning of steamboat travel
- 1801: UK - Tripolitan War 1801-1805. Barbary Wars: also fought in 1815. United States vs Morocco, Algiers, Tunis and Tripoli 1801-1805.
- 1801: USA - Thomas Jefferson president of the USA 1801-1809.
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| 16 | 1802 | |
| 17 | 1803 | |
| 18 | 1804 | |
| 19 | 1805 | |
| 20 | 1806 | |
| 21 | 1807 | |
| 22 | 1808 | - 1808: Peninsular War to drive the French out of Spain (until 1814)
- 1808: Portugal - Battle of Vimeiro is a British victory; British casualties less than 40,000 dead
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| 23 | 1809 | |
| 24 | 1810 | |
| 25 | 1811 | - 1811: UK - Depression caused by Orders of Council.
- 1811: UK - George III's illness leads to his son, the Prince of Wales, becoming Regent
- 1811: UK - Ned Ludd leads rioters who smash machinery, burn factories, followers known as Luddites
- 1811: UK - Birth rate falls all over England during the next 20 years
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| 26 | 1812 | |
| 27 | 1813 | |
| 28 | 1814 | |
| 29 | 1815 | - 1815: Europe - Peace is established in Europe at the Congress of Vienna.
- 1815: UK - The Corn Laws are passed by Parliament to protect British agriculture from cheap imports
- 1815: UK - Start of two-year commercial boom in Britain
- 1815: UK - England has now 2600 miles of canals, 500 in Scotland and Ireland; China clippers take 109 days to sail 15000 miles from Canton to English Channel; Britain's population estimated at 13 million; Britain imports 82 million pounds of raw cotton, by 1860 1000 million pounds; coal output 16 million tons (30 miillion by 1835, 50 million by 1848)
- 1815: UK - Sir Humphry Davy invents the miner's lamp.
- 1815: UK - Over the next fifteen years, five new states are founded along Mississippi Valley, mostly due to people fleeing Depression; more go to Canada, as many as 20,000 some years, frequently Scots
- Mar 1815: Elba, France - Napoleon escapes, leads French in war once more
- 18 Jun 1815: Belgium - Duke of Wellington trounces the French at Waterloo with timely help of Blucher (Prussia)
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| 30 | 1816 | |
| 31 | 1817 | |
| 32 | 1818 | |
| 33 | 1819 | |
| 34 | 1820 | - 1820: UK - A radical plot to murder the Cabinet, known as the Cato Street Conspiracy, fails
- 1820: UK - Trial of Queen Caroline, in which George IV attempts to divorce her for adultery
- 1820: UK - Death of George III, blind and insane
- 1820: UK - London's population estimated at 1,274,000
- 1820: UK - Government finances scheme to send out 6,000 settlers to Cape in South Africa
- 1820: UK - George IV, ruler of England to 1830. House of Hanover: Eldest son of George III, Prince Regent, from Feb 1811.
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| 35 | 1821 | |
| 36 | 1822 | - 1822: France - First prototype Espresso machine
- 1822: Ireland - Famine in Ireland prompts migration to US and Canada
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| 37 | 1823 | |
| 38 | 1824 | |
| 39 | 1825 | |
| 40 | 1826 | |
| 41 | 1827 | |
| 42 | 1828 | |
| 43 | 1829 | |
| 44 | 1830 | |
| 45 | 1831 | |
| 46 | 1832 | |
| 47 | 1833 | |
| 48 | 1834 | |
| 49 | 1835 | |
| 50 | 1836 | |
| 51 | 1837 | |
| 52 | 1838 | |
| 53 | 1839 | |
| 54 | 1840 | |
| 55 | 1841 | |
| 56 | 1842 | |
| 57 | 1843 | |
| 58 | 1844 | |
| 59 | 1845 | |
| 60 | 1846 | |
| 61 | 1847 | |
| 62 | 1848 | |
| 63 | 1849 | - 1849: USA - Zachary Taylor president of the USA 1849-1850. Zachary Taylor died while in office.
- 1849: UK - Walter Hunt invents the safety pin.
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| 64 | 1850 | - 1850: USA - American Joel Houghton invented the first dishwasher. He made it out of wood, and gave it a hand-turned wheel that splashed water on the dishes inside. It didn't really work, but it did get the first 'dishwasher' patent
- 1850: UK - First machine-made paper bag
- 1850: UK - Mines Inspectorate created, helps protect adult male mine workers
- 1850: USA - Millard Fillmore president of the USA 1850-1853. Vice president under Zachary Taylor, he was sworn in as president after Taylor's death.
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| 65 | 1851 | - 1851: UK - The Great Exhibition is staged in Hyde Park. Thanks to Prince Albert, it is a great success
- 1851: UK - Window tax abolished
- 1851: USA - Patent for sewing machine issued to Isaac Singer
- 1851: UK - British Census shows 10,736,000 females, 8,155,000 of whom were aged 10 and older, largest occupational group domestic service workers, 905,000, 145,000 washerwomen, 55,000 charwomen (cleaners), 272,000 in cotton industry, 113,000 in woolen industry, 140,000 in lace, hosiery and linen
- 1851: Europe - First submarine cable, Dover to Calais
- 1851: London, UK - Reuters opens news agency
- 1851: Africa - Livingstone's explorations begin
- 1851: Australia - Population of Australia rises from 405,000 in 1851 to 1,168,000 in 1861
- Sep 1851: Melbourne, Australia - Gold fever - 19,000 immigrants land in one month, for the whole year 94,664, seven times as many as 1851
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| 66 | 1852 | |
| 67 | 1853 | |
| 68 | 1854 | |
| 69 | 1855 | - 1855: UK - John Snow, investigating London's piped water supply, showed graphically that cholera could be transmitted by water from a particular pump.
- 1855: UK - Palmerston's first government comes to power
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| 70 | 1856 | |
| 71 | 1857 | |
| 72 | 1858 | |
| 73 | 1859 | |
| 74 | 1860 | |
| 75 | 1861 | |
| 76 | 1862 | |
| 77 | 1863 | |
| 78 | 1864 | |
| 79 | 1865 | |
| 80 | 1866 | |
| 81 | 1867 | |
| 82 | 1868 | |
| 83 | 1869 | |
| 84 | 1870 | |
| 85 | 1871 | |
| 86 | 1872 | - 1872: UK - Secret voting is introduced for elections
- 1872: UK - Parliament passes the Scottish Education Act
- 1872: USA - A.M. Ward issues the first mail-order catalog.
- 1872: UK - J.S. Risdon patents the metal windmill.
- 1872: UK - Period to 1896 sees three economic slumps and two recoveries, said to be due to imported foodstuffs from US depressing Britain's agricultural business
- 1872: USA - Levi Strauss discovered rugged trousers for miners made out of sturdy brown canvas. Once this resource was exhausted, he turned to denim, which he dyed blue to become what is known now as blue jeans
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| 87 | 1873 | |
| 88 | 1874 | |
| 89 | 1875 | - 1875: UK - Benjamin Disraeli purchases a controlling interest for Britain in the Suez Canal.
- 1875: UK - Parliament passes R.A. Cross's Conservative social reforms
- 1875: UK - Collapse of British agriculture due to cheap grain from US, wheat acreage falls by nearly a million acres
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| 90 | 1876 | |
| 91 | 1877 | |
| 92 | 1878 | |
| 93 | 1879 | |
| 94 | 1880 | - 1880: UK - William Gladstone establishes his second Liberal government
- 1880: South Africa - The first Anglo-Boer War begins
- 1880: UK - British forests now decimated except for bits of the New Forest and the Forest of Dean.
- 1880: UK - Number of agricultural labourers reduced by about 100,000 in last 10 years
- 1880: UK - Englishman John Milne invents the modern seismograph.
- 1880: UK - The British Perforated Paper Company invents a form of toilet paper.
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| 95 | 1881 | |
| 96 | 1882 | |
| 97 | 1884 | - 1884: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud published a paper in which he found cocaine, an alkaloid in coca, effective against fatigue and neurasthenia.
- 1884: UK - Hilaire de Chardonnet invented the first artificial textile, which was made from cellulose. It was later named rayon
- 1884: UK - Parliament passes the third Reform Act which further extends the franchise
- 1884: UK - Fabian Society forms, rejects Marxian theory, embraces Ricardian theory (socialist)
- 1884: One-third of world's shipping is British, including 4/5 of world's steamships
- 1884: Burma - Britain annexes Upper Burma
- 1884: Africa - Britain and Germany partition East Africa
- 1884: UK - Excess of births over deaths in England is 13.3, in Germany 10.8, and France 1.4.
- 1884: USA - James Ritty invents the first working, mechanical cash register.
- 1884: UK - Charles Parson patents the steam turbine.
- 1884: USA - Lewis Edson Waterman invents the first practical fountain pen.
- 1884: USA - George Eastman patents paper-strip photographic film.
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| 98 | 1885 | |
| 99 | 1886 | - 1886: UK - Gladstone's third Liberal government fails to pass its first Irish Home Rule Bill through the House of Commons. Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister. Split in the Liberal Party. Salisbury establishes his second Conservative-Liberal-Unionist government.
- 1886: UK - The Royal Niger Company is chartered
- 1886: South Africa - Gold is discovered in the Transvaal
- 1886: New York, NY, USA - Statue of Liberty erected in New York Harbour
- 1886: UK - Local Government Act establishes County Councils as administrative organs of country life, replace Justices of Peace who are preserved as magistrates, creates London County Council (does not cover City); women are included with men in electorate of newly- established County Councils
- 1886: UK - British South Africa Company, formed by Yorkshireman Cecil Rhodes, colonization of Rhodesia begins
- 1886: UK - Great Dock Strike of London dockers, led by John Burns and Tom Mann
- 1886: USA - John Pemberton invents Coca Cola.
- 1886: USA - Josephine Cochrane invents the dishwasher.
- 1886: UK - 3,992,880 migrants leave UK for US, 2,235,671 leave UK for British North America during period to 1927
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| 100 | 1887 | |
| 101 | 1888 | |
| 102 | 1889 | |
| 103 | 1890 | - 1890: UK - Starting this decade, women's clothing becomes less voluminous, lawn tennis takes place of croquet as means of meeting opposite sex, bicycle becomes fashionable
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| 104 | 1891 | |
| 105 | 1892 | |
| 106 | 1893 | - 1893: USA - Whitcomb L. Judson invented the zip to help a friend with a stiff back who could not bend over to do up his shoes
- 1893: UK - Second Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass the House of Lords
- 1893: New Zealand - First nation to grant women the right to vote
- 1893: France - Car number plates introduced
- 1893: USA - Grover Cleveland president of the USA 1893-1897.
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| 107 | 1894 | - 1894: UK - Rosebery takes power with his minority Liberal government
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| 108 | 1895 | |
| 109 | 1896 | - 1896: Vienna, Austria - Sigmund Freud suggested analyzing childhood conflicts in the study of neuroses. He also devised a psychoanalytic technique called free association which allows emotionally-charged, repressed material to be consciously recognized
- 1896: Sudan - British conquest of the Sudan begins
- 1896: USA - Lightner Witmer establishes at the University of Pennsylvania a clinic of psychology, the first psychological clinic in America and perhaps in the world
- 1896: UK - Items considered luxuries in 1837 are now common comforts; food, clothing, bedding, furniture, are all far more abundant; gas and oil lighting being replaced by electricity; seaside holidays no longer rare
- 1896: UK - Howard publishes Garden Cities of Tomorrow, forerunner of modern city planning
- 1896: York, UK - Seebohm Rowntree (of chocolate fame) studies poor, determines poverty due to inadequate wages, not shiftlessness
- 1896: USA - American, H. O'Sullivan invents the rubber heel.
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| 110 | 1897 | |
1787 - Yes, date unknown