1807 in the United Kingdom

1807 in the United Kingdom:

Other years

1805 | 1806 | 1807 | 1808 | 1809

Events from the year 1807 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

• Monarch - George III
• Prime Minister - Lord Grenville (coalition) (until 31 March), Duke of Portland (Tory) (starting 31 March)

Events

• 1 January - The island of Curaçao is captured by Admiral Charles Brisbane.^[1]
• 28 January - Pall Mall, London becomes the first street with gas lighting^[2] in a demonstration by Frederick Albert Winsor.
• 3 February - Napoleonic Wars and Anglo-Spanish War – Battle of Montevideo: The British Army captures Montevideo from the Spanish Empire as part of the British invasions of the Río de la Plata.
• 18 February - The Royal Navy gun-brig Snipe runs aground 60 yards (55 m) off Great Yarmouth in a storm, with around 200 people drowned, inspiring Captain Manby to invent the Manby Mortar.^[3]
• 23 February - Around forty people are killed in a crush attending a public hanging in London.^[4]
• 25 March
  • The Slave Trade Act becomes law abolishing the slave trade in most of the British Empire.^[5]
  • The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger carrying railway in the world.
• 31 March - Duke of Portland asked to form a government following the collapse of the Ministry of all the Talents.
• 4 May–9 June - The Duke of Portland wins the general election.
• 31 May - Primitive Methodism originates in an All Day of Prayer at Mow Cop in North Staffordshire.^[6]
• June - First Ascot Gold Cup held.^[7]
• 22 June - Chesapeake-Leopard Affair: Royal Navy warship HMS Leopard attacks and boards the United States Navy frigate USS Chesapeake off Norfolk, Virginia, seeking deserters.
• 5 July - Disastrous attack on Buenos Aires.
• 7–9 July - Peace of Tilsit between France, Prussia and Russia. Napoleon and Emperor Alexander I of Russia ally together against the British.
• 13 July - With the death at Frascati of Cardinal Henry Benedict Stuart, the last Stuart claimant to the throne, the movement of Jacobitism comes to an effective end.
• 2–7 September - Battle of Copenhagen: The Royal Navy bombards Copenhagen with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent the Dano-Norwegian navy from surrendering to Napoleon. One-third of the city is destroyed and two thousand citizens killed.
• September - Anglo-Russian War: Russia declares war on the United Kingdom.
• 13 November - Geological Society founded in London.
• 20 November - Sinking of the Rochdale and the Prince of Wales: The British troopships Rochdale (brig) and Prince of Wales (packet ship) sink in a storm in Dublin Bay with around 400 drowned.^[8]
• 22 December - The U.S. Congress passes the Embargo Act in response to the Orders in Council.
• 29 December - The Royal Navy ship of the line HMS Anson runs aground on Loe Bar, Cornwall, with around sixty people drowned, inspiring Henry Trengrouse to invent a rocket apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks.^[9]

Ongoing

• Anglo-Spanish War, 1796–1808
• Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815

Undated

• Potassium and sodium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy.

Publications

• Charles and Mary Lamb's children's book Tales from Shakespeare.^[10]
• Benjamin Tabart's version of the fairy tale The History of Jack and the Bean-Stalk.
• William Wordsworth's Poems in Two Volumes, including "Resolution and Independence", "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud", "Ode: Intimations of Immortality" and "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802".

Births

• 3 April - Mary Carpenter, educational and social reformer (died 1877)
• 8 October - Harriet Taylor, philosophical writer (died 1858)

Deaths

• 5 January - Isaac Reed, Shakespearean editor (born 1742)
• 15 April - Durham Ox, shorthorn bull (born 1796)
• 18 May - John Douglas, Anglican bishop (born 1721)
• 13 July - Henry Benedict Stuart, claimant to the throne of the United Kingdom (born 1725)
• 18 July - Thomas Jones, mathematician (born 1756)
• 14 September - George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, field marshal (born 1724)
• 21 December - John Newton, cleric and hymnist (born 1725)

References

1. Munsell, Joel (1858). The Every Day Book of History and Chronology. D. Appleton & Co.
2. Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
3. Walthew, Kenneth (1971). From Rock and Tempest - The Life of Captain George William Manby. London: Bles. ISBN 0-7138-0287-1.
4. "Dreadful Catastrophe". The Times (6980). London. 24 February 1807. p. 3.
5. "Abolition of the Slave Trade 1807". BBC. Archived from the original on 11 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-11.
6. Farndale, W. E. (1950). The Secret of Mow Cop: a new appraisal of the origins of Primitive Methodism. London: Epworth Press.
7. Palmer, Alan; Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 242–243. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
8. "Historical Coastal Walking Tour" (pdf). Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council. Retrieved 2012-07-31.
9. Gilly, W. (1864). Narratives of Shipwrecks of the Royal Navy. p. 125.
10. "Icons, a portrait of England 1800-1820". Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 2007-09-11.