1861 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1861 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

1 January — First steam-powered merry-go-round recorded, in Bolton.^[1]
15 February — About 350 convicts held on St Mary's Island at Chatham Dockyard take over their prison in a riot.^[2]
20 February — Storms damage the Crystal Palace in London and cause the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.^[3]
21 March to 26 March — Major fire in Southwark destroys several buildings.^[4]
30 March — William Crookes announces his discovery of thallium.
7 April — UK Census.
13 May — British government pledges to remain neutral in the American Civil War.^[4]
17 May — Thomas Cook runs the first package holiday from London to Paris.^[3]
31 July — Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act codifies company law.^[4]
27 August — Last execution in Britain for attempted murder — Martin Doyle in Chester.
16 September — Post Office Savings Bank opens.^[4]
24 October — HMS Warrior, the world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled armored battleship is completed and commissioned.
8 November — Trent Affair: Union captained ship USS San Jacinto intercepts the British mail packet Trent at sea and removes two Confederate diplomats.^[5]
25 November — A tenement collapses in the Old Town of Edinburgh killing 35 with 15 survivors.
1 December — Trent Affair: British government dispatches its response, partly drafted by the Prince Consort.^[6]

Start of Lancashire Cotton Famine (1861–1865).
James Clerk Maxwell demonstrates the principle of three-colour photography (see picture).^[7]
Criminal law consolidation Acts: The death penalty is limited to murder, embezzlement, piracy, high treason and to acts of arson perpetrated upon docks or ammunition depots; the age of consent is codified as twelve. The Home Secretary takes over the power to reprieve or commute sentences from the judiciary and Privy Council.^[8]
British Empire establishes bases in Lagos to stop the slave trade.
Construction commences on Royal Museum in Edinburgh.
William Morris founds the influential furnishing company, Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co.

12 June — William Attewell, cricketer (died 1927)
19 June — Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, soldier (died 1928)
20 June — Frederick Hopkins, biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (died 1947)
23 September — Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, poet and novelist (died 1907)
16 October — J. B. Bury, historian (died 1927)

29 January — Catherine Gore, novelist and dramatist (born 1799)
16 March — Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent and mother of Queen Victoria (born 1786, Germany)
29 June — Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (born 1806)
14 December — Prince Albert, husband of Queen Victoria (born 1819)

^ "Fairground Rides - A Chronological Development". National Fairground Archive. University of Sheffield. 2007. http://www.nfa.dept.shef.ac.uk/history/rides/history.html. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
^ Hastings, Paul; Coulson, Ian. "Life in Kent Gaols before 1877". Here's History Kent. http://www.hereshistorykent.org.uk/displaytheme.cfm?pagetype=Themes&themeID=463&category=Life%20in%20Kent%20Gaols%20before%201877. Retrieved 2011-08-24.
^ ^a ^b Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
^ ^a ^b ^c ^d Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 282–283. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
^ Fairfax, D. Macneil (1885). "Captain Wilkes’s Seizure of Mason and Slidell". In Johnson, Robert Underwood; Buel, Clarence Clough (ed). Battles and Leaders of the Civil War: North to Antietam. pp. 136–9.
^ Ferris, Norman B. (1977). The Trent Affair: a Diplomatic Crisis. pp. 52–53. ISBN 0-87049-169-5.
^ The Hutchinson Factfinder. Helicon. 1999. ISBN 1-85986-000-1.
^ "Timeline of capital punishment in Britain". http://www.capitalpunishmentuk.org/timeline.html. Retrieved 2011-02-02.
^ "A History of Hymns Ancient & Modern Ltd". SCM-Canterbury Press. http://www.scm-canterburypress.co.uk/CorpHistory.asp. Retrieved 2011-01-03.

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