1855 in the United Kingdom
 1855 in the United Kingdom:
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Events from the year 1855 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
- Monarch – Victoria
- Prime Minister – The Earl of Aberdeen (Peelite) (until 30 January), The Viscount Palmerston (Liberal) (starting 30 January)
Events
- 9 January — The Earl of Aberdeen loses a vote of no confidence against his government over the management of the Crimean War.
- 22 January — French political exile Emmanuel Barthélemy is hanged after being convicted of murdering a London man. Barthélemy had previously killed a fellow Frenchman in the last fatal duel in England, but has only been convicted of manslaughter on that occasion.
- 29 January — Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister.
- 5 February — Viscount Palmerston becomes Prime Minister.
- 8 February — The Devil's Footprints, a series of mysteriously hoof-like marks, appear in the snow in Devon and continue throughout the countryside for over 100 miles (160 km).
- 11 April — The first pillar boxes are installed in London, at the suggestion of Rowland Hill.[1]
- 15 May — Great Gold Robbery from a train between London Bridge and Folkestone.[2]
- 15 June — Stamp duty is removed from newspapers creating mass market media in the UK.[3]
- 29 June — The Daily Telegraph newspaper begins publication in London.[1]
- 16 July — Australian Colonies granted self-governing status.[3]
- 31 July — Limited Liability Act protects investors in the event of corporate collapse.[3]
- 3 September — Last Bartholomew Fair in London.[4]
- 9 September — Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55) (Crimean War): Sevastapol falls to the British and their allies.
- 17 October — Henry Bessemer files his patent for the Bessemer process for the production of steel.[5]
- 17 November — Explorer David Livingstone discovers Victoria Falls in Africa.[1]
- 22 December — Metropolitan Board of Works established in London.
Undated
- James Clerk Maxwell unifies electricity and magnetism into a single theory, classical electromagnetism, thereby showing that light is an electromagnetic wave.
- The London School of Jewish Studies opens as the Jews' College, a rabbinical seminary, in London.
- Last minting of the fourpence coin (groat) for use in the U.K.
Publications
- Samuel Orchart Beeton's weekly The Boys' Own Magazine (begins publication January).
- Mrs Archer Clive's novel Paul Ferroll.[6]
- Serialisation of Charles Dickens' novel Little Dorrit.
- Mrs Gaskell's novel North and South.
- Charles Kingsley's novel Westward Ho![3]
- William Makepeace Thackeray's novel The Newcomes.
- Anthony Trollope's novel The Warden.[3]
- The Ancient Music of Ireland, including the first published version of the Londonderry Air.
Births
- 21 January — Henry B. Jackson, admiral (died 1929).
- 1 May — Marie Corelli, novelist (died 1924).
- 23 May — Isabella Ford, socialist, feminist, trade unionist and writer (died 1924).
- 2 June — Archibald Berkeley Milne, admiral (died 1938).
- 28 August — Alexander Bethell, admiral (died 1932).
- 17 December — Frank Hedges Butler, wine merchant and founding member of the Aero Club of Great Britain (died 1928).
Deaths
- 3 January — Julius Charles Hare, theological writer (born 1795).
- 10 January — Mary Russell Mitford, novelist and dramatist (born 1787).
- 25 January — Dorothy Wordsworth, poet and diarist (born 1771).
- 20 February — Joseph Hume, doctor and politician (born 1777).
- 27 February — Bryan Donkin, engineer and inventor (born 1768).
- 31 March — Charlotte Brontë, author (born 1816).
- 5 May — Sir Robert Inglis, 2nd Baronet, politician (born 1786).
- 23 May — Charles Robert Malden, explorer (born 1797).
- 28 June — Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan, commander of British forces in the Crimean War (born 1788).
- 8 or 9 July — William Edward Parry, Arctic explorer (born 1790).
- 30 August — Feargus O'Connor, political radical and Chartist leader (born 1794 in Ireland).
References
- ^ a b c Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ Hanrahan, David C. (2011). The First Great Train Robbery. London: Robert Hale. ISBN 978-0-7090-9040-3.
- ^ a b c d e Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 274–276. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ Cavendish, Richard (2005). "London's Last Bartholomew Fair: September 3rd, 1855". History Today. 55 (9): 52.
- ^ van Dulken, Stephen (2001). Inventing the 19th Century: the great age of Victorian inventions. London: British Library. pp. 30–1. ISBN 0-7123-0881-4.
- ^ Leavis, Q. D. (1965). Fiction and the Reading Public (2nd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus.