1858 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1858 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
Events
- January — First GPO wall-mounted post boxes put into place and agreed for general adoption.[1]
- 25 January — The Wedding March by Felix Mendelssohn becomes a popular wedding recessional after it is played on this day at the marriage of Queen Victoria's daughter Victoria, "Vicky," the Princess Royal to Prince Friedrich of Prussia in St. James's Palace, London.[2]
- 30 January — Hallé Orchestra founded by Charles Hallé in Manchester.[2]
- 13 February — Richard Francis Burton and John Hanning Speke become the first Europeans to discover Lake Tanganyika.[2]
- 21 February — Palmerston resigns as Prime Minister, following the rejection of an anti-terrorism bill; replaced by Earl of Derby, forming a new Conservative government.[3]
- 3 May — William Powell Frith's painting The Derby Day is first exhibited at the Royal Academy, attracting crowds.
- 15 May — New Royal Opera House, Covent Garden, opens.[3]
- 1 July — Papers by Charles Darwin and Alfred Russel Wallace announcing a theory of evolution by natural selection read at the Linnean Society of London.[2]
- 2 July — The Great Stink: the stench of sewage from the River Thames affects work in the House of Commons.[3]
- 17 July — Salvage of the Lutine bell, which is subsequently hung in Lloyd's of London.
- 26 July — Lionel de Rothschild takes his seat as the first Jewish Member of Parliament.[4]
- 28 July — In Bengal, British official William Herschel uses a hand impression of Rajyadhar Konai as a contract fingerprint signature.
- 2 August — British Empire takes over powers and properties of the British East India Company.[2]
- 3 August — Explorer John Hanning Speke discovers Lake Victoria, source of the River Nile.[2]
- 16 August — US President James Buchanan inaugurates the new trans-Atlantic telegraph cable by exchanging greetings with Queen Victoria. However, a weak signal will force a shutdown of the service in a few weeks.
- 26 August — The Anglo-Japanese Treaty of Amity and Commerce signed.
- August — Reforming educator Dorothea Beale takes up her duties as Principal of Cheltenham Ladies' College.[5]
Undated
Publications
Births
Deaths
References
See also