istoryworld
London timeline
Work begins on the suspension bridge over the river Avon, at Clifton, designed by Isambard Kingdom Brunel
HMS Beagle reaches Falmouth, in Cornwall, after a voyage of five years, and Charles Darwin brings with him a valuable collection of specimens
William IV returns a small section of the Green to the inhabitants of Kew.
The 18-year-old Victoria comes to the throne in Britain, beginning the long Victorian era
Euston Station opens for business on the London and Birmingham railway
Work begins on Charles Barry's spectacular design for London's new Houses of Parliament
The King's Free School in Kew, changing its name by now according to the sex of the sovereign, becomes the Queen's Free School
The Taylor estate of East Sheen and West Hall passes to the Leyborne-Pophams of Littlecote in Wiltshire
The first trains run between London and Birmingham on the railway designed by Robert Stephenson
Charles Dickens' first novel, Oliver Twist, begins monthly publication (in book form, 1838)
A terminus is built at Paddington for the Great Western railway
An Irish packet steamer, the Sirius, becomes the first steamship to cross the Atlantic, completing the journey to New York in 19 days
Brunel's Great Western, a wooden paddle-steamer, arives in New York the day after the Sirius, with the record for an Atlantic crossing already reduced to 15 days
Queen Victoria opens Hampton Court Palace to the public
The London Prize Ring rules disallow kicking, gouging, head-butting and biting in the sport of boxing
The People's Charter, with its six political demands, launches the Chartist movement in England
J.M.W. Turner paints an icon of British art, The Fighting Téméraire
The Public Records Act creates the Public Record Office with headquarters in existing buildings on the Rolls Estate in Chancery Lane, in the City of London
Seven Manchester merchants and mill-owners found the Anti-Corn Law League
The Royal Exchange, rebuilt after the Great Fire, burns down again
Charles Dickens rents Elm Cottage (later Elm Lodge) in Petersham, while working on Nicholas Nickleby
The London and Croydon railway links with the Greenwich railway
St Peter’s, in Petersham, is almost doubled in size, with new galleries and a much enlarged south transept
Four new boathouses are built by Richmond Bridge, to be occupied chiefly by the watermen families of the Chittys, the Peasleys and the Wheelers, for boat-hiring and boatbuilding.
