1827 in the United Kingdom
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Events from the year 1827 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
- Monarch â George IV
- Prime Minister â Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) (until 9 April); George Canning (Coalition) (starting 10 April, until 8 August); F. J. Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich (Coalition) (starting 31 August)
- Foreign Secretary â George Canning (until 30 April) John Ward, 1st Earl of Dudley (starting 30 April)
- Home Secretary â Robert Peel (until 10 April) William Sturges Bourne (30 April to 16 July) Lord Lansdowne (from 16 July)
- Secretary of War â Lord Bathurst (until 30 April) Frederick Robinson (30 April to 3 September) William Huskisson (from 3 September)
Events

- 17 January â The Duke of Wellington becomes Commander-in-Chief of the Forces.[1]
- 1 March â St David's College, Lampeter, Wales, opens its doors to its first students.
- 7 March â Shrigley abduction: Ellen Turner, a wealthy 15-year-old heiress from Cheshire, is abducted by Edward Gibbon Wakefield. On 14 May Wakefield, his brother and a servant are sentenced to three years' imprisonment for the crime. Wakefield later becomes a colonial politician.
- 7 April â John Walker begins selling his invention, the "Lucifer" friction match.[1]
- 10 April â George Canning succeeds Lord Liverpool as British prime minister following the latter's resignation due to ill health after almost fifteen years in office.[2]
- 18 May â Red Barn Murder in Suffolk: Maria Marten is shot by her lover.
- 21 May â Launch of the London Standard newspaper.
- 21 June â The first of Peel's Acts begin to consolidate the criminal law. Hue and cry and benefit of clergy are abolished[3] and the setting of mantraps to catch poachers is made illegal.
- 6 July â Treaty of London between France, Britain and Russia to demand that the Turks agree to an armistice in Greece.
- 8 August â Prime Minister George Canning dies in office only 119 days after being appointed, making him the second shortest-serving prime minister in British history.
- 31 August â Frederick John Robinson, 1st Viscount Goderich is appointed prime minister following the death of Canning, continuing the Canningite Government as the Goderich Ministry; he will serve for only 144 days.
- 20 October â Battle of Navarino (Greek War of Independence): British, French and Russian naval forces destroy the Turko-Egyptian fleet in Greece.[1] This is the last naval action to be fought under sail alone.
- 10 November â A banquet is held in the Thames Tunnel under construction in London, attended by the Duke of Wellington and Isambard Kingdom Brunel
- November â The term "socialist" is coined by Robert Owen in his London periodical, The Co-operative Magazine and Monthly Herald.[4][5][6]
Ongoing
- Anglo-Ashanti war (1823â1831)
Undated
- Physician Richard Bright first describes the renal condition which will become known as Bright's disease.[7]
- Scottish botanist Robert Brown observes the phenomenon of Brownian motion.[8]
- Yorkshire Philosophical Society begins excavation of St Mary's Abbey, York, prior to construction of the Yorkshire Museum on part of the site.
Publications
- John James Audubon's The Birds of America (printing of plates begins in the UK).
- Thomas De Quincey's essay On Murder Considered as one of the Fine Arts (in Blackwood's Magazine, February).
- Sir Walter Scott's stories Chronicles of the Canongate (published in Edinburgh 30 October anonymously, though Scott has publicly acknowledged his authorship of the Waverley Novels on 23 February).
Births
- 7 January â Sandford Fleming, Scottish-born civil engineer, "father of time zones" (died 1915 in Canada)
- 14 January â Enderby Jackson, pioneer of the British brass band (died 1903)
- 24 February â Lydia Becker, suffragette (died 1890)[9]
- 4 March â Henrietta Keddie ('Sarah Tytler'), Scottish-born novelist (died 1914)
- 7 March â John Hall Gladstone, chemist and physicist (died 1902)
- 14 March â George Frederick Bodley, architect (died 1907)
- 16 March â Edward Binyon, landscape painter (died 1876)[10]
- 25 March â Edward Bradley ('Cuthbert Bede'), novelist (died 1889)
- 2 April â William Holman Hunt, Pre-Raphaelite painter (died 1910)
- 5 April â Joseph Lister, 1st Baron Lister, pioneer of antiseptic surgery (died 1912)
- 8 April â Barbara Bodichon, née Leigh Smith, women's rights activist, pioneer of women's education and painter (died 1891)
- 14 April â Augustus Pitt Rivers, né Lane-Fox, archaeologist (died 1900)
- 4 May â John Hanning Speke, explorer (died 1864)
- 16 July â William McEwan, Scottish-born brewer and politician (died 1913)
- 17 July â Sir Frederick Abel, chemist (died 1902)
- 16 August â Frances Buss, pioneer of women's education (died 1894)
- 19 September â J. P. Seddon, architect (died 1906)
- 24 October â George Robinson, 1st Marquess of Ripon, Liberal Party politician (died 1909)
- Henry Gray, anatomist (died 1861)
- Margaret Eleanor Parker, social reformer (died 1896)
Deaths
- 2 January â John Mason Good, writer (born 1764)
- 5 January â Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, heir-presumptive to the throne (born 1763)
- 28 February â Thomas Holloway, portrait painter and engraver (born 1748)
- 21 April â Thomas Rowlandson, artist and caricaturist (born 1757)
- 26 June â Samuel Crompton, inventor (born 1753)
- 21 July â Archibald Constable, Scottish publisher (born 1774)
- 8 August â George Canning, statesman, Prime Minister from April (born 1770)
- 12 August â William Blake, poet, painter and printmaker (born 1757)[11]