1884 in the United Kingdom
 1884 in the United Kingdom: |
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| 1882 | 1883 | 1884 | 1885 | 1886 |
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Events from the year 1884 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
- Monarch — Victoria
- Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal)
Events
- 4 January — The Fabian Society was founded in London.[1]
- 5 January — Gilbert and Sullivan's comic opera Princess Ida has its première at the Savoy Theatre, London.
- 18 January — Dr William Price attempts to cremate his dead baby son, Iesu Grist, at Llantrisant. Later tried at Cardiff Assizes and acquitted on the grounds that cremation is not contrary to law, he is thus able to carry out the ceremony (the first in the U.K. in modern times) on 14 March.[2]
- 26 January–29 March — The first British Home Championship is held between the football teams of England, Ireland, Scotland and Wales.
- 1 February — First fascicle of what will become the Oxford English Dictionary is published.[1]
- 5 February — Derby County Football Club is founded in England.
- 15 February — Emma Keyse is murdered and John 'Babbacombe' Lee is suspected.
- 13 March — The Siege of Khartoum begins in the Mahdist War: General Charles Gordon is besieged in the Sudan.[3]
- 22 April — Colchester earthquake: four die in the UK's most destructive earthquake.
- 8 July — The NSPCC is founded as the London Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children.[1][4]
- 28 September — The Marks & Spencer department store chain starts life as Michael Marks’ market stall in Leeds Kirkgate Market, Yorkshire.[5][6]
- 13 October — International Meridian Conference in Washington, D.C. fixes the Greenwich meridian as the world's prime meridian.[1]
- 18 October — University College of North Wales, Bangor founded.
- 2 November — The "Home Office Baby" is delivered to the Home Office.
- 4 December — Tom Dudley and Edwin Stephens are convicted of murder in the survival cannibalism case of R v. Dudley and Stephens.
- 9 December — Dudley and Stephens receive the mandatory death penalty with a recommendation for clemency.
- 10 December — Third Reform Act gives farm workers the vote, subject to the same restrictions as already applied elsewhere.[3]
- 13 December — Dudley and Stephens are told that the death penalties have been commuted to six months' imprisonment.
- Undated — Leicester City F.C. is formed as Leicester Fosse Football Club.
Publications
- A New English Dictionary on historical principles, part 1, edited by James A. H. Murray.
- Arthur Conan Doyle's (anonymous) story based on the disappearance of the Mary Celeste, "J. Habakuk Jephson's Statement" (Cornhill Magazine, January).
- Arnold Toynbee's lectures (collected posthumously) Lectures on the Industrial Revolution in England.
Births
- 18 January — Arthur Ransome, author and journalist (died 1967)
- 13 March — Sir Hugh Walpole, novelist (died 1941)
- 10 May — Olga Petrova, English-born actress (died 1977)
- 19 December — Stanley Unwin, publisher (died 1968)
Deaths
- 1 March — Isaac Todhunter, mathematician (born 1820)
- 28 March — Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, member of the royal family (born 1853)
- 5 April — John Wisden, cricketer and creator of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (born 1826)
- 10 September — George Bentham, botanist (born 1800)
- 6 November — Henry Fawcett, statesman, economist and Postmaster General (born 1833)
References
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
- ↑ Hutton, Ronald (2009). Blood and Mistletoe: The History of the Druids in Britain. New Haven: Yale University Press. ISBN 978-0-300-14485-7.
- ↑ 3.0 3.1 Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 309–310. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ↑ "About the NSPCC". Archived from the original on 21 September 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-19.
- ↑ "The Beginning". Marks in Time. Marks & Spencer Company Archive. Retrieved 2011-08-04.
- ↑ "Michael Marks". Spartacus. Retrieved 2010-07-13.