1878 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1878 in the United Kingdom.

[edit] Events

January - Cleopatra's Needle arrives in London.
14 January - Alexander Graham Bell demonstrates the telephone to Queen Victoria. ^[1]
23 January - Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield orders British fleet to the Dardanelles.
8 February - British fleet enters Turkish waters and anchors off Constantinople — Russia threatens to occupy Constantinople but does not carry out the threat.
11 February - First weekly Weather report published in UK. ^[1]
24 February - Anti-Russian demonstrations in Hyde Park, London.
24 March - The frigate Eurydice sinks, killing 300.
25 March - Russia rejects British proposal to lay San Stefano treaty before European congress.
27 March - In anticipation with war with Russia, Disraeli mobilizes the reserves and calls up Indian troops to Malta.
4 June - Cyprus Convention: The Ottoman Empire cedes Cyprus to the United Kingdom but retains nominal title.
3 September - Over 640 die when the crowded pleasure boat Princess Alice collides with the Bywell Castle in the River Thames.
14 October - The worlds first recorded floodlit football fixture is played at Bramall Lane in Sheffield.
21 November - Second Afghan War commences when the British attack Ali Masjid in the Khyber Pass.

William Crookes invents the Crookes tube which produced cathode rays. ^[2]
Newton Heath founded. Later the team was renamed as Manchester United F.C..
West Bromwich Albion F.C. play their first match.
Everton F.C., then known as St Domingo, formed.
The Christian Mission, co-founded by now General William and Catherine Booth in London in 1865 has its name changed to The Salvation Army.

^ ^a ^b (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
^ (1999) The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. ISBN 1-85986-000-1.