istoryworld
All Events
Henry David Thoreau moves into a hut that he has built for himself in the woods at Walden Pond near Concord, Massachusetts
Pugin begins building, next to his own house, the Roman Catholic church of St Augustine, reached through a cloister
The expansionist slogan 'Manifest Destiny' is coined by journalist John L. O'Sullivan to emphasize the right of the USA to extend west to the Pacific
With his emphasis on the subjective experience of human Existenz, the Danish philosopher Kierkegaard plants the seed of existentialism
Escaped slave Frederick Douglass publishes the first of three volumes of autobiograrphy
US author Margaret Fuller publishes Woman in the Nineteenth Century, an early and thoughtful feminist study of women's place in society
The first Anglo-Sikh war breaks out between Sikh forces in the Punjab and encroaching forces of Britain's East India Company
Sewers are enlarged to carry waste to the Thames
Brunel's suspension bridge serves Hungerford market
Under Sir William Hooker (director 1845--65) and his son Sir Joseph Hooker (director 1865--85) the botanic gardens are greatly increased in size, prestige and scientific excellence.
Friedrich Engels, after running a textile factory in Manchester, publishes The Condition of the Working Class in England
Queen Victoria and Prince Albert follow the German custom of a family Christmas tree, immediately making it popular in Britain
The first Anglo-Sikh war ends with the Treaty of Lahore, by which Jammu and Kashmir are ceded to the British
The self-contained metal cartridge, with a percussion cap in its base, is patented by a Paris gunsmith named Houiller
Work begins on a station at Barnes, which is now the only survivor of the five original stations on the new railway line from Nine Elms to Richmond
British prime minister Robert Peel carries a bill to repeal the Corn Laws, splitting his own party in the process
Francis Parkman travels west into dangerous territory in Wyoming, an adventure he later describes in The Oregon Trail
The Irish, fleeing from the potato famine at home, become the main group of immigrants to the USA
The minority of Conservatives supporting Peel become a separate faction, henceforth known as the Peelites
Edward Lear publishes his Book of Nonsense, consisting of limericks illustrated with his own cartoons
The Oregon Treaty establishes the border between Canada and the USA along the 49th parallel to the Pacific
Mary Anne Evans' translation from the German of David Friedrich Strauss's controversial Life of Jesus is published anonymously
President Polk sends a US army into Texas, provoking the Mexican-American War
Pugin completes his most spectacularly decorated church, that of St Giles in Cheadle, Staffordshire
With his Conservative party split, Peel's government falls and Lord John Russell becomes British prime minister at the head of a Whig administration
