1866 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1866 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - Victoria of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - John Russell, 1st Earl Russell, Liberal (until 28 June), Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby, Conservative

Events

* 12 January - Royal Aeronautical Society is formed in London.
* 11 May - London bank Overend, Gurney and Company collapses precipitating a financial crisis. [ cite book | author=Elliott, G. | year=2006 | title=The Mystery of Overend & Gurney: A Financial Scandal in Victorian London | location=London | publisher=Methuen | id=ISBN 0-413-77573-9 ]
* 26 June - Lord Russell resigns as Prime Minister, following splits in the Liberal Party over parliamentary reform. Earl of Derby takes over, leading a minority Conservative administration.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 287-288|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 5 July - Marriage of Princess Helena of the United Kingdom, third daughter of Queen Victoria, to Prince Christian of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Augustenburg.
* 23 July to 25 July - Demonstrations in Hyde Park in favour of parliamentary reform turn violent.
* 27 July - The Transatlantic telegraph cable is successfully completed, allowing transatlantic telegraph communication for the first time.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]

Undated

*"Mae Hen Wlad fy Nhadau" is adopted as the national anthem of Wales.
* A cholera epidemic in London causes over 5,000 deaths."1866." The People's Chronology. Ed. Jason M. Everett. Thomson Gale, 2006.]
* Invention of the clinical thermometer by Thomas Clifford Allbutt.
* John Langdon Down describes Down syndrome.
* Elizabeth Garrett Anderson opens the St Mary's Dispensary where women could seek medical advice from exclusively female practitioners.
* Morris Chair introduced by William Morris.
* Colman's mustard receives a Royal Warrant.
* John Graham Chambers founds the Amateur Athletic Club, drawing up rules for athletic competition.

Publications

* George Eliot's novel "Felix Holt, the Radical".
* John Robert Seeley's controversial, and anonymous, work "Ecce Homo".

Births

* 17 April - Ernest Starling, physiologist (died 1927)
* 7 June - Ernest William Hornung, author (died 1921)
* 26 June - George Herbert, 5th Earl of Carnarvon, financier of Egyptian excavations (died 1923)
* 28 July - Beatrix Potter, children's author (died 1943)
* 21 September - H. G. Wells, writer (died 1946)
* 12 October - Ramsay MacDonald, Prime Minister (died 1937)
* 8 November - Herbert Austin, 1st Baron Austin, car designer (died 1941)
* 30 November - Robert Broom, paleontologist (died 1951)
*"date unknown" - Ethna Carbery, Irish poet (died 1902)

Deaths

* 23 January - Thomas Love Peacock, satirist (born 1785)
* 27 January - John Gibson, sculptor, (born 1790)
* 6 March - William Whewell, scientist, philosopher, and historian of science (born 1794)
* 5 April - Thomas Hodgkin, physician (born 1798)
* 1 December - George Everest, geodesist (born 1790)

References

ee also