| |
Date |
Event(s) |
| 1 | 1855 | |
| 2 | 1857 | - 4 Mar 1857—3 Mar 1861: James Buchanan, 15th President of the United States
 James Buchanan
|
| 3 | 1858 | - 1858: 'The great stink'
- 1858: Royal Opera House opens in Covent Garden, London
- 20 Feb 1858—11 Jun 1859: Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, UK Prime Minister (Tory and Whig)
 Edward Smith Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby
|
| 4 | 1859 | - 1859: Peaceful picketing legalised in Britain
- 25 Apr 1859: Work started on building the Suez canal (opened 17 Nov 1869)
- 4 May 1859: Brunel's Royal Albert Bridge opened at Saltash giving rail link between Devon
and Cornwall
- 12 Jun 1859—18 Oct 1865: Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
 Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston
- 24 Nov 1859: Charles Darwin publishes "The Origin of Species"
|
| 5 | 1860 | - 1860: Slavery
official abolition of slavery in the Dutch East Indies
- 29 Aug 1860: First tram service in Europe starts in Birkenhead
|
| 6 | 1861 | - 4 Mar 1861—15 Apr 1865: Abraham Lincoln, 16th President of the United States
 Abraham Lincoln
- 12 Apr 1861: American Civil War
- 25 May 1861—14 Apr 1864: American Civil War
|
| 7 | 1862 | - 1862: Lincoln issues first legal US paper money (Greenbacks)
- 20 Apr 1862: First pasteurisation test completed by Louis Pasteur and Claude Bernard
|
| 8 | 1863 | - 1863: Football Association founded (UK)
- 1863: Opening of state institution for criminally insane at Broadmoor, England
- 10 Jan 1863: First section of the London Underground Railway opens
|
| 9 | 1864 | - 1864: A man-powered submarine, "Hunley", sank a Federal steam ship, USS Housatonic, at the entrance to Charleston harbour in 1864
- 11 Mar 1864: The Great Sheffield Flood
- 20 Aug 1864: Red Cross established
- 8 Dec 1864: Clifton Suspension Bridge over the River Avon officially opened
|
| 10 | 1865 | - 1865: Elizabeth Garrett Anderson (1836-1917) becomes first woman doctor in England [she later became the first woman mayor in England, in Aldeburgh 1908]
- 1865: First concrete roads built in Britain
- 14 Apr 1865: Abraham Lincoln assassinated in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth
- 15 Apr 1865—3 Mar 1869: Andrew Johnson, 17th President of the United States
 Andrew Johnson
- 5 Jul 1865: William Booth (1829-1912) founds Salvation Army, in London
- 29 Oct 1865—26 Jun 1866: Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, UK Prime Minister (Whig)
 Lord John Russell, 1st Earl Russell
|
| 11 | 1866 | |
| 12 | 1867 | - 1 Jul 1867: The British North America Act takes effect, creating the Canadian Confederation
|
| 13 | 1868 | |
| 14 | 1869 | - 1869: Ball bearings, celluloid, margarine, and washing machines, all invented
- 4 Mar 1869—3 Mar 1877: Ulysses S. Grant, 18th President of the United States
 Ulysses S. Grant
- 23 Nov 1869: Cutty Sark launched in Dumbarton
|
| 15 | 1870 | - 1870: GPO takes over the privately-owned Telegraph Companies (nationalised)
- 1870: Dr Thomas Barnardo opens his first home for destitute children
- 1870: Water closets come into wide use
- 1870: Diamonds discovered in Kimberley, South Africa
- 1870: Smallpox epidemic in the Netherlands. In 1871 the number of deaths rises to 15,787
- 1870: Netherlands abolished the death penalty
- 1 Oct 1870: First British postcard
|
| 16 | 1871 | - 27 Mar 1871: First Rugby Football international, England v Scotland, played in Edinburgh
- 29 Mar 1871: Opening of Royal Albert Hall, London
- 29 Jun 1871: Trades Unions legalised in Britain, but picketing made illegal
|
| 17 | 1872 | - 1872: Licensing hours introduced
- 1872: Penalties introduced for failing to register births, marriages & deaths (Eng & Wales)
- 4 Dec 1872: American ship "Mary Celeste" is found abandoned by the British brig "Dei Gratia" in the Atlantic Ocean
|
| 18 | 1873 | - 1873: Netherlands
Aceh war . On 8 April, the Dutch colonial army lands on the coast of Sumatra
|
| 19 | 1874 | - 1874: Factory Act introduces 56-hour week
- 1874: Netherlands
Children Act Samuel van Houten. Labour by children under 12 is prohibited.
- 20 Feb 1874—21 Apr 1880: Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield, UK Prime Minister (Conservative)
 Benjamin Disraeli, the Earl of Beaconsfield
- 5 Apr 1874: Birkenhead Park opened, said to be the first civic public park in the world
|
| 20 | 1875 | - 1875: London's main sewage system completed
- 1875—1882: US Epidemic
North American smallpox epidemic
- 1 Jan 1875: 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)
|
| 21 | 1876 | - 1876: Netherlands
Mata Hari was born in Leeuwarden on August 7, Margaret Gertrude Zelle
- 14 Feb 1876: Alexander Graham Bell and Elisha Gray each file a patent for the telephone
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