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Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1869 | - 1869: Washing machines
Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
- 23 Nov 1869: Cutty Sark
Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
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| 2 | 1870 | - 1870: General Post Office
GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
- 1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo
Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
- 1870: Water closets
Water closets come into wide use
- 1870: Diamonds
Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
- 1 Oct 1870: First British postcard
First British postcard - halfpenny post
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| 3 | 1871 | - 27 Mar 1871: First Rugby Football international
First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
- 29 Mar 1871: Royal Albert Hall
Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
- 29 Jun 1871: Trades Unions legalised
Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
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| 4 | 1872 | - 1872: Licensing hours introduced
Licensing hours introduced
- 1872: Penalties introduced
Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
- 4 Dec 1872: Mary Celeste
American ship 'Mary Celeste' is found abandoned by the British brig 'Dei Gratia' in the Atlantic Ocean
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| 5 | 1874 | - 1874: 56-hour week
Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
- 5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened
Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world - features of it later copied in Central Park, New York
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| 6 | 1875 | - 1875: London's main sewage system completed.
Joseph Bazalgette, a civil engineer and Chief Engineer of the Metropolitan Board of Works, was given responsibility for the work. He designed an extensive underground sewerage system that diverted waste to the Thames Estuary, downstream of the main centre of population. Six main interceptor sewers, totalling almost 100 miles (160 km) in length, were constructed, some incorporating stretches of London's 'lost' rivers. Three of these sewers were north of the river, the southernmost, low-level one being incorporated in the Thames Embankment.
- 1 Jan 1875: Second Class passenger facilities abolished
Midland Railway abolishes Second Class passenger facilities, leaving First Class and Third Class. Other British railway companies followed during the rest of the year. (Third Class was renamed Second Class in 1956)
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| 7 | 1876 | - 14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell
Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone - Bell awarded the rights
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| 8 | 1877 | - 1877: Edison invents microphone
Edison invents microphone and phonograph
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| 9 | 1878 | - 1878: Electric lamp invented
Edison & Swan invent electric lamp
- 1878: Red Flag Act in
Red Flag Act in Britain limits mechanical road vehicles to 4mph
- 1878: CID established
Criminal Investigation Department established at New Scotland Yard
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| 10 | 1879 | - 18 Sep 1879: Blackpool illuminations
Blackpool illuminations switched on for first time
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| 11 | 1880 | - 1880: Education Act:
Education Act: schooling compulsory for 5-10 year olds
- 1880: Malaria
Mosquito found to be the carrier of malaria
- 2 Aug 1880: Greenwich Mean Time
Greenwich Mean Time adopted throughout UK
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| 12 | 1881 | - 1881: Postal Orders introduced
Postal Orders introduced
- 1881: Flogging abolished
Flogging abolished in Army and Royal Navy
- Sep 1881: First town with electricity supply
Godalming in Surrey became the first town in England to have a public electricity supply installed (but in 1884 it reverted to gas lighting until 1904)
- 26 Oct 1881: Gunfight at OK Corral
Gunfight at OK Corral
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| 13 | 1882 | - 1882: Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
Fourth Eddystone Lighthouse completed
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| 14 | 1883 | - 1883: Statue of Liberty
Statue of Liberty presented to USA by France
- 24 May 1883: Brooklyn Bridge
Brooklyn Bridge, New York opens (crosses East River)
- 1 Aug 1883: Parcel post starts in Britain
Parcel post starts in Britain
- 27 Aug 1883: Eruption of Krakatoa
Eruption of Krakatoa near Java - 30,000 killed by tidal wave
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| 15 | 1884 | - 31 May 1884: Kellogg's corn flakes
John Harvey Kellogg patents corn flakes
- 13 Oct 1884: Greenwich made prime meridian
Greenwich made prime meridian of the world
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| 16 | 1885 | - 1885: Carl Benz
Carl Benz builds the 'Motorwagen', a single-cylinder motor car
- 1885: Gottlieb Daimler
Gottlieb Daimler patents the world's first motorcycle
- 1885: first coated photographic paper
Eastman makes first coated photographic paper
- Mar 1885: First UK cremation in modern times
First UK cremation in modern times took place at Woking
- 5 Sep 1885: Severn Tunnel
The first train runs through the Severn Tunnel
- 29 Sep 1885: Blackpool Trams
First electric tramcar used at Blackpool
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| 17 | 1886 | - 20 Jan 1886: Mersey railway opened
Mersey railway (under Mersey) opened by Prince of Wales
- May 1886: Coca-Cola
Pharmacist John Styth Pemberton invents a carbonated beverage later named 'Coca-Cola'
- 29 May 1886: Putney Bridge
Putney Bridge opens in London
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| 18 | 1887 | - 1887: Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
Daimler produces a four-wheeled motor car
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| 19 | 1888 | - 1888: Suez Canal
Convention of Constantinople guarantees free maritime passage through Suez Canal in war and peace
- 1888: Jack the Ripper
Jack the Ripper active in east London during the latter half of the year
- 1888: County Councils
County Councils set up in Britain
- 1888: Pneumatic tyre invented
Dunlop invents pneumatic tyre
- 1888: First box camera
First box camera - George Eastman registers the trademark Kodak, and receives a patent for his camera which uses roll film
- 20 Mar 1888: Football League
Football League formed
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| 20 | 1889 | - 1889: Celluloid film
Celluloid film produced
- 1889: Dock Strike
Dock Strike - docker's won their 'Docker's Tanner' 6 old pennies
- 31 Mar 1889: Eiffel Tower
Eiffel Tower completed (to mark centenary of French Revolution)
- 14 May 1889: NSPCC charity launched
Children's charity NSPCC launched in London
- 3 Jun 1889: Canadian Pacific Railway
Canadian Pacific Railway completed from coast to coast
- 28 Sep 1889: Length of a metre defined
Length of a metre defined
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| 21 | 1890 | - 4 Mar 1890: Forth railway bridge opens
Forth railway bridge opens - took six years to build
- 4 Nov 1890: City & South London Railway opens
City & South London Railway opens - London's first deep-level tube railway
and first major railway in the world to use electric traction
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| 22 | 1891 | - 1891: Primary education
Primary education made free and compulsory
- 18 Mar 1891: London & Paris
First telephone link between London & Paris
- 4 May 1891: Reichenbach Falls
Fictional date when Sherlock Holmes throws Moriarty over Reichenbach Falls, then disappears for 3 years! (published in 1893)
- 24 Aug 1891: Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison patents the motion picture camera
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| 23 | 1892 | - 1892: Electric oven invented
Electric oven invented
- 1892: Shop Hours Act
Shop Hours Act - limit 74 hours per week for under-18's
- 6 Oct 1892: Alfred Lord Tennyson
Alfred Lord Tennyson dies, aged 83, at his house Aldworth, near Haslemere
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| 24 | 1893 | - 1893: Henry Ford
Henry Ford's first car
- 1893: Zip fastener invented
Zip fastener invented
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| 25 | 1894 | - 1894: Picture postcard
Picture postcard introduced in Britain
- 1 Jan 1894: Manchester Ship Canal
Manchester Ship Canal opens
- 1 Mar 1894: Blackpool Tower opens
Blackpool Tower opens
- 30 Jun 1894: Tower Bridge
Tower Bridge first opens
- 2 Aug 1894: Death duties
Death duties first introduced in Britain
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| 26 | 1895 | - 1895: Promenade Concerts
Sir Henry Wood starts Promenade Concerts in London
- 12 Jan 1895: The National Trust
The National Trust founded in England
- 24 May 1895: Henry Irving
Henry Irving becomes the first person from the theatre to be knighted
- 28 May 1895: Oscar Wilde
Oscar Wilde sent to prison
- 12 Jul 1895: First recorded motor journey of any length
First recorded motor journey of any length (56 miles) in Britain
- 17 Oct 1895: First motor offences
First people in Britain to be charged with motor offences - John Henry Knight and James Pullinger of Farnham, Surrey
- Nov 1895: X-rays discovered
X-rays discovered
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| 27 | 1896 | - 5 Apr 1896: First modern Olympic Games
First modern Olympic Games held in Athens
- 2 Jun 1896: Guglielmo Marconi
Guglielmo Marconi receives a British patent (later disputed) for the radio
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| 28 | 1897 | - 1897: Thomas Edison
Thomas Edison patents the Kinetoscope, the first movie projector
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| 29 | 1898 | - 1898: First photograph using artificial light
First photograph using artificial light
- 1898: Zeppelin airship
Zeppelin builds airship
- 17 Mar 1898: USS Holland launched
USS Holland launched, the first practical submarine
- 27 Jun 1898: First solo circumnavigation of the globe
The first solo circumnavigation of the globe completed at Rhode island by
Joshua Slocum in Spray (started from Boston, Mass on Apr 24, 1895)
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| 30 | 1899 | - 6 Mar 1899: Aspirin
Aspirin first marketed by Bayer
- 11 Oct 1899: Second Boer War
Start of Second Boer War
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| 31 | 1900 | - 1900: School leaving age
School leaving age in Britain raised to 14 years
- 1900: Central Line
Central Line opens in London: underground is electrified
- 1900: Escalators
Escalator shown at Paris exhibition
- 9 Feb 1900: Davis Cup
Davis Cup tennis competition established
- 27 Feb 1900: Labour Party formed
Labour Party formed
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1869 - 1900 (31 years)