1841 in the United Kingdom

1841 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1839 | 1840 | 1841 | 1842 | 1843

Sport

1841 English cricket season

Events from the year 1841 in the United Kingdom.

Contents 1 Incumbents 2 Events 2.1 Undated 2.2 Ongoing events 3 Publications 4 Births 5 Deaths 6 References 7 See also

Incumbents

• Monarch — Queen Victoria
• Prime Minister — Lord Melbourne, Whig (until 30 August), Robert Peel, Conservative

Events

• 20 January — Convention of Chuenpee agreed between Charles Elliot and Qishan of the Qing Dynasty.
• 26 January — The United Kingdom formally occupies Hong Kong.
• 27 January — The active volcano Mount Erebus in Antarctica is discovered and named by James Clark Ross.^[1]
• 28 January — Ross discovers the "Victoria Barrier", later known as the Ross Ice Shelf.
• February — H. Fox Talbot obtains a patent for the calotype process in photography.^[2]
• 10 February — Penny Red postage stamp replaces the Penny Black.^[3]
• 20 February — The Governor Fenner, carrying emigrants to America, sinks off Holyhead with the loss of 123 lives.
• 1 March — Opening throughout of the Manchester and Leeds Railway, the first to cross the Pennines.^[4]
• 3 May — New Zealand becomes a British colony.^[5]
• 6 June (Sunday)
  • United Kingdom Census held, the first to record names and approximate ages of every household member and to be administered nationally.
  • Marian Hughes becomes the first woman to take religious vows in communion with the Anglican Province of Canterbury since the Reformation, making them privately to E. B. Pusey in Oxford.^[6]
• 7 June — Lord Melbourne loses a vote of no confidence against his government.
• 21 June — St. Chad's Cathedral, Birmingham, dedicated as a Roman Catholic church.^[7]
• 30 June — Great Western Railway completed throughout between London and Bristol.^[8]
• 5 July — Thomas Cook arranges his first excursion, taking 570 temperance campaigners on the Midland Counties Railway from Leicester to a rally in Loughborough.^[5][9]
• 17 July — First edition of the humorous magazine Punch published.^[10]
• 26 July — The proprietors of The Skerries Lighthouse off Anglesey, the last privately-owned light in the British Isles, are awarded £444,984 in compensation for its sale to Trinity House.^[11]
• 28 August — Melbourne resigns as Prime Minister; replaced by Robert Peel.^[12]
• 2 September — Reconsecration of Leeds Parish Church after reconstruction.^[13]
• 21 September — The London and Brighton Railway is opened throughout.^[14]
• 24 September — United Kingdom annexes Sarawak from Brunei; James Brooke is appointed rajah.
• 30 October — A fire at the Tower of London destroys its Grand Armoury and causes a quarter of a million pounds worth of damage.^[15]
• 12 November — First publication of The Jewish Chronicle, the first Jewish newspaper in the UK.^[5]
• 13 November — Surgeon James Braid attends his first demonstration of animal magnetism, which leads to his study of the subject he eventually calls hypnotism.
• 23 December — First Anglo-Afghan War: At a meeting with the Afghan general Akbar Khan, the diplomat Sir William Hay Macnaghten is shot dead at close quarters.

Undated

• Antarctic explorer James Clark Ross additionally discovers the Ross Sea, Victoria Land and Mount Terror.
• Royal Botanic Gardens, Kew first opens to the public^[12] and William Hooker appointed director.
• Chemical Society of London founded by Thomas Graham.
• London Library founded in Pall Mall.^[12]

Ongoing events

• First Opium War (1839–1842)
• First Anglo-Afghan War (1839–1842)

Publications

• Serialisation of W. Harrison Ainsworth's novel Old St. Paul's: A Tale of the Plague and the Fire in The Sunday Times (3 January–26 December).
• Thomas Carlyle's lectures On Heroes, Hero-Worship, and The Heroic in History.
• Serialisation of Charles Dickens's novel Barnaby Rudge: A Tale of the Riots of 'Eighty.
• Mrs Gore's novel Cecil, or Adventures of a Coxcomb.
• Samuel Warren's novel Ten Thousand a Year.^[16]
• The Gardeners' Chronicle launched.

Births

• 25 January — Jackie Fisher, admiral (died 1920)
• 28 January — Henry Morton Stanley, explorer and journalist (died 1904)
• 9 November — The Prince Albert Edward, Duke of Cornwall, Duke of Rothesay (later Prince of Wales and then Edward VII; died 1910)
• William George Aston, consular official (died 1911)

Deaths

• 2 February — Olinthus Gregory, mathematician (born 1774)
• 12 February — Astley Cooper, surgeon and anatomist (born 1768)
• 20 May — Joseph Blanco White, theologian (born 1775)
• 1 June — David Wilkie, artist (born 1785)
• 24 August — Theodore Edward Hook, author (born 1788)
• 1 December — George Birkbeck, doctor, academic and philanthropist (born 1776)
• 23 December — William Hay Macnaghten, Anglo-Indian diplomat (born 1793)

References

See also

Years in the United Kingdom Years in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland 1801 1802 1803 1804 1805 1806 1807 1808 1809 1810 1811 1812 1813 1814 1815 1816 1817 1818 1819 1820 1821 1822 1823 1824 1825 1826 1827 1828 1829 1830 1831 1832 1833 1834 1835 1836 1837 1838 1839 1840 1841 1842 1843 1844 1845 1846 1847 1848 1849 1850 1851 1852 1853 1854 1855 1856 1857 1858 1859 1860 1861 1862 1863 1864 1865 1866 1867 1868 1869 1870 1871 1872 1873 1874 1875 1876 1877 1878 1879 1880 1881 1882 1883 1884 1885 1886 1887 1888 1889 1890 1891 1892 1893 1894 1895 1896 1897 1898 1899 1900 1901 1902 1903 1904 1905 1906 1907 1908 1909 1910 1911 1912 1913 1914 1915 1916 1917 1918 1919 1920 1921 1922 1923 1924 1925 1926 Years in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland 1927 1928 1929 1930 1931 1932 1933 1934 1935 1936 1937 1938 1939 1940 1941 1942 1943 1944 1945 1946 1947 1948 1949 1950 1951 1952 1953 1954 1955 1956 1957 1958 1959 1960 1961 1962 1963 1964 1965 1966 1967 1968 1969 1970 1971 1972 1973 1974 1975 1976 1977 1978 1979 1980 1981 1982 1983 1984 1985 1986 1987 1988 1989 1990 1991 1992 1993 1994 1995 1996 1997 1998 1999 2000 2001 2002 2003 2004 2005 2006 2007 2008 2009 2010 2011 2012