1858 in the United Kingdom

1858 in the United Kingdom:
Other years
1856 \| 1857 \| 1858 \| 1859 \| 1860
Sport
1858 English cricket season

Events from the year 1858 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

Monarch — Victoria
Prime Minister — The Viscount Palmerston (Liberal) (until 19 February), The Earl of Derby (Conservative) (starting 19 February)

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]
31 January — I. K. Brunel's SS Great Eastern, the largest ship built to date, is launched on the River Thames.^[3]
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 a counter-terrorism bill in the wake of the Orsini affair; he is replaced by Earl of Derby, forming a new Conservative government.^[4]
10 April — Big Ben, the Great Bell for the Palace of Westminster's clock tower in London, is recast at Whitechapel Bell Foundry.
29 April — Charles Dickens embarks on his first professional tour giving readings from his works; this will comprise 129 appearances in 49 different towns throughout England, Scotland and Ireland.^[5]
May — Court for Divorce and Matrimonial Causes first sits (with Sir Cresswell Cresswell as judge in ordinary) following coming into effect of the Matrimonial Causes Act 1857 making civil divorce without parliamentary approval legally possible.
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.^[4]
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.^[4]
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.^[6]
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.^[7]
1 September
- Local Government Act 1858 comes into force; General Board of Health abolished.
- Lighthouse on Bishop Rock, Isles of Scilly, first illuminated.

Undated

Mirror galvanometer invented by William Thomson, 1st Baron Kelvin.
The Miners Association established in Cornwall.

Publications

Frederic Farrar's moral schoolboy novel Eric, or, Little by Little.
Anthony Trollope's novel Doctor Thorne.

Births

22 January — Beatrice Webb, socialist, economist and reformer (died 1943)
10 March — Henry Watson Fowler, lexicographer (died 1933)
23 April — Ethel Smyth, composer and a leader of the women's suffrage movement (died 1944)
14 July — Emmeline Pankhurst, suffragette (died 1928)
15 August — E. Nesbit, author (died 1924)
16 September — Bonar Law, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (died 1923)

Deaths

10 June — Robert Brown, botanist (born 1773)
3 November — Harriet Taylor Mill, philosopher and women's rights advocate (born 1807)
17 November — Robert Owen, founder of the Co-operative Society (born 1771)
20 November — Sir Joseph Bailey, 1st Baronet, ironmaster (born 1783)
23 November — Edmund Lyons, 1st Baron Lyons, admiral (born 1790)

References

↑ Farrugia, Jean Young (1969). The Letter Box: a history of Post Office pillar and wall boxes. Fontwell: Centaur Press. ISBN 0-900000-14-7.
1 2 3 4 5 6 Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
↑ "ss Great Eastern". Brunel 200. 2006. Archived from the original on 2011-07-08. Retrieved 2011-06-29.
1 2 3 Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 278–279. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
↑ Hobsbaum, Philip (1998) [1972]. A Reader's Guide to Charles Dickens. Syracuse University Press. p. 270. ISBN 978-0-8156-0475-4. Retrieved 2012-04-20.
↑ "Icons, a portrait of England 1840–1860". Archived from the original on 17 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
↑ Shillito, Elizabeth H. (1930). Dorothea Beale, Principal of the Cheltenham Ladies' College, 1858–1906. London: SPCK. Retrieved 1 February 2011.

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 2013 2014 2015 2016

1858 in Europe

Sovereign states	Andorra Austria Baden Belgium Denmark France Germany Greece Hungary Luxembourg Montenegro Netherlands Norway Ottoman Empire Papal States Portugal Prussia Russia San Marino Spain Sweden Switzerland United Kingdom

Dependencies, colonies and other territories	Gibraltar Guernsey Isle of Man Jersey Malta

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