1853 in the United Kingdom

1853 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1851 | 1852 | 1853 | 1854 | 1855

Sport

1853 English cricket season

Events from the year 1853 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – Victoria
• Prime Minister – The Earl of Aberdeen (Peelite)

Events

• 20 January — The United Kingdom annexes Lower Burma ending the Second Anglo-Burmese War.
• 4 February — Halifax Permanent Benefit Building Society takes its first deposits.^[1]
• 15 February — PS Queen Victoria sinks in a snowstorm at night entering Dublin Bay with the loss of more than 80 lives.
• 18 February — A treaty is signed with the United States concerning international copyright.^[2]
• 29 March — Manchester is granted city status by letters patent.^[3][4]
• May — The world's first public aquarium is opened in London Zoo.^[5]
• 6 June — Naval fleet travels to Besika Bay to fend off Russian threats to the Ottoman Empire.^[6]
• 25 June — Hochster v De La Tour, a landmark case on anticipatory breach of contract in English contract law, is decided in the Court of Queen's Bench.
• 1 July — First constitution of the Cape Colony provides for a legislative council.^[6]
• 12 August — Licensing (Scotland) Act (known after its sponsor as the 'Forbes Mackenzie Act') regulates the supply of intoxicating beverages in Scotland.^[7]
• September (approx.) — First pillar box on the British mainland erected in Carlisle.^[8][9]
• 28 September — Emigrant ship Annie Jane sinks in heavy seas off the Scottish island of Vatersay with the loss of 350 lives.^[10]
• 31 October–15 May 1854 — Lockout of Preston cotton mill workers seeking reinstatement of ten per cent of their pay; this will be Britain's longest industrial dispute up to this date.^[11]
• 3 December — Crimean War: a protocol is signed with France, Austria, and Prussia for restoring peace between Russia and Turkey.^[2]
• 14 December — Palmerston resigns as Home Secretary over demands for parliamentary reform, but changes his mind on 23 December.^[6]
• 15 December — The Sierra redwood Sequoiadendron giganteum is introduced to England as Wellingtonia by William Lobb.^[12]

Undated

• Penal Servitude Act provides for convicted criminals to serve their entire sentence in prison, rather than suffer transportation, and also to be freed on licence.^[13]
• Highland Clearances in Skye and Raasay.^[14]
• West Australian becomes the first horse to win the English Triple Crown by finishing first in the Epsom Derby, 2,000 Guineas and St Leger.

Publications

• Charlotte Brontë's novel Villette (published as by Currer Bell).
• Mrs Gaskell's novel Ruth.
• Robert Smith Surtees' comic novel Mr. Sponge's Sporting Tour.
• Charlotte M. Yonge's novel The Heir of Redclyffe.^[15]

Births

• 29 March — Elihu Thomson, engineer and inventor (died 1937)
• 7 April — Prince Leopold, Duke of Albany, member of the royal family (died 1884)
• 3 June — Flinders Petrie, Egyptologist (died 1942)
• 5 July — Cecil Rhodes, businessman (died 1902)

Deaths

• 19 August — George Cockburn, Naval commander (born 1772)
• 29 August — Charles James Napier, general and Commander-in-Chief in India (born 1782)
• 6 September — George Bradshaw, cartographer, printer and publisher (born 1801)

References

1. Baren, Maurice (1996). How It All Began Up the High Street. London: Michael O'Mara Books. p. 58. ISBN 1-85479-667-4.
2. Cates, William L. R. (1863). The Pocket Date Book. Chapman and Hall.
3. The London Gazette (1853-04-01) 21426:950.
4. "The City of Manchester". The Guardian. Manchester. 1853-04-02. Retrieved 2016-11-14.
5. Brunner, Bernd (2003). The Ocean at Home. New York: Princeton Architectural Press. p. 99. ISBN 1-56898-502-9.
6. Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 273–274. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
7. Matthew, H. C. G. (2004). "Mackenzie, William Forbes (1807–1862)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/17605. Retrieved 2011-06-27. (subscription or UK public library membership required)
8. "Icons, a portrait of England 1840–1860". Archived from the original on 17 August 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-13.
9. Farrugia, Jean Young (1969). The Letter Box: a history of Post Office pillar and wall boxes. Fontwell: Centaur Press. ISBN 0-900000-14-7.
10. "Annie Jane". Wreck site. Retrieved 2014-04-14.
11. Leigh, J. S. (2008). Preston Cotton Martyrs: the millworkers who shocked a nation. Lancaster: Carnegie. ISBN 978-1-874181-45-3.
12. Earle, Christopher J., ed. (1999-08-15). "Sequoiadendron giganteum (Lindley) Buchholz 1939". Gymnosperm Database. University of Hamburg. Retrieved 2014-07-11.
13. "Timeline of capital punishment in Britain". Retrieved 2011-02-02.
14. "The Skye and Raasay Clearances — 1853". Scotland's History. BBC. Retrieved 2010-10-10.
15. Leavis, Q. D. (1965). Fiction and the Reading Public (2nd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus.

See also