1869 in the United Kingdom
 1869 in the United Kingdom:
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| 1869 English cricket season |
Events from the year 1869 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
- Monarch — Victoria
- Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal)
Events
- 6 March — The first international cycle race is held at Crystal Palace, London.[1]
- 31 March — The Conservative Party holds both seats in the Blackburn by-election[2]
- 22 May — Sainsbury's first store opened, in Drury Lane, London.[3]
- 2 June — Seven men are tried at Mold for attacking a colliery manager following a pay cut. A riot breaks out as those convicted are being transported to the railway station; soldiers fire on the crowd, killing four people.[4]
- 10 June — An underground explosion at Ferndale Colliery in the Rhondda kills 53.[5]
- 26 July — Irish Church Act disestablishes the Church of Ireland with effect from 1871.[6]
- 9 August — Evidence (Further) Amendment Act permits those taking part in legal proceedings to make an affirmation if they conscientiously object to taking an oath.
- 27 August — Oxford University Boat Club wins the first international boat race held on the River Thames against Harvard University.[1]
- October — The 'Edinburgh Seven', led by Sophia Jex-Blake, start to attend lectures at the University of Edinburgh Medical School, the first women in the UK to do so (although they will not be allowed to take degrees).[7]
- 11 October — Red River Rebellion against British forces in Canada.[6]
- 16 October — England's first residential university-level women's college, the College for Women, predecessor of Girton College, Cambridge, is founded at Hitchin by Emily Davies and Barbara Bodichon.
- 4 November — The first issue of scientific journal Nature is published in London, edited by Norman Lockyer.
- 19 November — The Hudson's Bay Company surrenders its claim to Rupert's Land in Canada under its letters patent back to the British Crown.[6]
- 22 November — In Dumbarton, Scotland, the clipper ship Cutty Sark is launched (she is one of the last clippers built, and the only one to survive into the 21st century).[1]
Undated
- Debtors Act abolishes indefinite imprisonment for civil debt.
- Municipal Franchise Act gives women ratepayers the right to vote in local elections.
- Basutoland becomes a British protectorate.
- First Home Children child migration to Canada.
- Amateur Swimming Association established.
- Charity Organization Society established in London as the Society for Organising Charitable Relief and Repressing Mendicity.
Publications
- Matthew Arnold's book Culture and Anarchy
- R. M. Ballantyne's novel Erling the Bold.
- R. D. Blackmore's novel Lorna Doone.
- John Stuart Mill's book The Subjection of Women.
- Hesba Stretton's novel Alone in London.
- First year of publication of Joseph Whitaker's An Almanack for the year.
- Charlotte M. Yonge's novel The Chaplet of Pearls.
- The People's Friend weekly magazine launched (13 January).
Births
- 14 February — Charles Wilson, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1959)
- 3 March — Henry Wood, conductor (died 1944)
- 14 March — Algernon Blackwood, writer (died 1951)
- 18 March — Neville Chamberlain, Prime Minister (died 1940)
- 29 March — Edwin Lutyens, architect (died 1944)
- 10 August — Lawrence Binyon, poet and scholar (died 1943)
- 3 October — Robert W. Paul, pioneer of cinematography (died 1943)
- 20 November — Herbert Tudor Buckland, seminal Arts and crafts architect (died 1951)
Deaths
- 12 September — Peter Mark Roget, lexicographer (born 1779)
- 23 October — Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Prime Minister (born 1799)
References
- ^ a b c Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ^ "No. 23484". The London Gazette. 2 April 1869.
- ^ Baren, Maurice (1996). How it All Began Up the High Street. London: Michael O'Mara Books. ISBN 1-85479-667-4.
- ^ "The Riot In Wales". The Times. No. 26455. 4 June 1869. p. 12.
- ^ The Welsh Academy Encyclopaedia of Wales. John Davies, Nigel Jenkins, Menna Baines and Peredur Lynch. 2008. p.280. ISBN 978-0-7083-1953-6.
- ^ a b c Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 290–291. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ Elston, M. A. (2004). "Edinburgh Seven (act. 1869–1873)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. Retrieved 28 January 2011.