Victorian Station - Timeline (Full Text Version)

The Victoria-era Timeline (Full Text Version)

May 24, 1819 Victoria is born in Kensington Palace in London
and the stage is set for the age of Victoriana.

The 1820's

June 20, 1819 The Savannah becomes the first steamship to cross the Atlantic as it arrives in Liverpool from Georgia.
January 29, 1820 Prince Regent George IV becomes king after his father's death.
July 2 1820 Napoleon dies at 51 at St. Helena.
September 26, 1820 US frontiersman Daniel Boone dies.
December 6, 1820 James Monroe is re-elected as President of the United States.
January 15, 1821 Britain Claims the Gold Coast of Africa as a colony.
August 12 1822 Britain's foreign secretary Lord Castlereagh, commits suicide at his home in Kent.
July 14, 1823 King Kamehama II and Queen Kamamalu of Hawaii die from the measles while visiting Britain.
February 1824 War breaks out between Britain and Burma after Burmese occupation of parts of British controlled India.
1824 The Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Animals is founded in Britain.
February 9, 1825 John Quincy Adams is named President of the United States after a two month delay.
September 27, 1825 The first steam railroad begins operation in England between Stockton and Darlington.
1825 Joseph Smith founds the Mormon Church in Fayette, New York.
February 1826 The British defeat Burma for control of India.
July 4, 1826 On the 50th anniversary of the Declaration of Independence, former presidents John Adams and Thomas Jefferson both die.
February 1827 The tradition of the Mardi Gras (Fat Tuesday) is begun in New Orleans, Louisiana in the United States.
March 29, 1827 Beethoven dies in Vienna, Austria at the age of 56.
February, 1827 Lord Liverpool, British Prime Minister, resigns after 15 years in office due to a stroke.
April 21, 1828 Noah Webster publishes his American Dictionary of the English Language in the United States.
December 3, 1828 Andrew Jackson is elected president of the United States.
1829 London forms it's first police force, introduced by Robert Peel of Ireland.
1829 Britain bans the practice of widows in India burning themselves to death on the funeral pyres of their deceased husbands.

The 1830's

June 30, 1830 William IV succeeds his deceased brother, George IV, as king of England.
June 1832 4000 people die of Cholera in New York City
December 5, 1832 President Andrew Jackson is re-elected in the United States.
1833 New laws are enacted in London limiting the hours that a teenager can be forced to work to 12 hours a day.
1833 Britain claims the Falkland Islands, formerly claimed but never occupied by Argentina.
August 1, 1834 Slavery is abolished in Britain.
December, 1834 Madame Tussaud opens her wax museum in London.
January 30, 1835 President Andrew Jackson escapes an assassination attempt when the assailant's guns misfire.
March 6 1836 A Mexican army led by Santa Anna takes the Alamo fort in Texas and massacres all 187 of its defenders, including Davy Crockett and Sam Bowie.
June 20, 1837 On the death of her uncle, William IV, Victoria becomes Queen of Great Britain and Ireland.
December 7, 1836 Martin Van Buren, a New York City lawyer is elected President of the United States.
1837 Charles Dickens publishes Oliver Twist.
1838 British forces head across the seas to quell the uprising in the British Territory of Canada.
1839 Riots by former slave-owning sugar planters in Jamaica force a showdown between PM Robert Peel and Queen Victoria. The queen is triumphant and order is restored.

The 1840's

February 6, 1840 Britain claims New Zealand as a colony to head off proposed French settlements.
February 10, 1840 Queen Victoria marries her first cousin, Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha.
June, 1840 Britain and China begin the Opium Wars after China bans the lucrative British practice of opium trade.
July 23, 1840 Canada is granted partial independence from Britain in an effort to prevent American expansion into the territory.
April 4, 1841 US President William Henry Harrison dies in office from pneumonia. VP John Tyler becomes president.
December 1841 War begins in Afghanistan as the population tries to overthrow British rule.
August 1842 The Opium Wars between Britain and China end as China cedes Hong Kong and opens Chinese ports for trade.
1842 Afghanistan defeats the British and reclaim their country.
1843 Britain claims the former Boer republic of Natal as a British colony.
March 4 1845 James K. Polk becomes the 11th president of the United States.
1845 Blight strikes the potato crop in Ireland and serious famine develops.
May 13, 1846 The United States declares war on Mexico.
September 14, 1847 The United States wins the war with Mexico as the US captures Mexico City.
November 7, 1848 Zachary Taylor is elected President of the United States.
October 3, 1849 American author Edgar Allen Poe dies from alcohol poisoning in Baltimore, Maryland.

The 1850's

July 10, 1850 Millard Filmore becomes President of the United States upon the death of Zachary Taylor.
May 1, 1851 Queen Victoria opens the Great Exhibition at The Crystal Palace in London's Hyde Park.
November 2, 1852 Franklin Pierce is elected President of the United States.
November 17, 1855 The breathtaking waterfalls discovered by David Livingstone in Africa are named Victoria Falls in honor of the queen.
November 1, 1856 Britain declares war on Persia in response to it's invasion of Afghanistan.
November 4, 1856 James Buchanan is elected President of the United States.
May 1857 India revolts against British rule, seize Delhi and kill many Britons.
September 21, 1857 The British storm and retake Delhi in India incurring 1200 British casualties in the process.
November 1, 1858 Queen Victoria is crowned Empress of India.
November 30, 1859 Charles Darwin publishes his book on evolution called Origin of the Species questioning the theory of creationism.

The 1860's

November 6, 1860 Abraham Lincoln is elected President of the United States.
August 5, 1861 In order to fund the Civil War, President Lincoln enacts the first nationwide income tax.
December 14, 1861 Queen Victoria is devastated by the death of her husband Albert from typhoid fever and begins a lifetime of mourning.
April 13, 1861 The first shots of the American Civil War are fired at Fort Sumter in South Carolina.
September 22, 1862 President Lincoln declares that all slaves are to be free as of January1, 1863.
October 3, 1863 President Lincoln declares the holiday of Thanksgiving, to be celebrated on the last Thursday of November.
January 10, 1863 The world's first subway system opens in London after 3 years of construction.
November 8, 1864 President Lincoln is re-elected President of the United States.
1865 Charles Lutwidge Dodgson publishes Alice's Adventures in Wonderland under the pen-name of Lewis Carroll.
April 9, 1865 Confederate General Robert E. Lee surrenders to the Union's Ulysses S. Grant at Appomattox ending the Civil War.
April 15, 1865 President Lincoln is assassinated by John Wilkes Booth at Fords Theatre. He is succeeded by Andrew Johnson.
July 27, 1866 A trans-Atlantic telegraph cable is laid beneath the seas between Newfoundland and Ireland. It is 2500 miles long.
May 26, 1868 President Andrew Johnson escapes impeachment by one vote for failure to accept the First Reconstruction act, inflammatory speeches, and dismissing his Secretary of State, Edwin Stanton. He is even implicated in the conspiracy to murder Abraham Lincoln.
November 3, 1868 Ulysses S. Grant is elected President of the United States.

The 1870's

June 9, 1870 Charles Dickens dies at his home in Kent at the age of 58.
October 9, 1871 A massive fire, believed started by Mrs. O'Leary's cow kills 300 people, leaves an additional 90,000 homeless and causes $200 million in damages in Chicago.
November 5, 1872 Ulysses S. Grant is re-elected as President of The United States.
October, 1874 Britain annexes the Fiji Islands.
May 17, 1875 The first Kentucky Derby is held at Louisville, Kentucky.
August 25, 1875 Mathew Webb is the first man to swim the English Channel, 40 miles in 22 hours.
1876 Mark Twain publishes The Adventures of Tom Sawyer, a novel based on his own childhood.
June 25, 1876 General George Custer is killed by Sioux Indians at Little Big Horn in the territory of Dakota.
March 3, 1877 Rutherford B. Hayes finally takes the office of President of the United States after 4 months of contested election results.
1878 With it's motto, "Through Blood and Fire", the Salvation Army is founded in London by William Booth.

The 1880's

November 2, 1880 James A. Garfield is elected President of the United States.
July 2, 1881 President Garfield is wounded in an assassination attempt.
September 19, 1881 President Garfield succumbs to infections brought on by surgical attempts to remove the bullet from an assassination attempt. Chester A. Arthur becomes President.
1882 The second Married Women's Property Act is passes allowing women to own property after divorce.
January, 1883 Britain takes complete control of Egypt.
March 4, 1885 Grover Cleveland takes office as President of the United States.
June 20, 1887 Queen Victoria meets Annie Oakley, the famous American markswoman.
1887 Britain establishes the colony of Nigeria in Africa.
1887 Queen Victoria celebrates the Jubilee Thanksgiving service at Westminster Abbey. She begins to come out of the perpetual mourning of her late husband, Albert.
November 6, 1888 Benjamin Harrison is elected President of the United States.

The 1890's

1890 The longest railway bridge in the world is opened across Scotland and measures 1700' in length.
July 1, 1890 Queen Victoria presents Mount Kilimanjaro in East Africa to Germany in exchange for the island of Zanzibar.
June 1891 Edward, the Prince of Wales and oldest son of Queen Victoria testifies for the prosecution in a gambling case and causes a scandal.
1891 Sir Arthur Conan Doyle publishes his book, "The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes".
November 8, 1892 Grover Cleveland is re-elected President of the United States.
January, 1894 Britain takes Zimbabwe by force to strengthen Britain's hold on Southern Africa.
May, 1895 Actor Oscar Wilde is sent to jail for homosexuality in London.
November 20, 1895 Queen Victoria presents bibles to three African Kings in a reception at Windsor Castle.
November 3, 1896 William McKinley is elected President of the United States.
1896 The Daily Mail begins publication in Britain.
July 1897 Queen Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee by gathering the heads of all British territories and protectorates at St. Paul's Cathedral.

The Turn of The Century

April 9, 1900 The Boers defeat the British at Kroonstadt in South Africa.
November 6, 1900 President William McKinley is re-elected in the United States.

January 22, 1901 Queen Victorian dies at the age of 81 on The Isle of Wight. Her eyesight was in serious decline, she suffered from insomnia and had rarely moved from a chair in months. She is succeeded by her son, Edward VII.