1871 in the United Kingdom
UK-related events during the year of 1871
Events from the year 1871 in the United Kingdom .
Incumbents
Events
1 January – disestablishment of the Church of Ireland by the Irish Church Act 1869 comes into effect.[ 1]
26 January – Rugby Football Union established in London.[ 2]
10 February – Great Gale in the North Sea : 28 ships wrecked and total fatalities are estimated at over fifty, including six crew of Bridlington life-boat Harbinger .
7 March – the first rugby international (played in Edinburgh) results in a 4–1 win by Scotland over England.[ 1]
13 March – Britain, Russia, France, Austria, Turkey and Italy agree to abrogate the 1856 Treaty of Paris ending Black Sea neutrality.
21 March – John Campbell, Marquess of Lorne marries Princess Louise , a daughter of Queen Victoria, at Windsor; she is the first legitimate daughter of a British monarch to marry a subject since 1515.
29 March – the Royal Albert Hall is opened by Queen Victoria ;[ 2] it incorporates a grand organ by Henry Willis & Sons , the world's largest at this time.
2 April – census in the United Kingdom , the first to record economic and mental status.
12 April – Durham Miners' Gala first held.[ 3]
24 April – murder of Jane Clouson , a servant girl, in Eltham ; her probable murderer is acquitted.
11 May – the first trial in the Tichborne case begins in the Court of Common Pleas (England) .
15 May – cross-dressers Boulton and Park are found not guilty of conspiracy to commit sodomy in London at the Court of Queen's Bench .[ 4] The proceedings include the first recorded use of the word "drag " in an entertainment context.[ 5]
26 May – Parliament passes the Bank Holidays Act creating four annual bank holidays (five in Scotland).[ 2]
29 May – first bank holiday held on Whit Monday .[ 2]
6 June – Smith v Hughes , a landmark case in English contract law , is decided in the Court of Queen's Bench , allowing an objective approach to interpretation of the parties' conduct when entering into a contract.
18 June – the Universities Tests Act removes restrictions which have previously limited access to Oxford , Cambridge and Durham universities to members of the Church of England (although the Congregation for the Propagation of the Faith at this time discourages attendance by Catholics).[ 6]
29 June – trade unions are legalised by the Trade Union Act [ 2] but the Criminal Law Amendment Act criminalises coercion in a trade dispute.
20 July – C. W. Alcock proposes that 'a Challenge Cup should be established in connection with the Association ', giving birth to the FA Cup in football.[ 2]
August – Nine Hours Strike begins on Tyneside in favour of a shorter working day; employers capitulate after 14 weeks.
11 August – Stowmarket Guncotton Explosion kills 28.[ 7]
17 August – Regulation of the Forces Act centralises and regularises control of the British Army as part of the Cardwell Reforms , creating a structure of regional Brigade (Regimental) Districts.[ 1]
21 August
Prevention of Crimes Act provides for photography of criminals.
Pedlars Act requires pedlars to be licensed.
1 November – sale of commissions in the British Army abolished as part of the Cardwell Reforms .[ 8] Pensions are made available for officers.
6 November – MP Sir Charles Dilke, 2nd Baronet , delivers a speech critical of the expense of maintaining the monarchy to a radical audience in Newcastle upon Tyne .[ 9]
7 November – the London–Australia telegraph cable is brought ashore at Darwin .[ 10]
10 November – Welsh-born journalist Henry Morton Stanley locates missing Scottish explorer and missionary, Dr. David Livingstone in Ujiji , near Lake Tanganyika [ 2] and greets him saying "Dr. Livingstone, I presume?" (according to his later account).
17 November – George Biddell Airy presents his discovery that astronomical aberration is independent of the local medium.
25 November – first performance of The Bells starring Henry Irving at the Lyceum Theatre, London .[ 11]
25 December – Reading Football Club formed.
26 December – the Victorian burlesque Thespis , first of the Gilbert and Sullivan light opera collaborations, premières at the Gaiety Theatre, London . It does modestly well, but the two composers will not again work together until 1875 .
Undated
Publications
Births
1 January – Montagu Toller , cricketer and lawyer (died 1948)
17 January – David Beatty, 1st Earl Beatty , admiral (died 1936)
18 February – Harry Brearley , inventor (died 1948)
19 March – Schofield Haigh , cricketer (died 1921)
28 March – R. Silyn Roberts , Welsh socialist and pacifist writer (died 1930)
16 April – John Millington Synge , Irish dramatist (died 1909)
11 June – Walter Cowan , admiral (died 1956)
3 July – W. H. Davies , poet (died 1940)
4 July – Hubert Cecil Booth , engineer and inventor (died 1955)
15 August – Arthur Tansley , botanist and ecologist (died 1955)
6 September – Montagu Norman , Governor of the Bank of England (died 1950)
10 September
24 September – Lottie Dod , athlete (died 1960)[ 16]
10 October – Wickham Steed , newspaper editor (died 1956)
12 October – Lilias Margaret Frances, Countess Bathurst , née Borthwick, newspaper proprietor (died 1965)
25 October – John Gough , general, Victoria Cross recipient (died 1915)
3 November – Albert Goldthorpe , rugby league footballer (died 1943)
Deaths
18 January – Sir George Hayter , English portrait painter (born 1792)
22 February – Sir Charles Shaw , Scottish-born army officer and police commissioner (born 1795)
17 March – Robert Chambers , Scottish publisher and geologist (born 1802)
18 March – Augustus De Morgan , mathematician (born 1806)
7 April – Prince Alexander John of Wales (born 6 April)
20 April – Samuel Halkett , Scottish librarian (born 1814)
30 April – Jane Clouson , murder victim (born 1854)
4 May – Pablo Fanque , black circus owner, popularized by The Beatles in song (born 1810)
11 May – Sir John Herschel , astronomer (born 1792)
9 June – Anna Atkins , botanist and pioneer photographer (born 1799)[ 17]
14 July – Michael Loam , Cornish engineer, pioneer of the man engine (born 1797)
1 September – Sir James Pennethorne , architect (born 1801)
6 September – James Burns , Scottish shipowner (born 1789)
7 September – William Prowting Roberts , Chartist lawyer (born 1806)
10 September – Ugo Foscolo , Italian poet (born 1821)
21 September – Charlotte Elliott , hymnwriter (born 1789)
7 October – Sir John Burgoyne , field marshal (born 1782)
18 October – Charles Babbage , mathematician and inventor (born 1791)
22 October – Sir Roderick Murchison , Scottish-born geologist (born 1792)
7 December – Lavinia Ryves , claimant to membership of the royal family (born 1797)
14 December – George Hudson , railway financier (born 1800)
28 December – John Henry Pratt , clergyman and mathematician (born 1809)
References
^ a b c d e Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History . London: Century Ltd. pp. 293–294. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2 .
^ a b c d e f g Penguin Pocket On This Day . Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0 .
^ "History of Durham Miner's Gala" . Co-Curate . Retrieved 4 May 2022 .
^ Cocks, H. G. (2003). Nameless Offences: Homosexual Desire in the 19th Century . London: Bloomsbury Academic. ISBN 978-1-86064-890-8 .
^ "drag" . Oxford English Dictionary (Online ed.). Oxford University Press . Retrieved 28 July 2020 . (Subscription or participating institution membership required.)
^ Evenett, H. O. (1950). "Catholics and the Universities, 1850–1950". In Beck, George Andrew (ed.). The English Catholics, 1850–1950 . London: Burns Oates.
^ Majendie, Vivian Dering (1872). Report on the Explosion of Gun-Cotton at Stowmarket, on the 11th August 1871 .
^ Bruce, Anthony P. C. (1980). The Purchase System in the British Army, 1660–1871 . London: Royal Historical Society .
^ Costa, Thomas M. (1996). "Dilke, Charles Wentworth". In Olson, James S.; Shadle, Robert (eds.). Historical Dictionary of the British Empire . Greenwood Press. ISBN 0-313-27917-9 .
^ "1871 Java - Port Darwin Cable" . History of the Atlantic Cable & Undersea Communications . 5 November 2014. Archived from the original on 5 January 2015. Retrieved 3 January 2015 .
^ Rowell, George , ed. (1953). Nineteenth Century Plays . World's Classics . Oxford University Press.
^ "Red kite – Population trends" . RSPB . Retrieved 29 August 2011 .
^ Donaldson, William (2004). "Alexander, William (1826–1894)" . Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (Online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi :10.1093/ref:odnb/39241 . (Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
^ Leavis, Q. D. (1965). Fiction and the Reading Public (2nd ed.). London: Chatto & Windus.
^ Finkelsteain, David (2021). "The 6d pamphlet that caused an invasion scare". History Scotland . 21 (5): 29–31.
^ Grasso, John (2011). Historical Dictionary of Tennis . Scarecrow Press. p. 85. ISBN 9780810872370 .
^ Haines, Catharine M. C. (2001). International Women in Science: A Biographical Dictionary to 1950 . Santa Barbara: ABC-CLIO. p. 10. ISBN 978-1-57607-090-1 .