1871 in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
 1871 in the United Kingdom: |
| Other years |
| 1869 1869 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1869 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 6 March — The first international cycle race is held at Crystal Palace, London.... | 1870 1870 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1870 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 28 January — General Post Office takes over business of private telegraph companies.... | 1871 | 1872 1872 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1872 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 1 January — C. P... | 1873 1873 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1873 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:... |
| Sport |
| 1871 English cricket season 1871 English cricket season -Events:In Derbyshire's opening season the club played its initial first-class match v. Lancashire at Old Trafford on 26 & 27 May.Cambridgeshire CCC played only one match in the 1871 season and ceased to be a first-class county thereafter.-Leading batsmen:... |
Events from the year 1871 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
.
Incumbents
- Monarch — Queen Victoria
- Prime Minister — William Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, LiberalLiberal Party (UK)The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Events
- 1 January — Disestablishment of the Church of Ireland by the Irish Church Act 1869 comes into effect.
- 26 January — Rugby Football UnionRugby Football UnionThe Rugby Football Union was founded in 1871 as the governing body for the sport of rugby union, and performed as the international governing body prior to the formation of the International Rugby Board in 1886...
established in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - 10 February — Great GaleGreat Gale of 1871The Great Gale of 1871 was a severe storm in the North Sea which struck the north east coast of England on Friday 10 February 1871.Shipping near the town of Bridlington was severely affected by the storm, and, in an attempt to rescue seamen, the RNLI lifeboat RNLB Robert Whitworth was put out of...
in the North SeaNorth SeaIn the southwest, beyond the Straits of Dover, the North Sea becomes the English Channel connecting to the Atlantic Ocean. In the east, it connects to the Baltic Sea via the Skagerrak and Kattegat, narrow straits that separate Denmark from Norway and Sweden respectively...
: 28 ships wrecked and total fatalities are estimated at over fifty, including six crew of BridlingtonBridlingtonBridlington is a seaside resort, minor sea fishing port and civil parish on the Holderness Coast of the North Sea, in the East Riding of Yorkshire, England. It has a static population of over 33,000, which rises considerably during the tourist season...
life-boatLifeboat (rescue)A rescue lifeboat is a boat rescue craft which is used to attend a vessel in distress, or its survivors, to rescue crewmen and passengers. It can be hand pulled, sail powered or powered by an engine...
Harbinger. - 7 March — First rugbyRugby unionRugby union, often simply referred to as rugby, is a full contact team sport which originated in England in the early 19th century. One of the two codes of rugby football, it is based on running with the ball in hand...
international; Scotland v. England. - 21 March — Marriage of Princess LouisePrincess Louise, Duchess of ArgyllThe Princess Louise was a member of the British Royal Family, the sixth child and fourth daughter of Queen Victoria and her husband, Albert, Prince Consort.Louise's early life was spent moving between the various royal residences in the...
to John Campbell, Marquess of LorneJohn Campbell, 9th Duke of ArgyllJohn George Edward Henry Douglas Sutherland Campbell, 9th Duke of Argyll KG, KT, GCMG, GCVO, VD, PC , usually better known by the courtesy title Marquess of Lorne, by which he was known between 1847 and 1900, was a British nobleman and was the fourth Governor General of Canada from 1878 to 1883...
, whose father, the 8th Duke of Argyll, is the serving Secretary of State for IndiaSecretary of State for IndiaThe Secretary of State for India, or India Secretary, was the British Cabinet minister responsible for the government of India and the political head of the India Office...
. - 29 March — The Royal Albert HallRoyal Albert HallThe Royal Albert Hall is a concert hall situated on the northern edge of the South Kensington area, in the City of Westminster, London, England, best known for holding the annual summer Proms concerts since 1941....
is opened by Queen Victoria. - 26 May — ParliamentParliament of the United KingdomThe Parliament of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the supreme legislative body in the United Kingdom, British Crown dependencies and British overseas territories, located in London...
passes the Bank Holidays ActBank Holidays Act 1871The Bank Holidays Act 1871 established the first Bank Holidays in the United Kingdom.The Act designated four Bank Holidays in England, Wales and Ireland , and five in Scotland .In...
creating four annual bank holidayBank HolidayA bank holiday is a public holiday in the United Kingdom or a colloquialism for public holiday in Ireland. There is no automatic right to time off on these days, although the majority of the population is granted time off work or extra pay for working on these days, depending on their contract...
s (five in ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
). - 29 May — First bank holiday held on Whit MondayWhit MondayWhit Monday or Pentecost Monday is the holiday celebrated the day after Pentecost, a movable feast in the Christian calendar. It is movable because it is determined by the date of Easter....
. - 18 June — University Tests Act removes religious tests at Oxford, CambridgeUniversity of CambridgeThe University of Cambridge is a public research university located in Cambridge, United Kingdom. It is the second-oldest university in both the United Kingdom and the English-speaking world , and the seventh-oldest globally...
and DurhamDurham UniversityThe University of Durham, commonly known as Durham University, is a university in Durham, England. It was founded by Act of Parliament in 1832 and granted a Royal Charter in 1837...
. - 29 June — Trade unionTrade unionA trade union, trades union or labor union is an organization of workers that have banded together to achieve common goals such as better working conditions. The trade union, through its leadership, bargains with the employer on behalf of union members and negotiates labour contracts with...
s legalised by act of parliament. - 20 July — C. W. AlcockC. W. AlcockCharles William Alcock was an influential English sportsman and administrator. He was a major instigator in the development of both international football and cricket, as well as being the creator of the FA Cup....
proposes that 'a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the AssociationThe Football AssociationThe Football Association, also known as simply The FA, is the governing body of football in England, and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. It was formed in 1863, and is the oldest national football association...
', giving birth to the FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
. - 17 August — Regulation of the Forces Act centralises and regularises control of the British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
as part of the Cardwell ReformsCardwell ReformsThe Cardwell Reforms refer to a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874.-Background:...
, creating a structure of regional Brigade (Regimental) Districts. - 1 November — Sale of commissionsSale of commissionsThe sale of commissions was a common practice in most European armies where wealthy and noble officers purchased their rank. Only the Imperial Russian Army and the Prussian Army never used such a system. While initially shunned in the French Revolutionary Army, it was eventually revived in the...
in the British ArmyBritish ArmyThe British Army is the land warfare branch of Her Majesty's Armed Forces in the United Kingdom. It came into being with the unification of the Kingdom of England and Scotland into the Kingdom of Great Britain in 1707. The new British Army incorporated Regiments that had already existed in England...
abolished as part of the Cardwell ReformsCardwell ReformsThe Cardwell Reforms refer to a series of reforms of the British Army undertaken by Secretary of State for War Edward Cardwell between 1868 and 1874.-Background:...
. - 10 November — Henry Morton StanleyHenry Morton StanleySir Henry Morton Stanley, GCB, born John Rowlands , was a Welsh journalist and explorer famous for his exploration of Africa and his search for David Livingstone. Upon finding Livingstone, Stanley allegedly uttered the now-famous greeting, "Dr...
locates missing explorer and missionary, Dr. David LivingstoneDavid LivingstoneDavid Livingstone was a Scottish Congregationalist pioneer medical missionary with the London Missionary Society and an explorer in Africa. His meeting with H. M. Stanley gave rise to the popular quotation, "Dr...
in UjijiUjijiUjiji is the oldest town in western Tanzania, located about 6 miles south of Kigoma. In 1900, the population was estimated at 10,000 and in 1967 about 4,100. Part of the Kigoma/Ujiji urban area, the regional population was about 50,000 in 1978....
, near Lake TanganyikaLake TanganyikaLake Tanganyika is an African Great Lake. It is estimated to be the second largest freshwater lake in the world by volume, and the second deepest, after Lake Baikal in Siberia; it is also the world's longest freshwater lake...
, and greets him saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" - 25 November — First performance of The BellsThe Bells (play)The Bells is a play in three acts by Leopold Davis Lewis which was one of the greatest successes of the British actor Henry Irving. The play opened on November 25 1871 at the Lyceum Theatre in London and initially ran for 151 performances...
starring Henry IrvingHenry IrvingSir Henry Irving , born John Henry Brodribb, was an English stage actor in the Victorian era, known as an actor-manager because he took complete responsibility for season after season at the Lyceum Theatre, establishing himself and his company as...
at the Lyceum Theatre, London.
Undated
- George Biddell AiryGeorge Biddell AirySir George Biddell Airy PRS KCB was an English mathematician and astronomer, Astronomer Royal from 1835 to 1881...
discovers astronomical aberration is independent of the local medium. - Reading Football ClubReading F.C.Reading Football Club is an English association football club based in the town of Reading, Berkshire who currently play in the Championship...
formed. - Neath RFCNeath RFCNeath Rugby Football Club is a Welsh rugby union club which plays in the Welsh Premier Division. The club's home ground is The Gnoll, Neath. The first team is known as the Welsh All Blacks because of the team colours: black with only a white cross pattée as an emblem...
founded. - Streatham-Croydon RFCStreatham-Croydon RFCThe Streatham-Croydon Rugby Football Club, is a historic Rugby Union club, founded in 1871, based at Frant Road, Thornton Heath, in the London Borough of Croydon, South London....
founded. - The native-bred Red KiteRed KiteThe Red Kite is a medium-large bird of prey in the family Accipitridae, which also includes many other diurnal raptors such as eagles, buzzards, and harriers. The species is currently endemic to the Western Palearctic region in Europe and northwest Africa, though formerly also occurred just...
becomes extinct in England.
Publications
- William Black's novel A Daughter of HethA Daughter of HethA Daughter of Heth is a novel by William Black, first published in 3 volumes by Sampson Low in 1871. It established Black's reputation as a novelist.-Plot summary:...
. - Edward Bulwer-LyttonEdward Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron LyttonEdward George Earle Lytton Bulwer-Lytton, 1st Baron Lytton PC , was an English politician, poet, playwright, and novelist. He was immensely popular with the reading public and wrote a stream of bestselling dime-novels which earned him a considerable fortune...
's (anonymous) novel The Coming RaceVrilVril, the Power of the Coming Race is a 1871 science fiction novel by Edward Bulwer-Lytton, originally printed as The Coming Race. Many early readers believed that its account of a superior subterranean master race and the energy-form called "Vril" was accurate, to the extent that some theosophists...
. - Lewis CarrollLewis CarrollCharles Lutwidge Dodgson , better known by the pseudonym Lewis Carroll , was an English author, mathematician, logician, Anglican deacon and photographer. His most famous writings are Alice's Adventures in Wonderland and its sequel Through the Looking-Glass, as well as the poems "The Hunting of the...
's children's novel Through the Looking-GlassThrough the Looking-GlassThrough the Looking-Glass, and What Alice Found There is a work of literature by Lewis Carroll . It is the sequel to Alice's Adventures in Wonderland...
. - George Tomkyns ChesneyGeorge Tomkyns ChesneySir George Tomkyns Chesney, KCB, CSI, CIE , British Army general, brother of Colonel Charles Cornwallis Chesney.-Biography:...
's story The Battle of DorkingThe Battle of DorkingThe Battle of Dorking: Reminiscences of a Volunteer is a 1871 novel by George Tomkyns Chesney, starting the genre of invasion literature and an important precursor of science fiction...
. - Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's work The Descent of Man. - George EliotGeorge EliotMary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
's novel MiddlemarchMiddlemarchMiddlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes...
. - Serialisation of Anthony TrollopeAnthony TrollopeAnthony Trollope was one of the most successful, prolific and respected English novelists of the Victorian era. Some of his best-loved works, collectively known as the Chronicles of Barsetshire, revolve around the imaginary county of Barsetshire...
's novel The Eustace DiamondsThe Eustace DiamondsThe Eustace Diamonds is a novel by Anthony Trollope, first published in 1871 as a serial in the Fortnightly Review. It is the third of the "Palliser" series of novels.-Plot summary:...
.
Births
- 18 February — Harry BrearleyHarry BrearleyHarry Brearley is usually credited with the invention of "rustless steel" in the anglophone world.-Life:...
, inventor (died 19481948 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1948 in the United Kingdom. The Olympics are held in London and some of the government's key social legislation takes effect.-Incumbents:* Monarch – King George VI* Prime Minister – Clement Attlee, Labour-Events:...
) - 19 March — Schofield HaighSchofield HaighSchofield Haigh was a Yorkshire and England cricketer. He played for eighteen seasons for Yorkshire County Cricket Club, for England from the 1898/99 tour to 1912, and was a Wisden Cricketer of the Year in 1901....
, cricketer (died 19211921 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1921 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - David Lloyd George, coalition-January to June:* 1 January - Car tax discs introduced....
) - 28 March — Silyn RobertsSilyn RobertsRobert Silyn Roberts was a Welsh clergyman, writer, teacher and pacifist.Roberts, a Calvinistic Methodist minister, was a noted Welsh-language poet, the winner of the Crown at the 1902 National Eisteddfod of Wales...
, Socialist and pacifist writer (died 19301930 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1930 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:* Monarch - King George V* Prime Minister - Ramsay MacDonald, Labour-Events:* 1 February - The Times publishes its first crossword....
) - 3 July — W. H. DaviesW. H. DaviesWilliam Henry Davies or W. H. Davies was a Welsh poet and writer. Davies spent a significant part of his life as a tramp or vagabond in the United States and United Kingdom, but became known as one of the most popular poets of his time...
, poet (died 19401940 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1940 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War II.- Incumbents :* Monarch - King George VI* Prime Minister - Neville Chamberlain, national coalition , Winston Churchill, coalition- Events :...
) - 24 September — Lottie DodLottie DodCharlotte "Lottie" Dod was an English sportswoman best known as a tennis player. She won the Wimbledon Ladies' Singles Championship five times, the first one when she was only fifteen, in the summer of 1887...
, athlete (died 19601960 in the United KingdomEvents of the year 1960 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch – Elizabeth II*Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party-Events:* January – State of emergency is lifted in Kenya – the Mau Mau Uprising is officially over....
)
Deaths
- 4 May - Pablo FanquePablo FanquePablo Fanque was the first black circus proprietor in Britain. His circus, in which he himself was a performer, was the most popular circus in Victorian Britain for 30 years, a period that is regarded as the golden age of the circus...
, black circus owner, popularized by The BeatlesThe BeatlesThe Beatles were an English rock band, active throughout the 1960s and one of the most commercially successful and critically acclaimed acts in the history of popular music. Formed in Liverpool, by 1962 the group consisted of John Lennon , Paul McCartney , George Harrison and Ringo Starr...
in song (born 1796) - 11 May — John HerschelJohn HerschelSir John Frederick William Herschel, 1st Baronet KH, FRS ,was an English mathematician, astronomer, chemist, and experimental photographer/inventor, who in some years also did valuable botanical work...
, astronomer (born 17921792 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1792 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.-Incumbents:* Monarch - King George III* Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* 25 January - The radical London Corresponding Society established....
) - 1 September — James PennethorneJames PennethorneSir James Pennethorne was a notable 19th century English architect and planner, particularly associated with buildings and parks in central London.-Life:...
, architect (born 18011801 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1801 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory , Henry Addington, Tory-Events:...
) - 18 October — Charles BabbageCharles BabbageCharles Babbage, FRS was an English mathematician, philosopher, inventor and mechanical engineer who originated the concept of a programmable computer...
, mathematician and inventor (born 17911791 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1791 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:...
) - 22 October — Roderick MurchisonRoderick MurchisonSir Roderick Impey Murchison, 1st Baronet KCB DCL FRS FRSE FLS PRGS PBA MRIA was a Scottish geologist who first described and investigated the Silurian system.-Early life and work:...
, geologist (born 17921792 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1792 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.-Incumbents:* Monarch - King George III* Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* 25 January - The radical London Corresponding Society established....
) - 14 December — George HudsonGeorge HudsonGeorge Hudson , English railway financier, known as "The Railway King", was born, the fifth son of a farmer, in Howsham, in the parish of Scrayingham in the East Riding of Yorkshire, north of Stamford Bridge, east of York. He is buried in Scrayingham...
, railway financier (born 18001800 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1800 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* 8 January - First soup kitchens open in London.* 17 March - catches fire with the loss of 700 lives....
) - 28 December — John Henry PrattJohn Henry PrattJohn Henry Pratt was a British clergyman and mathematician who devised a theory of crustal balance which would become the basis for the isostasy principle.-Life:...
, clergyman and mathematician (born 18091809 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1809 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Tory , Spencer Perceval, Tory-Events:...
)