Victorian London: list of events for family history

If you have a London ancestor and you’re researching your family history, here’s a quick and easy guideline to London life and events in Victorian times.

[Landmarks that were already there prior to 1814: St Paul’s Cathedral, Monument, Westminster Abbey, The Tower of London]

1814 The Great Stock Exchange Fraud in London, 21 February

1814 The last Frost Fair on the frozen river Thames.

1814 First permanent gas street lighting installed in Westminster in April, followed by other parts of London later in the year.

1814 The London Beer Flood 17 October; a huge vat of porter burst at a brewery, killing 9 people and demolishing buildings.

1815 The Corn Laws were passed by Parliament, making it expensive to import grain from abroad; the price of bread increased.

1816 Income tax abolished 18 March (hurrah!)

1816 The Coinage Act reintroduced silver coins, and golden guineas (21/-) were replaced by gold sovereigns (20/-).

1816 ‘The year without a summer’ – heavy snow fell all day on Easter Day (14th April) in the London area, with more snow on 12th May.

1817 Waterloo Bridge opened in London 18 June.

1817 Gas lighting installed in West End theatres.

1817 The Elgin Marbles were bought for the nation and displayed in the British Museum.

1818 King George III’s wife, Queen Charlotte, died. By now he was completely blind, partially deaf and had dementia, so he was probably unaware of it.

1819 Burlington Arcade opened 20 March.

1819 London had 2″ of snow on 22nd October, and it was a noticeably-cold winter in Dec/Jan. More snow 28 December. Ice floes in the Thames estuary disrupted shipping.

1820 King George III died at Windsor Castle 29 January, 6 days after the death of his fourth son, the Duke of Kent. Succeeded by his son, George IV, who had been the Prince Regent.

1821 The Bank of England returns to the gold standard on 7 May.

1821 The National Census revealed that almost half the population were under 20 years old.

 1821 George IV’s Coronation, 19 July. His wife, Caroline of Brunswick, was barred from attending, as they were separated and on acrimonious terms, with accusations of adultery flying around. She died a few weeks later on 7 August. Her funeral procession passed through London on the way back to Brunswick, Germany.

1821 A mild but stormy winter with lots of rain Nov/Dec. The Thames rose so high there were floods in Dec/Jan at Maidenhead, Henley and Kingston-upon-Thames.

1822 Severe gale did a lot of damage in London on 5th February.

1823 The Vagrancy Act passed; begging or sleeping in the street were now criminal offences.

1825 Foggy in London on several days in Feb. Hot dry summer in London.

1828 Marble Arch and London Zoo opened.

1829 Metropolitan Police formed. Started with 144 constables (known as ‘bobbies’ or ‘peelers’) with top hats and football rattles, patrolling 5 divisions.

1830 Clothes were sewn entirely by hand. London men wore dark broadcloth suits made from thick, felted wool. The dark colours disguised marks from the sticky smuts swirling constantly in the air, which would quickly ruin light colours.

1830 King George IV died aged 67 at Windsor Castle 26 June. Succeeded by his younger brother, William IV.

1830 Now London had 3200 policemen. Joseph Grantham became the first police officer to be killed on duty.

1830 Trafalgar Square constructed on land previously occupied by the royal stables.

1830 Gorgeous Dickensian-style snowy Christmas.

1831 The new London Bridge officially opened 1 August.

1831 Thunderstorms 2nd to 5th August in London.

1831 Coronation of William IV, 8 September.

1831 National Census.

1831 Charles Darwin departed on his scientific voyage of discovery 27 December on HMS Beagle.

1832 Death penalty for theft abolished.

1832 The National Gallery built.

1833 Cholera pandemic starts in East London, 12 February – May, killing over 3000 people. Influenza epidemic doubled the death rate in London.

1833 The Factory Act made it illegal to employ children under 9 years; children 9-13 years could only work a maximum of 9 hours a day – lucky things.

1834 The menagerie at the Tower of London closed and the animals were moved to the Zoological Gardens at Regent’s Park.

1834 Slavery abolished throughout most of the British Empire.

1834 The Poor Law Amendment Act said that able-bodied people could only receive public financial assistance by entering a workhouse.

1834 Most of the Palace of Westminster (now the Houses of Parliament) destroyed in a huge fire. So many people came out into the streets to watch it, they hampered the firemen’s efforts to put it out.

1835 London City Mission founded.

1835 Horse-drawn Hansom cabs introduced (patented Dec 1834)

1835 Two men were hanged outside Newgate Prison, the last to receive the death sentence for homosexual acts.

1836 London Bridge Station built.

1836 The London Working Men’s Association founded.

1836 A severe gale on 29th November uprooted trees and took roofs off houses in the London area.

1837 King William IV died and his niece became Queen Victoria.

1837 Robert Cocking, an artist, attempted to descend by parachute from a hot air balloon over Greenwich. His calculations did not include the weight of the parachute itself, and he was killed.

1837 Top hat is young and stylish, worn by younger men. Women wore bonnets.

1837 Euston Station built.

1837 Lea & Perrins’ Worcestershire Sauce first sold.

1837-1838 Epidemic of typhus fever. Very cold winter, especially Jan 1838.

1838 Victoria’s Coronation, 28 June.

1838 Paddington Station built. Lloyds Coffee House and the Royal Exchange destroyed by fire.

1838 The first photographs taken in France and Britain.

1840 The Penny Post was introduced (first postage stamps).

1840 Queen Victoria married Prince Albert.

1840s Outbreak of cholera in the East End of London, spread by contaminated water. Scarletina (scarlet fever) also killed many children.

1840s-1850s Corsets were often homemade. Ladies wore lots of petticoats.

1840s-1850s Massive expansion of the railway network.

1841 Average life expectancy in London was age 37 – and only age 15 for manual workers!

1841 Great Western Railway completed the line from Bristol to London (journey took 4 hours).

1841 Death penalty for rape abolished.

1842 The Mines Act – children under 10 were not allowed to work in the mines. (Yes, I know there weren’t any coal-mines in London, but the Act was passed there)

1842 Billy Bean and John Francis made separate attempts to assassinate Queen Victoria.

1843 The first Christmas cards were produced and sold in London. Temperance groups feared the design chosen would encourage drunkenness. Charles Dickens published A Christmas Carol, which sold out in 6 days.

1844 The Factory Act was passed, prohibiting children aged 8-13 from working in factories for more than 6.5 hours a day (sadly, this didn’t stop them having to work longer hours at home)

1845 Tarmac road surfacing first introduced – London still had mostly cobbled streets or muddy unmade roads.

1846 Thunderstorm with hail on 1st August smashed the glass roof over Regent Street pavements.

1848 Waterloo Station built.

1848 The Great Potato Famine in Ireland resulted in over 100,000 Irish immigrants coming to London.

1849 Bowler hat invented, gradually became worn by clerks.

1849 Charlotte Bronte (writer of Jane Eyre, published 1847) visited London and socialised in literary circles.

1850 Workhouses introduced.

1851 The Great Exhibition at Crystal Palace.

1851 Ice cream invented (in America).

1852 Kings Cross Station built.

1852 The first ‘public waiting room’ (public toilet for men only) opened at 95 Fleet Street, London.

1852 Doctors now used stethoscopes.

1853 A cholera epidemic in London killed 11,500 people.

1855 Pillar boxes introduced. They were green – the first red ones were introduced in June 1874 in London, and over the next ten years the rest of the country gradually converted to red. The first public post box was situated at the corner of Farringdon Street and Fleet Street. There were 10 collections a day, between 9am-10pm.

1855 Safety matches introduced.

1856 Sewing machine introduced; mens’ clothes became suddenly much cheaper. The crinoline was introduced under ladies’ dresses.

1856 Pasteurisation process to kill bacteria in food discovered.

1857 David Livingstone returned from Africa.

1858-1859 ‘The Great Stink’ – the stench from the polluted River Thames was almost unbearable in the summer months – due to fears of airborne disease, people refused to use the river steamers and would walk miles to avoid crossing Thames bridges.

1859 Big Ben (the bell) cracked on 1st October. They couldn’t get it out to repair it without dismantling the whole clock, so they turned it around so the striker hit a different part of the bell.

1859 Charles Darwin published On the Origin of Species.

1860 Victoria Station built.

1860s Very bright dyes for ladies’ clothes and non-fade black dye introduced. Tight-laced, professionally-made corsets worn, giving ladies 19″-24″ waists.

1860s The London General Omnibus Co. had horse-drawn buses. First horse-drawn trams introduced.

1861 Tax on paper repealed.

1861 Prince Albert died of typhoid.

1861 One wing of the Crystal Palace destroyed in a gale on 21st February.

1863 The first part of the Underground was constructed, from Paddington to Farringdon Road.

1864 Charing Cross Station built.

1864 Police now wore helmets rather than top hats.

1865 Proper drainage began to be introduced in London. Before that, waste from sinks and toilets was piped into sewers, about 200 of which emptied into the River Thames. This was then then pumped up as drinking water… which was brown, even in wealthy areas of London. Thirsty, anyone?

1866 Heavy snow, with a snowdrift 2.5 metres deep in Regent Street, London.

1867 Doctors now used clinical thermometers – improved design meant they were short enough to be practical and only took 5 minutes to measure a patient’s temperature.

1868 The last public hanging.

1870 Bonnets were out of fashion, replaced with hats. Dresses were flat in front with crinoline/bustle at the back.

1870 Houses of Parliament opened. Here’s a brilliant account of Big Ben’s construction.

1870 The first Dr Barnardo’s children’s home opened in London.

1871 Royal Albert Hall opened.

1872 Albert Memorial built.

1872 The penny-farthing bicycle introduced – with no brakes.

1873 Typewriter invented.

1875 First chocolate Easter eggs produced by Fry’s of Bristol.

1876 Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell (in America).

1876 Queen Victoria was proclaimed Empress of India.

1877 Edison made the first recording of the human voice (in America).

1877 Cleopatra’s Needle transported to London from Alexandria in Egypt. (Quite an interesting story, actually)

1878 The Salvation Army started in London’s poor East End.

1879 Light bulbs invented. The first electric street lamps introduced in London. Before this, all lighting was by gas lamps which had to be lit by hand every evening.

1880 Straw plait is imported cheaply from China; now clerks can afford straw boater hats like the rich.

1880 The Education Act – compulsory schooling for children aged 5-10 years.

1880 Toilet paper invented; before that, old newspaper was used.

1880 Postmen began to use bicycles to deliver mail.

1880 By now, Harrods was a thriving department store (it started as a one-room shop in 1849, selling tea and groceries)

1881 New bus company, the London Road Car Co. had more comfortable horse-drawn buses with lower fares and printed tickets.

1881 The Natural History Museum opened in London.

1881 Blizzard 18th – 20th January, with 25cm of snow in London with 1 metre drifts, especially deep (5m?) in Oxford Circus, London.

1881 The Savoy Theatre became the first public building in London to be lit by electricity.

1883 Original building of Harrods destroyed by fire (was later rebuilt)

1884 The police carried whistles to replace the wooden rattle.

1885 Narrow skirts with a bustle, ladies had to perch on the edge of chairs rather than sitting.

1885 Gladstone’s Liberal Government defeated by a vote of no confidence 7 July; Robert Cecil’s Conservative Government starts 23 July

1885 Ceramic toilet introduced to replace wooden or metal ones.

1885 Criminal Amendment Act 7 August raises the age of consent from 13 to 16 years, following public outrage about articles exposing child prostitution in the Pall Mall Gazette.

1885 The safety bicycle (with both wheels the same size) invented. Motor car invented by Karl Benz, but the speed limit was only 4 mph.

1886 Heavy snowfall wrecked telegraph wires and damaged trees for several miles around London on 26th December.

1887 Queen Victoria’s Golden Jubilee (50 years as Queen), celebrated with great procession through streets and banquet for international royalty.

1887 20,000 men out of work in London. Sunday 13 Nov 1887 was Bloody Sunday, a day of protest (about various issues) turned into a riot where around 200 people were injured.

1887 First Sherlock Holmes story published.

1887 Gramophone invented.

1888 Pneumatic tyres for bicycles patented by John Boyd Dunlop.

1888 Coldest winter for 30 years, ponds and lakes were frozen over.

1888 Jack the Ripper murders in Whitechapel area. By now the Police force had 12025 men including plainclothes officers.

1889 Great Dock Strike.

1891 Top hat is now considered sober and formal, worn by older men.

1891 Statue of Eros (actually Anteros, angel of Christian Charity) erected at Piccadilly Circus.

1891 Free education for every child aged 5-13 years.

1894 Tower Bridge completed.

1895 Marconi discovered radio.

1897 Queen Victoria’s Diamond Jubilee (60 years as Queen).

1898 Harrods store had one of the world’s first escalators.

1899 Kensington Palace opened.

1901 Queen Victoria died. Her son, Edward VII, became King.

1903 First restrictions on sale of firearms to minors, drunkards and the insane – before this anyone could buy a gun as long as they had a 10/- licence bought at the Post Office!

1907 First centralised motor ambulance service.

1907 ‘The Old Bailey’ (Central Criminal Court) opened.

1908 Children under 16 could no longer be executed.

1909 Selfridges store opened in March.

1913 Work begins on the Science Museum – due to WW1, it wasn’t completed until 1928.

1913 Potato crisps introduced in London.

1914 The Great War – Britain declares war on Germany on 4th August 1914

I’ll add more to this as I find out other useful stuff. If you’ve spotted something I’ve missed (between 1814 and 1914), please leave a comment below and I’ll revise the list. Thanks!