1856 in the United Kingdom

1856 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1854 | 1855 | 1856 | 1857 | 1858

Sport

1856 English cricket season

Events from the year 1856 in the United Kingdom.

Contents 1 Incumbents 2 Events 2.1 Unknown date events 3 Publications 4 Births 5 Deaths 6 References 7 See also

Incumbents

• Monarch — Queen Victoria
• Prime Minister — Lord Palmerston, Liberal

Events

• January — The song Glan Rhondda which will become the national anthem of Wales, Hen Wlad Fy Nhadau (Land of My Fathers), is composed by James James with lyrics by his father Evan James, both residents of Pontypridd.^[1][2]
• 29 January — Queen Victoria institutes the Victoria Cross.
• 4 February — The sailing ship Grand Duke is wrecked off St. Govan's Head in Pembrokeshire with the loss of 29 lives.

• 5 March — Fire destroys Covent Garden Theatre in London.^[3]
• 31 March — The Treaty of Paris is signed, ending the Crimean War.
• 9 July — Natal becomes a Crown Colony.^[4]
• 13 July — An underground explosion at Cymmer Colliery in the Rhondda kills 114.^[5][6][7]
• 3 September — The Royal British Bank collapses with debts in excess of £500,000.^[3]
• 8 October — The Second Opium War between several western powers, including the United Kingdom, and China begins with the Arrow Incident on the Pearl River.
• 1 November — Anglo-Persian War: War is declared between Britain and Persia.
• November — The first known rules of modern croquet are registered by Isaac Spratt in London.^[8]
• 1 December — Under the County and Borough Police Act, in any county or area where a police force has not already been established, the Justices of the Peace must from this date take steps to create one according to nationally defined standards.^[9]
• 2 December — National Portrait Gallery, London, formally established.^[10]
• 9 December — Bushehr surrenders to the British.

Unknown date events

• Robert Mushet patents an improvement to the Bessemer process for the production of steel.^[11]
• Edward Stanley Gibbons begins the sale of collectable postage stamps in his father's pharmacy in Plymouth, origin of the firm of Stanley Gibbons.^[12]

Publications

• Mrs Craik's novel John Halifax, Gentleman.^[13]
• Charles Reade's novel It is Never too Late to Mend.^[13]
• W. H. Smith's pamphlet Was Lord Bacon the Author of Shakespeare's Plays?, the start of Baconian theory.

Births

• 4 March — Alfred William Rich, watercolour painter and author (died 1921)
• 8 March — Bramwell Booth, Salvation Army General (died 1929)
• 12 April — William Martin Conway, art critic and mountaineer (died 1937)
• 22 June — Henry Rider Haggard, writer (died 1925)
• 26 July — George Bernard Shaw, playwright (died 1950)
• 10 August — William Willett, promoter of daylight saving time (died 1915)
• 18 December — J.J. Thomson, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1940)
• 25 December — Samuel William Knaggs, civil servant in the West Indies (died 1924)

Deaths

• 17 February — John Braham, opera singer (born 1777)
• 25 February — George Don, botanist (born 1797)
• 29 August — Mary Anne Schimmelpenninck, Christian writer (born 1778)
• 30 August
  • Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, writer (born 1811)
  • John Ross, Arctic explorer (born 1777)

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