1880 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1880 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - Victoria of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative (until 21 April), William Gladstone, Liberal

Events

* 8 March - The Conservative Party lose the general election to the Liberal Party.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=433–434]
* 3 April - Gilbert and Sullivan's opera "The Pirates of Penzance" first performed, at Opera Comique on the Strand, London.
* 18 April - William Ewart Gladstone succeeds Benjamin Disraeli as Prime Minister. This is Gladstone's second term as Prime Minister.
* 19 April - Second Anglo-Afghan War: British victory at the Battle of Ahmed Khel.
* 27 July - Second Anglo-Afghan War: Afghan victory at the Battle of Maiwand.
* 2 August - Greenwich Mean Time adopted across Great Britain.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 1 September - Second Anglo-Afghan War: British victory at the Battle of Kandahar.
* 6 September to 8 September - First cricket Test match held in Britain.
* October - Irish tenants ostracise landholder's agent Charles Boycott.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 304-305|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 17 November - The University of London awards the first degrees to women.
* 16 December - The Boers declare independence in Transvaal triggering the First Boer War.
* 20 December - First Boer War: British forces defeated in the Action at Bronkhorstspruit.

Undated

* Work begins on Truro Cathedral.

Publications

* Thomas Hardy's novel "The Trumpet-Major".

Births

* 28 January - Herbert Strudwick, cricketer (died 1970)
* 1 March - Giles Lytton Strachey, writer and biographer (died 1932)
* 25 May - Alf Common, footballer (died 1946)
* 21 June - Josiah Stamp, 1st Baron Stamp, economist (died 1941)
* 12 August - Radclyffe Hall, author and poet (died 1943)
* 16 September - Alfred Noyes, poet (died 1958)
* 22 September - Christabel Pankhurst, suffragette (died 1958)
* 23 September - John Boyd Orr, physician and biologist, recipient of the Nobel Peace Prize (died 1971)
* 15 October - Marie Stopes, birth control advocate, suffragette and palaeontologist (died 1958)
* 2 November - John Foulds, classical music composer (died 1939)
* 10 November - Jacob Epstein, American-born British sculptor (died 1959)
* "unknown date" - Reginald John Farrer, botanist (died 1920)

Deaths

* 15 August - Adelaide Neilson, actress (born 1847)
* 5 October - William Lassell astronomer (born 1799)
* 22 December - George Eliot, writer (born 1819)

References

ee also