1855 in the United Kingdom
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 1855 in the United Kingdom: |
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| 1853 | 1854 | 1855 | 1856 | 1857 |
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| 1855 English cricket season |
Events from the year 1855 in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- Monarch - Victoria of the United Kingdom
- Prime Minister - George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen, Peelite (until 30 January), Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Liberal
[edit] Events
- 29 January - George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister over the management of the Crimean War.
- 5 February - Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, becomes Prime Minister.
- 8 February - The Devil's Footprints, a series of mysteriously hoof-like marks, appear in the snow in Devon and continue throughout the countryside for over 100 miles (160 km).
- 11 April - the first pillar boxes installed in London.[1]
- 15 May - The Great Gold Robbery of 1855 in London.
- 15 June - Stamp duty was removed from newspapers creating mass market media in the UK.[2]
- 29 June - The Daily Telegraph begins publication.[1]
- 16 July - Australian colonies granted self-governing status.[2]
- 31 July - Limited Liability Act, 1855 protects investors in the event of corporate collapse.[2]
- 3 September - Last Bartholomew Fair in London.
- 11 September - Sevastapol falls to the British troops.
- 17 November - Explorer David Livingstone discovers Victoria Falls.[1]
- 22 December - Metropolitan Board of Works established.
[edit] Undated
- Henry Bessemer patents the Bessemer process for the production of steel.
- James Clerk Maxwell unifies electricity and magnetism into a single theory, classical electromagnetism, thereby showing that light is an electromagnetic wave.
[edit] Publications
- Serialisation of Charles Dickens' novel Little Dorrit.
- Charles Kingsley's novel Westward Ho!.[2]
- William Makepeace Thackeray's novel The Newcomes.
- Anthony Trollope's novel The Warden.[2]
[edit] Births
- 1 May - Marie Corelli, novelist (died 1924)
[edit] Deaths
- 3 January - Julius Charles Hare, theological writer (born 1795)
- 10 January - Mary Russell Mitford, novelist and dramartist (born 1787)
- 25 January - Dorothy Wordsworth, poet and diarist (born 1771)
- 31 March - Charlotte Brontë, author (born 1816)
- 5 May - Robert Inglis, politician (born 1786)
- 23 May - Charles Robert Malden explorer (born 1797)
- 28 June - Fitzroy Somerset, 1st Lord Raglan, commander of British forces in the Crimean War (born 1788)
- 8 or 9 July - William Edward Parry Arctic explorer (born 1790)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ a b c d e Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd, 274-276. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
