1826 in the United Kingdom

1826 in the United Kingdom

Other years

1824 | 1825 | 1826 | 1827 | 1828

Sport

1826 English cricket season

Events from the year 1826 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch – George IV
• Prime Minister – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory)
• Parliament – 7th (until 2 June), 8th (starting 25 July)

Events

• 30 January – the Menai Suspension Bridge, built by engineer Thomas Telford, is opened between the island of Anglesey and the mainland of Wales.[1]
• 11 February – University College London is founded, under the name University of London.
• 24 February – Treaty of Yandabo cedes Arakan peninsula to Britain, ending the First Anglo-Burmese War.[2]
• April – a number of leading scientists form the Zoological Society of London.
• 1 June to 31 August – A three-month heat wave and drought grips the country. With a mean temperature of 17.60 °C (63.68 °F) this is the hottest summer on the CET records, since 1659, until 1976. After which, it is the second hottest on record.[3]
• 19 June – Tories under Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool win a substantial an increased majority over the Whigs in the general election.
• 20 June – Treaty of Bangkok increases British control over south-east Asia.[2]
• 1 July – the Conway Suspension Bridge, built by engineer Thomas Telford, is opened in North Wales, completing his improvements to the Holyhead road.[1]
• 10 August – the first Cowes Regatta is held on the Isle of Wight.[4]
• 18 August – explorer Alexander Gordon Laing becomes the first European to reach Timbuktu.[5]
• 26 September – Alexander Laing murdered in Timbuktu.

Ongoing events

• Anglo-Ashanti war (1823–1831)

Undated

• Country Bankers Act 1826 permits joint-stock banks outside the London area, which may issue banknotes.
• The British crown colony of the Straits Settlements is established.
• Longstone Lighthouse first illuminated as Outer Farne Lighthouse (Joseph Nelson, engineer).
• Construction of the National Monument, Edinburgh on Calton Hill (to the dead of the Napoleonic Wars) is commenced; it will never be completed.

Publications

• Benjamin Disraeli's (anonymous) first novel Vivian Grey.
• Walter Scott's novel Woodstock.
• Felicia Dorothea Hemans' poem Casabianca, in The New Monthly Magazine (August).
• Christian Isobel Johnstone (as Margaret Dods)'s The Cook and Housewife's Manual.
• John C. Loudon's periodical The Gardener's Magazine first issued.

Births

• 15 or 25 May – Tom Sayers, bare-knuckle boxer (died 1865)
• 26 May – Richard Christopher Carrington, astronomer (died 1875)
• 18 June – William Maclagan, Archbishop of York (died 1910)
• 24 June – George Goyder, surveyor-general of South Australia (died 1898)
• 25 August William Synge, diplomat and author (died 1891)
• 5 September – John Wisden, cricketer and creator of Wisden Cricketers' Almanack (died 1884)

Deaths

• 10 March – John Pinkerton, antiquarian (born 1758)
• 19 April – John Milner, Roman Catholic bishop and religious controversialist (born 1752)
• 5 July – Stamford Raffles, colonial governor and founder of Singapore (born 1781)
• 26 August – Lady Sarah Lennox, courtier (born 1745)
• 4 September – Robert Gifford, 1st Baron Gifford, lawyer, judge and politician (born 1779)
• 26 September – Alexander Gordon Laing, Scottish explorer (born 1794)
• 26 November – John Nichols, printer and author (born 1745)
• 31 December – William Gifford, satirist (born 1756)

See also

• 1826 in Scotland

References

1. Rolt, L. T. C. (1958). Thomas Telford. London: Longmans, Green.
2. Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 254–255. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
3. https://www.metoffice.gov.uk/hadobs/hadcet/ssn_HadCET_mean_sort.txt
4. "Icons, a portrait of England 1820–1840". Archived from the original on 22 September 2007. Retrieved 12 September 2007.
5. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.