istoryworld
Events relating to england
With advice from Thomas Daniell, Samuel Pepys Cockerell builds himself a house, Sezincote, with a roof line of fanciful Indian domes
Lord Castlereagh becomes secretary of state for war in William Pitt's government
Walter Scott publishes The Lay of the Last Minstrel, the long romantic poem that first brings him fame
English chemist Humphry Davy uses electrolysis to isolate the elements sodium and potassium
Legislation abolishing the slave trade is passed in both Britain and America
Anglo-US tensions are heightened by a clash between the frigates Leopard and Chesapeake off the coast of Norfolk, Virginia
George Canning is appointed British foreign secretary in the new administration of the Duke of Portland
English collector Thomas Hope publishes his Greek and Egyptian designs in Household Furniture and Interior Decoration
John Moore dies at Corunna but his army escapes from Spain and gets back to England
Rival British politicians Lord Castlereagh and George Canning fight a duel in which Canning is wounded
The British king George III, suffering from porphyria, is deemed unfit to govern and his eldest son becomes Prince Regent
A 12-year-old Dorset child, Mary Anning, discovers at Lyme Regis a 21 ft (6.4m) fossil of an icthyosaur
Percy Bysshe Shelley is expelled from Oxford university for circulating a pamphlet with the title The Necessity of Atheism
English author Jane Austen publishes her first work in print, Sense and Sensibility, at her own expense
Masked Luddites smash machinery in night raids on factories in Nottingham
Lord Castlereagh becomes British foreign secretary in Spencer Perceval's government
The British prime minister, Spencer Perceval, is assassinated in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham
After the death of Perceval, Lord Liverpool begins a 15-year spell as Britain's prime minister
Damage to US trade by British orders in council prompts war (the War of 1812) between the two nations
The US frigate Constitution, affectionately known as 'Old Ironsides', wins successes against British warships in the Atlantic
The first two cantos are published of Byron's largely autobiographical poem Childe Harold's Pilgrimage, bringing him immediate fame
William Hedley's Puffing Billy, the first steam locomotive running on smooth rails, goes to work at Wylam colliery
Quaker philanthopist Elizabeth Fry, appalled by the condition of female prisoners in London's Newgate gaol, begins campaigning on their behalf
Pride and Prejudice, based on a youthful work of 1797 called First Impressions, is the second of Jane Austen's novels to be published
A cold February freezes the Thames and makes possible the last of London's famous frost fairs
