A new theatre opens on the Green in Richmond, designed by a speciallist in theatre architecture, Frank Matcham

Italian inventor Guglielmo Marconi succeeds in transmitting a wireless telegraph message across the English Channel

The Boer War breaks out, ostensibly over the rights of British settlers in the Transvaal

Edward Elgar teases with the word 'enigma' printed at the head of his orchestral Variations on an Original Theme

Within a single 'Black Week' the British forces in South Africa suffer three defeats, at Stromberg, Magersfontein and Colenso

Ranjitsinhji becomes the first cricketer to score 3000 runs in a single season

E. Nesbit publishes The Story of the Treasure Seekers, introducing the Bastable family who feature in several of her books for children

The Central London (Tube) Railway charges a flat rate

Paul Ehrlich describes to the Royal Society in London his side-chain theory of molecules capable of attaching to toxins and thus generating antibodies, potentially providing immunity

Isadora Duncan dances professionally for the first time in Europe in London's Lyceum Theatre

Scottish music-hall artist Harry Lauder makes his first London appearance at Gatti's music hall in Westminster

David Belasco's play Madame Butterfly has its premiere in New York, and is subsequently seen in London by Giacomo Puccini

The Conservatives win an increased majority during the Boer War, in what becomes known as the 'khaki election'

Keir Hardie is returned to parliament for Merthyr Tydfil, beginning a long and close link between the Labour party and Wales.

Charles Stewart Rolls wins the Automobile Club's Thousand Mile Trial in a 12 horse-power Panhard

Jack London's first collection of stories, The Son of the Wolf, brings him a wide readership

The Irish Parliamentary Party, which split after the Parnell divorce case, reunites under the leadership of John Redmond

Queen Victoria gives permission for the newly founded National Physical Laboratory to move into Bushy House and its grounds

Edward Elgar writes the oratorio Dream of Gerontius, setting Cardinal Newman's poem of the same title

Joseph Conrad publishes his novel Lord Jim about a life of failure and redemption in the far East

Stephen Wheeler is left as the last of the lightermen to use the St Helena Boathouses for coal and freight, and increasingly switches the focus of his business to the trade of boat-hiring.

Queen Victoria dies at Osborne House, on the Isle of Wight, after 63 years on the throne

Beatrix Potter publishes at her own expense The Tale of Peter Rabbit

Rudyard Kipling's experiences of India are put to good use in his novel Kim

The British batsman C.B. Fry hits a record six consecutive centuries in first-class cricket