1807 in the United Kingdom
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 1807 in the United Kingdom: |
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| 1805 1805 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1805 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This is the year of the Battle of Trafalgar.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:... | 1806 1806 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1806 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory , Lord Grenville coalition-Events:... | 1807 | 1808 1808 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1808 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Duke of Portland, Tory-Events:* 1 January - Sierra Leone becomes a British Crown Colony.... | 1809 1809 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1809 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Tory , Spencer Perceval, Tory-Events:... |
Events from the year 1807 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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Incumbents
- Monarch - King George IIIGeorge III of the United KingdomGeorge III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
- Prime Minister - Lord Grenville coalition (until 31 March), Duke of PortlandWilliam Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of PortlandWilliam Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, KG, PC was a British Whig and Tory statesman, Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Prime Minister. He was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title of every degree of British nobility—Duke,...
, ToryToryToryism is a traditionalist and conservative political philosophy which grew out of the Cavalier faction in the Wars of the Three Kingdoms. It is a prominent ideology in the politics of the United Kingdom, but also features in parts of The Commonwealth, particularly in Canada...
Events
- 1 January - The island of CuraçaoCuraçaoCuraçao is an island in the southern Caribbean Sea, off the Venezuelan coast. The Country of Curaçao , which includes the main island plus the small, uninhabited island of Klein Curaçao , is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands...
is captured by Admiral Charles BrisbaneCharles BrisbaneSir Charles Brisbane KCB was an officer of the Royal Navy who served during the American War of Independence, and with distinction under Lords Hood and Nelson....
. - 28 January - Pall Mall, LondonPall Mall, LondonPall Mall is a street in the City of Westminster, London, and parallel to The Mall, from St. James's Street across Waterloo Place to the Haymarket; while Pall Mall East continues into Trafalgar Square. The street is a major thoroughfare in the St James's area of London, and a section of the...
becomes the first street with gas lightingGas lightingGas lighting is production of artificial light from combustion of a gaseous fuel, including hydrogen, methane, carbon monoxide, propane, butane, acetylene, ethylene, or natural gas. Before electricity became sufficiently widespread and economical to allow for general public use, gas was the most...
. - 18 February - The Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
gun-brig Snipe runs aground 60 yards (55 m) off Great YarmouthGreat YarmouthGreat Yarmouth, often known to locals as Yarmouth, is a coastal town in Norfolk, England. It is at the mouth of the River Yare, east of Norwich.It has been a seaside resort since 1760, and is the gateway from the Norfolk Broads to the sea...
in a storm, with around 200 people drowned, inspiring Captain ManbyGeorge William ManbyCaptain George William Manby FRS , was an English author and inventor. He designed an apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks and also the first modern form of fire extinguisher.-Life:Manby went to school at Downham Market...
to invent the Manby MortarManby MortarThe Manby Mortar was invented by Captain George William Manby, also the inventor of the portable fire extinguisher.The mortar fired a shot with a line attached from the shore to the wrecked ship...
. - 25 March
- The Slave Trade ActSlave Trade ActThe Slave Trade Act was an Act of Parliament of the United Kingdom passed on 25 March 1807, with the long title "An Act for the Abolition of the Slave Trade". The original act is in the Parliamentary Archives...
becomes law abolishing the slave trade in most of the British EmpireBritish EmpireThe British Empire comprised the dominions, colonies, protectorates, mandates and other territories ruled or administered by the United Kingdom. It originated with the overseas colonies and trading posts established by England in the late 16th and early 17th centuries. At its height, it was the...
. - The Swansea and Mumbles Railway, then known as the Oystermouth Railway, becomes the first passenger carrying railway in the world.
- The Slave Trade Act
- 31 March - Duke of PortlandWilliam Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of PortlandWilliam Henry Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, KG, PC was a British Whig and Tory statesman, Chancellor of the University of Oxford and Prime Minister. He was known before 1762 by the courtesy title Marquess of Titchfield. He held a title of every degree of British nobility—Duke,...
asked to form a government following the collapse of the Ministry of all the TalentsMinistry of All the TalentsThe Ministry of All the Talents was a national unity government formed by William Wyndham Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville on his appointment as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom on 11 February 1806 after the death of William Pitt the Younger...
. - 4 May–9 June - The Duke of Portland wins the general electionUnited Kingdom general election, 1807The election to the 4th Parliament of the United Kingdom in 1807 was the third general election to be held after the Union of Great Britain and Ireland....
. - June - First Ascot Gold CupAscot Gold CupThe Gold Cup is a Group 1 flat horse race in Great Britain open to thoroughbreds aged four years or older. It is run at Ascot over a distance of 2 miles and 4 furlongs , and it is scheduled to take place each year in June....
held. - 22 June - Chesapeake-Leopard Affair, Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
warshipWarshipA warship is a ship that is built and primarily intended for combat. Warships are usually built in a completely different way from merchant ships. As well as being armed, warships are designed to withstand damage and are usually faster and more maneuvrable than merchant ships...
HMS LeopardHMS Leopard (1790)HMS Leopard was a 50-gun Portland-class fourth rate of the Royal Navy. She served during the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, and the War of 1812.-Construction and commissioning:...
attacks and boards the AmericanUnited States NavyThe United States Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the United States Armed Forces and one of the seven uniformed services of the United States. The U.S. Navy is the largest in the world; its battle fleet tonnage is greater than that of the next 13 largest navies combined. The U.S...
frigateFrigateA frigate is any of several types of warship, the term having been used for ships of various sizes and roles over the last few centuries.In the 17th century, the term was used for any warship built for speed and maneuverability, the description often used being "frigate-built"...
USS ChesapeakeUSS Chesapeake (1799)USS Chesapeake was a 38-gun wooden-hulled, three-masted heavy frigate of the United States Navy. She was one of the original six frigates whose construction was authorized by the Naval Act of 1794. Joshua Humphreys designed these frigates to be the young navy's capital ships...
. - 5 July - Disastrous attack on Buenos AiresBuenos AiresBuenos Aires is the capital and largest city of Argentina, and the second-largest metropolitan area in South America, after São Paulo. It is located on the western shore of the estuary of the Río de la Plata, on the southeastern coast of the South American continent...
. - 7–9 July - Peace of Tilsit between FranceFranceThe French Republic , The French Republic , The French Republic , (commonly known as France , is a unitary semi-presidential republic in Western Europe with several overseas territories and islands located on other continents and in the Indian, Pacific, and Atlantic oceans. Metropolitan France...
, PrussiaPrussiaPrussia was a German kingdom and historic state originating out of the Duchy of Prussia and the Margraviate of Brandenburg. For centuries, the House of Hohenzollern ruled Prussia, successfully expanding its size by way of an unusually well-organized and effective army. Prussia shaped the history...
and RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
. Napoleon and EmperorEmperorAn emperor is a monarch, usually the sovereign ruler of an empire or another type of imperial realm. Empress, the female equivalent, may indicate an emperor's wife or a woman who rules in her own right...
Alexander I of RussiaAlexander I of RussiaAlexander I of Russia , served as Emperor of Russia from 23 March 1801 to 1 December 1825 and the first Russian King of Poland from 1815 to 1825. He was also the first Russian Grand Duke of Finland and Lithuania....
ally together against the British. - 13 July - With the death of Henry Benedict StuartHenry Benedict StuartHenry Benedict Stuart was a Roman Catholic Cardinal, as well as the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Unlike his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, and brother, Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the throne...
, the last StuartHouse of StuartThe House of Stuart is a European royal house. Founded by Robert II of Scotland, the Stewarts first became monarchs of the Kingdom of Scotland during the late 14th century, and subsequently held the position of the Kings of Great Britain and Ireland...
claimant to the throne, the movement of JacobitismJacobitismJacobitism was the political movement in Britain dedicated to the restoration of the Stuart kings to the thrones of England, Scotland, later the Kingdom of Great Britain, and the Kingdom of Ireland...
comes to an effective end. - 2–7 September - Battle of CopenhagenBattle of Copenhagen (1807)The Second Battle of Copenhagen was a British preemptive attack on Copenhagen, targeting the civilian population in order to seize the Dano-Norwegian fleet and in turn originate the term to Copenhagenize.-Background:Despite the defeat and loss of many ships in the first Battle of Copenhagen in...
: Royal NavyRoyal NavyThe Royal Navy is the naval warfare service branch of the British Armed Forces. Founded in the 16th century, it is the oldest service branch and is known as the Senior Service...
bombards CopenhagenCopenhagenCopenhagen is the capital and largest city of Denmark, with an urban population of 1,199,224 and a metropolitan population of 1,930,260 . With the completion of the transnational Øresund Bridge in 2000, Copenhagen has become the centre of the increasingly integrating Øresund Region...
with fire bombs and phosphorus rockets to prevent DenmarkDenmarkDenmark is a Scandinavian country in Northern Europe. The countries of Denmark and Greenland, as well as the Faroe Islands, constitute the Kingdom of Denmark . It is the southernmost of the Nordic countries, southwest of Sweden and south of Norway, and bordered to the south by Germany. Denmark...
from surrendering its fleet to Napoleon. One-third of the city is destroyed and two thousand citizens killed. - September - Anglo-Russian War: RussiaRussiaRussia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
declares war on the United Kingdom. - 13 November - Geological SocietyGeological Society of LondonThe Geological Society of London is a learned society based in the United Kingdom with the aim of "investigating the mineral structure of the Earth"...
founded in LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - 22 December - The U.S. Congress passes the Embargo Act in response to the Orders in CouncilOrders in Council (1807)The Orders in Council were a series of legislative decrees made by the United Kingdom in the course of the wars with Napoleonic France which instituted its policy of commercial warfare. Formally, an "Order in Council" is simply the type of legislation by which the British government decreed these...
. - 29 December - The Royal Navy ship of the lineShip of the lineA ship of the line was a type of naval warship constructed from the 17th through the mid-19th century to take part in the naval tactic known as the line of battle, in which two columns of opposing warships would manoeuvre to bring the greatest weight of broadside guns to bear...
HMS AnsonHMS Anson (1781)HMS Anson was a 64-gun third rate ship of the line of the Royal Navy, launched at Plymouth on 4 September 1781 by Georgina, Duchess of Devonshire.-History:...
runs aground on Loe BarThe LoeThe Loe , also known as Loe Pool, is the largest natural freshwater lake in Cornwall, United Kingdom. Situated between Porthleven and Gunwalloe and downstream of Helston it is separated from the sea by the shingle bank of Loe Bar...
, CornwallCornwallCornwall is a unitary authority and ceremonial county of England, within the United Kingdom. It is bordered to the north and west by the Celtic Sea, to the south by the English Channel, and to the east by the county of Devon, over the River Tamar. Cornwall has a population of , and covers an area of...
, with around sixty people drowned, inspiring Henry TrengrouseHenry TrengrouseHenry Trengrouse inventor of the ‘Rocket’ life-saving apparatus, was born at Helston, Cornwall, England, United Kingdom, on 18 March 1772....
to invent a rocket apparatus for saving life from shipwrecks.
Ongoing
- Anglo-Spanish WarAnglo-Spanish War (1796–1808)The Anglo-Spanish War between 1796 and 1802, and again from 1804 to 1808, was a part of the French Revolutionary Wars and the Napoleonic Wars. The war ended in a alliance....
, 1796–1808 - Napoleonic WarsNapoleonic WarsThe Napoleonic Wars were a series of wars declared against Napoleon's French Empire by opposing coalitions that ran from 1803 to 1815. As a continuation of the wars sparked by the French Revolution of 1789, they revolutionised European armies and played out on an unprecedented scale, mainly due to...
, 1803–1815
Publications
- Charles and Mary LambMary LambMary Ann Lamb , was an English writer, the sister and collaborator of Charles Lamb.-Biography:She was born on 3 December 1764. In 1796, Mary, who had suffered a breakdown from the strain of caring for her family, killed her mother with a kitchen knife, and from then on had to be kept under constant...
's children's book Tales from ShakespeareTales from ShakespeareTales from Shakespeare was an English children's book written by Charles Lamb with his sister Mary Lamb in 1807. It was illustrated by Arthur Rackham in 1899 and 1909....
. - William WordsworthWilliam WordsworthWilliam Wordsworth was a major English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads....
's Poems in Two VolumesPoems in Two VolumesPoems in Two Volumes was an 1807 publication by the poet William Wordsworth .It included many notable Wordsworth poems, including:* "Resolution and Independence"...
, including "Resolution and IndependenceResolution and Independence"Resolution and Independence" is a lyric poem by the English romantic poet William Wordsworth, composed in 1802 and published in 1807 in Poems in Two Volumes...
", "I Wandered Lonely as a CloudI Wandered Lonely as a Cloud"I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" is a poem by William Wordsworth.It was inspired by an April 15, 1802 event in which Wordsworth and his sister, Dorothy, came across a "long belt" of daffodils...
, "Ode: Intimations of ImmortalityOde: Intimations of ImmortalityOde: Intimations of Immortality from Recollections of Early Childhood is a poem by William Wordsworth, completed in 1804 and published in Poems, in Two Volumes . The poem was completed in two parts, with the first four stanzas written among a series of poems composed in 1802 about childhood...
" and "Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802"Composed upon Westminster Bridge, September 3, 1802" is a sonnet by William Wordsworth describing London and the River Thames, viewed from Westminster Bridge in the early morning. It was first published in the collection Poems in Two Volumes in 1807....
".
Births
- 8 October - Harriet Taylor English philosophical writer (died 18581858 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1858 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Viscount Palmerston, Liberal , Earl of Derby, Conservative-Events:...
)
Deaths
- 5 January - Isaac ReedIsaac ReedIsaac Reed was an English Shakespearean editor.-Life:The son of a baker, he was born in London. He was articled to a solicitor, and eventually set up as a conveyancer at Staple Inn, where he had a large practice.-Works:...
, Shakespearean editor (born 17421742 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1742 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig , Spencer Compton, 1st Earl of Wilmington, Whig-Events:...
) - 18 May - John Douglas, Anglican bishop (born 17211721 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1721 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George I of Great Britain*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:...
) - 13 July - Henry Benedict StuartHenry Benedict StuartHenry Benedict Stuart was a Roman Catholic Cardinal, as well as the fourth and final Jacobite heir to publicly claim the thrones of England, Scotland, and Ireland. Unlike his father, James Francis Edward Stuart, and brother, Charles Edward Stuart, Henry made no effort to seize the throne...
, claimant to the throne of the United Kingdom (born 17251725 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1725 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George I of Great Britain*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 18 May - The Order of the Bath founded by King George I....
) - 18 July - Thomas JonesThomas Jones (mathematician)Thomas Jones was Head Tutor at Trinity College, Cambridge for twenty years and an outstanding teacher of mathematics. He is notable as a mentor of Adam Sedgwick....
, mathematician (born 1756) - 14 September - George Townshend, 1st Marquess TownshendGeorge Townshend, 1st Marquess TownshendField Marshal George Townshend, 1st Marquess Townshend, PC , known as The Viscount Townshend from 1764 to 1787, was a British soldier who reached the rank of field marshal.-Early life:...
, field marshal (born 17241724 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1724 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George I of Great Britain*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:...
) - 21 December - John NewtonJohn NewtonJohn Henry Newton was a British sailor and Anglican clergyman. Starting his career on the sea at a young age, he became involved with the slave trade for a few years. After experiencing a religious conversion, he became a minister, hymn-writer, and later a prominent supporter of the abolition of...
, cleric and hymnist (born 1725)