1838 in the United Kingdom
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Events from the year 1838 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
Events
- 10 January â A fire destroys Lloyd's Coffee House and the Royal Exchange in London.[1]
- 20 January â With a daily average of â11.9 °C (10.6 °F), this day sees the coldest daily Central England temperature value on record.[2]
- 17 March â Four of the pardoned Tolpuddle Martyrs return to England, arriving at Plymouth.[3]
- 4â22 April â The paddle steamer SS Sirius (1837) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Cork in eighteen days, though not using steam continuously.[4]
- 8â23 April â Isambard Kingdom Brunel's paddle steamer SS Great Western (completed on 31 March) makes the Transatlantic Crossing to New York from Avonmouth in fifteen days, inaugurating a regular steamship service.[5]
- 8 April â The National Gallery first opens to the public in the building purpose-designed for it by William Wilkins in Trafalgar Square, London.
- 1 May â Jenners department store established as drapers in Princes Street, Edinburgh.[6]
- 9 May â Royal Agricultural Society of England founded.
- 21 May â Chartism: The People's Charter is launched by members of the London Working Men's Association at a mass meeting on Glasgow Green calling for universal suffrage for male voters.[5][7]
- 31 May â Battle of Bossenden Wood: In Kent, self-declared Messiah John N. Thom, calling himself "Sir William Courtenay", and a band of around 35 agricultural labourers are surrounded by soldiers of the 45th Regiment of Foot sent to arrest them following the earlier murder of a policeman. Thom and ten followers, together with an officer and a constable, are killed in what is sometimes described as the last battle on English soil.[8]
- 4 June â The first section of the Great Western Railway, engineered by Isambard Kingdom Brunel, opens from London Paddington station to Maidenhead.[9]
- 18 June â The Newcastle and Carlisle Railway opens, the first line across England.[10]
- 28 June â The Coronation of Queen Victoria takes place at Westminster Abbey.[11] However, Lord Melbourne denies her the traditional medieval banquet due to budget constraints and critics refer to it as "The Penny Crowning".[12] The Imperial State Crown is remade for her.
- July â Chichester Theological College is founded by Bishop William Otter in West Sussex as the first such college of the Anglican Communion in England.
- 4 July â Huskar Pit disaster in the South Yorkshire Coalfield results in the deaths by drowning of 26 children working underground in the mine aged 7 to 17.[13]
- 4 August â The Court Journal prints a rumour that Archibald Montgomerie, 13th Earl of Eglinton is going to host a great jousting tournament at his castle in Scotland. A few weeks later, he confirms this.[14]
- 6 August â The Polytechnic Institution, Britain's first polytechnic, opens in Regent Street, London.[15]
- 16 August â The Tin Duties Act converts the tin coinage taxation system of the mines of Devon and Cornwall into an annual payment to the Duchy of Cornwall.
- 7 September â Grace Darling rescues nine survivors from the wreck of the paddle steamer SS Forfarshire (1834) off the Farne Islands.[11]
- 17 September â The opening of the London and Birmingham Railway throughout, the first trunk line in England.[16][17]
- 18 September â Anti-Corn Law League founded by Richard Cobden and John Bright in Manchester.[11]
- 24 September â "Monster meeting" on Kersal Moor, Salford, in support of Chartism.
- 1 October â First Anglo-Afghan War begins when Lord Auckland, Governor-General of India, issues a manifesto from Simla giving Britain's reasons for intervening in Afghanistan.[16]
Undated
- The Peculiar People, a nonconformist Christian movement, is established in Rochford, Essex, by preacher James Banyard.[18]
- Probable date â Hackpen White Horse cut in Wiltshire.
Ongoing
Publications
- Charles Dickens' novels Oliver Twist (in book form) and The Life and Adventures of Nicholas Nickleby (serialisation begins).
- Lady Charlotte Guest begins publication of her translation into English of the Welsh traditional tales known as the Mabinogion.
- Robert Smith Surtees' collected sporting stories Jorrocks' Jaunts and Jollities.
Births
- 6 February â Henry Irving, actor (died 1905)
- 9 February â Evelyn Wood, field marshal, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1919)
- 12 March â William Henry Perkin, chemist (died 1907)
- 13 April â J. D. Sedding, ecclesiastical architect (died 1891)
- 14 April â John Thomas, Welsh photographer (died 1905)
- 20 July â Sir George Trevelyan, 2nd Baronet, statesman and historian (died 1928)
- 30 September â Emily Soldene, comic opera singer-manager and gossip columnist (died 1912)
- 25 October â Annie Hall Cudlip, novelist, journalist and editor (died 1918)
- 3 December â Octavia Hill, social reformer (died 1912)
- 20 December â Edwin Abbott Abbott, theologian and author (died 1926)
Deaths
- 13 January â John Scott, 1st Earl of Eldon, Lord High Chancellor of Great Britain (born 1751)
- 5 February â Thomas Creevey, politician (born 1768)
- 17 February â John Bonham-Carter, politician and barrister (born 1788)
- 4 March
- William Fennex, cricketer (born 1763)
- Sir James Carmichael Smyth, colonial administrator (born 1779)
- 19 March â Sir Edward Barnes, British Army officer and governor of Ceylon (born 1776)
- 21 March â George Ramsay, 9th Earl of Dalhousie, colonial Governor (born 1770)
- 24 March â Thomas Attwood, composer (born 1765)
- 11 May â Thomas Andrew Knight, horticulturalist (born 1759)
- 19 May â Richard Colt Hoare, antiquarian, artist, traveller and archaeologist (born 1758)
- 20 May â William Stephenson, Geordie printer, publisher, auctioneer, poet and songwriter (born 1797)
- 19 July â Christmas Evans, Welsh Nonconformist minister (born 1766)
- 25 August â William Annesley, 3rd Earl Annesley, noble and Member of Parliament (born 1772)
- 18 September â Robert Smith, 1st Baron Carrington, Member of Parliament (born 1752)
- 15 October â Letitia Elizabeth Landon, poet and novelist (born 1802)
- 7 November â Anne Grant, Scottish poet and author (born 1755)
- 16 November â Robert Cutlar Fergusson, lawyer and politician (born 1768)
- 10 December â Augustus Earle, painter (born 1793)
- 22 December â John Villiers, 3rd Earl of Clarendon, Member of Parliament (born 1757)