1870 in the United Kingdom
 1870 in the United Kingdom: |
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Events from the year 1870 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
- Monarch — Victoria
- Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal)
Events
- 28 January — General Post Office takes over business of private telegraph companies.[1]
- 5 March — First ever (unofficial) international football match, England v Scotland, takes place under the approval of the Football Association at The Oval, London.
- 10 May — Jem Mace wins the boxing championship of the world, defeating fellow Englishman Tom Allen at Kenner, near New Orleans.[2]
- 19 May — The Home Government Association is established in Ireland by Isaac Butt to argue for devolution for Ireland and repeal of the Act of Union 1800.[3]
- late Spring — Army Enlistment (Short Service) Act allows reduction in length of enlistment to the British Army as part of the Cardwell Reforms.[4]
- 2 June — Competitive examination for entry to the British civil service introduced.[5]
- 23 June — Keble College, Oxford, opens, the first new college of the University of Oxford in more than a century.
- 2 August — Official opening of the Tower Subway beneath the River Thames in London, the world's first underground passenger "tube" railway.[6] Although this lasts as a railway operation only until November, it demonstrates the technologically successful first use of the cylindrical wrought iron tunnelling shield devised by Peter W. Barlow and James Henry Greathead.[7]
- 4 August — British Red Cross established by Lord Wantage.[6]
- 9 August
- Elementary Education Act 1870 drafted by William Edward Forster MP encourages elementary education by creating a system of School boards in England and Wales.[3][6]
- Married Women's Property Act confirms that wives may own property of their own.[5]
- 1 October — Postcards and halfpenny postage stamps introduced by the Post Office.[6]
Publications
- 1 January — The Northern Echo newspaper launched in Darlington.
- April–September — Serialisation of Charles Dickens' novel The Mystery of Edwin Drood, only half complete due to his death on 9 June.
- Edward Jenkins' satire Ginx's Baby: his birth and other misfortunes.
- William Robinson's gardening book The Wild Garden.
- Dante Gabriel Rossetti's Poems,[8] exhumed from Elizabeth Siddal's grave.
Births
- 12 February — Marie Lloyd, music-hall singer (died 1922)
- 4 March — Thomas Sturge Moore, poet, author and artist (died 1944)
- 17 March — Horace Donisthorpe, entomologist (died 1951)
- 9 May — Harry Vardon, golfer (died 1937)
- 11 August — Tom Richardson, cricketer (died 1912)
- 18 December — Saki, writer (died 1916)
Deaths
- 6 May — James Young Simpson, physician and researcher (born 1811)
- 9 June — Charles Dickens, novelist (born 1812)
- 9 December — Patrick MacDowell, sculptor (born 1799)
References
- ↑ Blake, Richard. The Book of Postal Dates, 1635–1985. Caterham: Marden. p. 15.
- ↑ Mace, Ralph. "Jem Mace, Champion of the World". Retrieved 2010-08-09.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. London: Weidenfeld & Nicolson. pp. 422–423. ISBN 0-304-35730-8.
- ↑ Ensor, R.C.K. (1936). 14, "England 1870–1914". The Oxford History of England. Oxford University Press. p. 16.
- ↑ 5.0 5.1 Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 291–292. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ↑ Smith, Denis (2001). Civil Engineering Heritage: London and the Thames Valley. Thomas Telford. pp. 22–23. ISBN 0-7277-2876-8.
- ↑ Cox, Michael, ed. (2004). The Concise Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press. ISBN 0-19-860634-6.