1861 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1861 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - Victoria of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - Henry Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston, Liberal

Events

* 20 February - Storms damage the Crystal Palace in London and caused the collapse of the steeple of Chichester Cathedral.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 21 March to 26 March - Major fire in Southwark destroys several buildings.
* 30 March - Sir William Crookes announces his discovery of Thallium (see Discovery of the chemical elements).
* 13 May - British government pledges to remain neutral in the American Civil War.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 282-283|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 17 May - Thomas Cook runs the first package holiday from London to Paris.
* 31 July - Bankruptcy and Insolvency Act codifies company law.
* 27 August - Last execution in Britain for attempted murder — Martin Doyle in Chester.
* 16 September - Post Office Savings Bank opens.
* 24 October - The "HMS Warrior", the world's first ocean-going (all) iron-hulled armored battleship was completed and commissioned.
* 25 November - Tenement collapses in the Old Town of Edinburgh and buries 50 — rescuers find 15 of them alive.

Undated

* James Clerk Maxwell demonstrates the principle of three-colour photography (see picture). [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1 ]
* The death penalty is limited to murder, embezzlement, piracy and to acts of arson perpetrated upon docks or ammunition depots.
* British Empire establishes bases in Lagos to stop the slave trade.

Publications

* Mrs Beeton's Book of Household Management published.
* George Eliot's novel "Silas Marner".
* Anthony Trollope's novel "Framley Parsonage".

Births

* 12 June - William Attewell, cricketer (died 1927)
* 19 June - Douglas Haig, 1st Earl Haig, soldier (died 1928)
* 20 June - Frederick Hopkins, biochemist, recipient of the Nobel Prize for Physiology or Medicine (died 1947)
* 23 September - Mary Elizabeth Coleridge, poet and novelist (died 1907)
* 16 October - J. B. Bury, historian (died 1927)

Deaths

* 29 January - Catherine Gore, novelist and dramatist (born 1799)
* 16 March - Princess Victoria of Saxe-Coburg-Saalfeld, Duchess of Kent and mother of Queen Victoria (born 1786, Germany)
* 29 June - Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (born 1806)
* 14 December - Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha, husband of Queen Victoria (born 1819)

References

ee also