The theatre, still known affectionately in Richmond as Kean's, falls on hard times and is pulled down

The British empire is first described as a 'Commonwealth of Nations', by Lord Rosebery speaking in Australia

English socialists, including Bernard Shaw and Sidney Webb, found the Fabian Society as part of a long-term political strategy

A new Reform Act in Britain further reduces the financial threshold for voters in Britain, in effect extending the franchise to male workers in rural areas

Greenwich becomes accepted internationally as the prime meridian, or 0° longitude

The newly founded Fabian Society publishes Manifesto by George Bernard Shaw

The Gaelic Athletic Association is founded in Ireland to promote indigenous games such as hurling

Barn Elms becomes the home of the Ranelagh Club and is soon famous for its polo matches

British general Garnet Wolseley sails from London on a mission to rescue Gordon, trapped by the Mahdi in Khartoum

Oxford University Press publishes the A volume of its New English Dictionary, which will take 37 years to reach Z

Explorer and orientalist Richard Burton begins publication of his multi-volume translation from the Arabic of The Arabian Nights

Gladstone resigns as British prime minister, after a defeat on the budget, and is followed by a minority government headed by Conservative leader Lord Salisbury

The American portrait-painter John Singer Sargent makes London his home and begins an immensely successful career

Gladstone becomes Britain's prime minister again, after joining forces with the Irish Nationalists to defeat Lord Salisbury's government

Gladstone's bill promising Home Rule for Ireland splits the Liberal party in Britain's House of Commons

Robert Louis Stevenson introduces a dual personality in his novel The Strange Case of Dr Jekyll and Mr Hyde

The split in the Liberal party over Home Rule results in a defeat for Gladstone and the return of Lord Salisbury as Britain's prime minister

The Home Rule campaign for Ireland prompts a Scottish Home Rule Association to fight in a related cause

Thomas Hardy publishes his novel The Mayor of Casterbridge, which begins with the future mayor, Michael Henchard selling his wife and child at a fair

Joseph Conrad becomes naturalized as a British subject and continues his career at sea in the far East

Those in Britain's Liberal party opposing Home Rule for Ireland become a separate group under the name of Unionists

Sherlock Holmes features in Conan Doyle's first novel, A Study in Scarlet

A chancel is added at the east end of St Mary's Church to celebrate the Golden Jubilee of Queeen Victoria

Queen Victoria's golden jubilee brings her back into the public's affection

A gathering of leaders from the British empire holds a colonial conference in London to coincide with Queen Victoria's jubilee