istoryworld
Events relating to europe
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
British prime minister Robert Peel carries a bill to repeal the Corn Laws, splitting his own party in the process
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
Mary Anne Evans' translation from the German of David Friedrich Strauss's controversial Life of Jesus is published anonymously
Mendelssohn's oratorio Elijah has its premiere in England, in the city of Birmingham
After marrying secretly, the English poets Robert Browning and Elizabeth Barrett go abroad to live in Florence
Landlords in Scotland begin to clear crofters from Highland estates so as to provide pasture for sheep
The three Brontë sisters jointly publish a volume of their poems and sell just two copies
A new Factory Act is passed in Britain, limiting the working day of women and children to a maximum of ten hours
Scottish obstetrician James Simpson uses anaesthetic (ether, and later in the year choloroform) to ease difficulty in childbirth
English author William Makepeace Thackeray begins publication of his novel Vanity Fair in monthly parts (book form 1848)
Camillo Benso di Cavour founds a newspaper in north Italy and calls it Il Risorgimento ('The Resurgence')
At a congress in London Engels persuades a group of radical Germans to adopt the name Communist League
Charlotte becomes the first of the Brontë sisters to have a novel published — Jane Eyre
Pretorius leads the last Boer families out of Natal and over the Drakensberg to the high veld
Don Pacifico's house in Athens is burnt by an anti-Semitic crowd, provoking an international incident
Liberia wins independence and international recognition as a republic
English mathematician George Boole describes Boolean algebra in his pamphlet Mathematical Analysis of Logic
Emily Brontë's novel Wuthering Heights follows just two months after her sister Charlotte's Jane Eyre
An uprising in Sicily in January starts off Europe's 'year of revolutions'
