1873 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1873 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - Victoria of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - William Gladstone, Liberal

Events

* 3 March - the first performance of W. S. Gilbert and Gilbert Arthur à Beckett's play "The Happy Land" at the Royal Court Theatre. The play creates a scandal by breaking regulations against the portrayal of public characters, parodying William Gladstone, Robert Lowe, and Acton Smee Ayrton, respectively the Prime Minister, Chancellor of the Exchequer, and First Commissioner of Works.
* 13 March - William Gladstone resigns as Prime Minister, but the Conservatives fail to form a government, and Gladstone returns to office two days later.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 295-296|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 31 March - Supreme Court of Judicature Act 1873 reforms judiciary, establishing the Supreme Court and Court of Appeal of England and Wales.
* April - Ashanti attack British forts in the Gold Coast.
* 1 April - The British steamer RMS "Atlantic" sinks off Nova Scotia killing 547.
* 2 April - The first sleeping car is introduced in Britain, on the Glasgow to London night express.
* 9 June - Alexandra Palace in London destroyed by fire only a fortnight after its opening. [cite book |title=The London Encyclopaedia|author=Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert|publisher= Macmillan|year= 1995|isbn =0-333-57688-8|pages=288]
* 26 November - British troops invade Ashanti territory.

Undated

* Anglo-Ashanti Wars: The United Kingdom declares war against Ghana's King Kofi KariKari, who was involved in the trading of slaves.
* Britain puts pressure on Sultan Sayyid Barghash who closes slave markets in Zanzibar.
* Natural History Museum completed.

Publications

* Thomas Hardy's novel "A Pair of Blue Eyes".
* James Clerk Maxwell's work "A Treatise on Electricity and Magnetism".
* Serialisation of Anthony Trollope's novel "Phineas Redux".

Births

* 7 February - Thomas Andrews, shipbuilder (died 1912)
* 19 April - Sydney Barnes, cricketer (died 1967)
* 8 May - Nevil Sidgwick, chemist (died 1952)
* 17 May - Dorothy Richardson, feminist writer (died 1957)
* 11 August - Bertram Mills, circus manager (died 1938)
* 22 November - Johnny Tyldesley, cricketer (died 1930)
* 17 December - Ford Maddox Ford, writer (died 1939)
* 26 December - Thomas Wass, Nottinghamshire bowler (died 1953)

Deaths

* 18 January - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, writer (born 1803)
* 7 February - Sheridan Le Fanu, writer (born 1814)
* 27 April - William Charles Macready, actor (born 1793)
* 1 May - David Livingstone, explorer of Africa (born 1813)
* 8 May - John Stuart Mill, philosopher (born 1806)
* 20 July - Richard Bethell, 1st Baron Westbury, Lord Chancellor of Great Britain (born 1800)
* 17 September - Alexander Berry, adventurer and Australian pioneer (born 1781)
* 1 October - Edwin Henry Landseer, painter (born 1802)

References

ee also