| 1837 |
Victoria succeeds her uncle, William IV |
| 1838 |
Publication of People’s Charter. Start of Chartism. |
| 1839 |
First Afghan War. British Forces capture the fortress of Ghazi in Afghanistan. |
| 1839 – 42 |
First Opium War. Britain gains Hong Kong. |
| 1840 |
Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha. |
| 1840 |
The Penny Post is introduced. First postage stamp is the Penny Black. |
| 1840 |
First colonist settlement in New Zealand |
| 1841 |
Sir Robert Peel becomes Prime Minister |
| 1842 |
End of First Opium War. Britain gains Hong Kong |
| 1843 |
Launch of SS Great Britain the worlds first all metal ship. |
| 1844 |
Railway building mania starts. 5,000 miles of track are built in Britain by 1846 |
| 1845 |
– 1849 Irish Potato Famine kills more than a million people. Many emigrate to America. |
| 1846 |
Repeal of the Corn Laws |
| 1848 |
Major Chartist demonstration in London. |
| 1848 |
Pre-Raphaelite movement begins |
| 1849 |
Harrods store in London is opened |
| 1851 |
Great Exhibition takes place in Hyde Park. Its success is largely due to Prince Albert. |
| 1852 |
Death of the Duke of Wellington |
| 1853 |
Vaccination against smallpox made compulsory. |
| 1853 |
Victoria uses chloroform during the birth of Prince Leopold. |
| 1854 |
-1856 Crimean War fought by Britain and France against Russia. |
| 1854 |
Charge of the Light Brigade |
| 1854 |
10,000 die of cholera from contaminated water in London. |
| 1856 |
The Victoria Cross is instituted for military bravery. |
| 1856 |
David Livingstone discovers the Victoria Falls |
| 1857 |
-1858 Indian Mutiny against British rule. |
| 1858 |
Isambard Kingdom Brunel launches The Great Eastern, the largest ship in the world and the first with a double iron hull. |
| 1858 |
First trans-Atlantic telegraph service |
| 1859 |
Publication of Charles Darwin’s The Origin of the Species. |
| 1861 |
Prince Albert dies of typhoid |
| 1861 |
– 65 Civil War in America. Southern states unsuccessfully seek to involve Britain which has sufficient cotton from Egypt and India, but needs the Union North’s grain. |
| 1863 |
The world’s first underground railway is opened in London |
| 1863 |
Edward, Prince of Wales, marries Alexandra of Denmark |
| 1863 |
The Salvation Army is founded. |
| 1863 |
The Football Association is founded. |
| 1865 |
Slavery is ended in America with Northern Union victory in the American Civil War |
| 1867 |
The Second Reform Bill doubles the franchise vote to two million. |
| 1867 |
Canada becomes the first independent dominion in the Empire. |
| 1867 |
Karl Marx publishes the first volume of Das Kapital |
| 1868 |
Gladstone becomes Prime Minister for the first time. |
| 1869 |
The Irish Church is disestablished. |
| 1870 |
First Education Act. Primary education becomes compulsory. |
| 1870 |
Death of Charles Dickens |
| 1871 |
Trade Unions are legalized |
| 1872 |
Secret voting is introduced for elections. |
| 1872 |
Henry Stanley finds David Livingstone who had been missing in Africa. |
| 1874 |
Disraeli becomes Prime Minister for the second time. |
| 1875 |
Suez Canal shares purchased for Britain. |
| 1875 |
Thomas Moy demonstrates his Aerial Steamer the worlds first flying machine at Crystal Palace, London |
| 1876 |
Victoria becomes Empress of India. |
| 1876 |
Scots Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the telephone |
| 1878 |
Second Afghan War. British defend the Kyber Pass. |
| 1878 |
William Booths Christian movement adopts the name The Salvation Army |
| 1879 |
Tay Bridge disaster |
| 1879 |
Zulu war, British troops massacred at Isandlwana and Rorkes Drift |
| 1880 |
Gladstone succeeds Disraeli as Prime Minister |
| 1880 |
– 1881 First conflict with Boers in South Africa |
| 1883 |
British occupy Egypt |
| 1884 |
Third Reform Act all adult males given the vote. |
| 1884 |
Greenwich Meridian and Mean Time adopted |
| 1886 |
First Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass House of Commons. Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister. |
| 1887 |
Victoria celebrates her Golden Jubilee. She has ruled for 50 years. |
| 1887 |
Independent Labour Party is founded. |
| 1891 |
Free schooling is introduced. 11 years later school attendance becomes compulsory for all children. |
| 1893 |
Second Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass the House of Lords. |
| 1897 |
Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee. |
| 1897 |
Marconi demonstrates wireless transmission across the Bristol Channel |
| 1899 |
-1902 Boer War in South Africa. Siege of Mafeking |
| 1900 |
Labour party founded |
| 1901 |
Queen Victoria dies, aged 81. |
My Coin Collection 