1809 in the United Kingdom
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 1809 in the United Kingdom: |
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| 1807 1807 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1807 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Lord Grenville coalition , Duke of Portland, Tory-Events:... | 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 | 1810 1810 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1810 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Spencer Perceval, Tory-Events:... | 1811 1811 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1811 in the United Kingdom. This is a Census year and the start of the British Regency.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Spencer Perceval, Tory-Events:... |
Events from the year 1809 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...
.
Incumbents
- Monarch - George III of the United KingdomGeorge 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 - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd 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...
(until 4 October), Spencer PercevalSpencer PercevalSpencer Perceval, KC was a British statesman and First Lord of the Treasury, making him de facto Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated...
, Tory
Events
- 5 January - Treaty of the DardanellesTreaty of the DardanellesThe Treaty of the Dardanelles was concluded between the Ottoman Empire and the United Kingdom on January 5, 1809 at Çanak, Ottoman Empire. The treaty ended the Anglo-Turkish War...
between Britain and the Ottoman Empire concluded. - 16 January - Peninsular WarPeninsular WarThe Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
: The British defeat the FrenchFranceThe 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...
at the Battle of CorunnaBattle of CorunnaThe Battle of Corunna refers to a battle of the Peninsular War. On January 16, 1809, a French army under Marshal Soult attacked the British under Sir John Moore...
. - 1 March - The literary and political periodical The Quarterly ReviewQuarterly ReviewThe Quarterly Review was a literary and political periodical founded in March 1809 by the well known London publishing house John Murray. It ceased publication in 1967.-Early years:...
is first published by John MurrayJohn Murray (publisher)John Murray is an English publisher, renowned for the authors it has published in its history, including Jane Austen, Sir Arthur Conan Doyle, Lord Byron, Charles Lyell, Johann Wolfgang von Goethe, Herman Melville, and Charles Darwin...
. - 18 April - First running of the 2,000 Guineas Stakes horse race.
- 24 May - Dartmoor PrisonDartmoor (HM Prison)HM Prison Dartmoor is a Category C men's prison, located in Princetown, high on Dartmoor in the English county of Devon. Its high granite walls dominate this area of the moor...
opens, to house French prisoners of war. - 19 June - Law passed to prevent blatant sale of seats in the House of CommonsBritish House of CommonsThe House of Commons is the lower house of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, which also comprises the Sovereign and the House of Lords . Both Commons and Lords meet in the Palace of Westminster. The Commons is a democratically elected body, consisting of 650 members , who are known as Members...
to supporters. - 7 June - Shoja Shah of AfghanistanAfghanistanAfghanistan , officially the Islamic Republic of Afghanistan, is a landlocked country located in the centre of Asia, forming South Asia, Central Asia and the Middle East. With a population of about 29 million, it has an area of , making it the 42nd most populous and 41st largest nation in the world...
signs a treaty with the British. Only weeks later, he is succeeded by Mahmud ShahMahmud ShahMahmud Shahs may refer to:*Mahmud Shah of Malacca , sultan of Malacca from 1488-1528*Mahmud Shah *Mir Mahmud Hotaki, Mahmud Shah Hotak, ruler of Persia/Afghanistan from 1717 to 1725...
. - 28 July - WellingtonArthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of WellingtonField Marshal Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, KG, GCB, GCH, PC, FRS , was an Irish-born British soldier and statesman, and one of the leading military and political figures of the 19th century...
's British, Portuguese, and Spanish army defeats a much larger French force at the Battle of Talavera. - 30 July - British invasion army lands in WalcherenWalcheren CampaignThe Walcheren Campaign was an unsuccessful British expedition to the Netherlands in 1809 intended to open another front in the Austrian Empire's struggle with France during the War of the Fifth Coalition. Around 40,000 soldiers, 15,000 horses together with field artillery and two siege trains...
. - 18 September - A new theatre to hold the Royal Opera HouseRoyal Opera HouseThe Royal Opera House is an opera house and major performing arts venue in Covent Garden, central London. The large building is often referred to as simply "Covent Garden", after a previous use of the site of the opera house's original construction in 1732. It is the home of The Royal Opera, The...
opens 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...
to replace the first burnt down in a fire in 1808 (pictured). The price increases lead to the Old Price RiotsOld Price Riots, 1809The Old Price Riots of 1809 were caused by rising prices at the new Theatre at Covent Garden, London, after the previous one had been destroyed by fire. Covent Garden was one of two “patent” theatres in London in the nineteenth century, along with Drury Lane...
which lasted for 64 days. - 4 October - 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,...
resigns due to ill health; Spencer PercevalSpencer PercevalSpencer Perceval, KC was a British statesman and First Lord of the Treasury, making him de facto Prime Minister. He is the only British Prime Minister to have been assassinated...
takes over as Prime Minister. - 25 October - Statue of Horatio NelsonStatue of Horatio Nelson, BirminghamThe Statue of Horatio Nelson by Richard Westmacott Jr., RA stands in the Bull Ring, Birmingham, England.-Subscription:This bronze statue was the first publicly funded statue in Birmingham, and the first statue of Horatio Nelson in Britain...
by Richard WestmacottRichard WestmacottSir Richard Westmacott, Jr., RA was a British sculptor.-Life and career:He studied under his father, Richard Westmacott the Elder, before going to Rome in 1793 to study under Antonio Canova...
, erected by public subscription, is unveiled in BirminghamBirminghamBirmingham is a city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands of England. It is the most populous British city outside the capital London, with a population of 1,036,900 , and lies at the heart of the West Midlands conurbation, the second most populous urban area in the United Kingdom with a...
, the first statue of Admiral Lord NelsonHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount NelsonHoratio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, 1st Duke of Bronté, KB was a flag officer famous for his service in the Royal Navy, particularly during the Napoleonic Wars. He was noted for his inspirational leadership and superb grasp of strategy and unconventional tactics, which resulted in a number of...
in the country. - 10 November - The Berners Street Hoax: Theodore Hook manages to attract dozens of people to 54 Berners Street in London.
- 25 November - Benjamin Bathurst, a British diplomatDiplomatA diplomat is a person appointed by a state to conduct diplomacy with another state or international organization. The main functions of diplomats revolve around the representation and protection of the interests and nationals of the sending state, as well as the promotion of information and...
, mysteriously disappears (having possibly been murdered) in Perleberg, west of BerlinBerlinBerlin is the capital city of Germany and is one of the 16 states of Germany. With a population of 3.45 million people, Berlin is Germany's largest city. It is the second most populous city proper and the seventh most populous urban area in the European Union...
. - 26 December - British invasion force leaves Vlissingen.
Ongoing
- 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 - Anglo-Russian War, 1807–1812
- Peninsular WarPeninsular WarThe Peninsular War was a war between France and the allied powers of Spain, the United Kingdom, and Portugal for control of the Iberian Peninsula during the Napoleonic Wars. The war began when French and Spanish armies crossed Spain and invaded Portugal in 1807. Then, in 1808, France turned on its...
, 1808–1814
Undated
- "Preventive Water GuardWaterguardThe Waterguard was the name given to a division of HM Customs and Excise responsible for the collection of customs and excise revenue from the passengers and crew of ships and aircraft, and other incoming travellers to the United Kingdom...
", forerunner of Her Majesty's CoastguardHer Majesty's CoastguardHer Majesty's Coastguard is the service of the government of the United Kingdom concerned with co-ordinating air-sea rescue.HM Coastguard is a section of the Maritime and Coastguard Agency responsible for the initiation and co-ordination of all civilian maritime Search and Rescue within the UK...
, formed. - Jenny Pipes becomes the last woman in EnglandEnglandEngland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Scotland to the north and Wales to the west; the Irish Sea is to the north west, the Celtic Sea to the south west, with the North Sea to the east and the English Channel to the south separating it from continental...
to suffer punishment in the ducking stool for being a common scoldCommon scoldIn the common law of crime in England and Wales, a common scold was a species of public nuisance—a troublesome and angry woman who broke the public peace by habitually arguing and quarreling with her neighbours...
, in LeominsterLeominsterLeominster is a market town in Herefordshire, England, located approximately north of the city of Hereford and south of Ludlow, at...
. - William CombeWilliam CombeWilliam Combe was a British miscellaneous writer. His early life was that of an adventurer, his later was passed chiefly within the "rules" of the King's Bench Prison. He is chiefly remembered as the author of The Three Tours of Dr. Syntax, a comic poem...
begins publication of the verse Tour of Dr Syntax in search of the Picturesque in Ackermann's Political Magazine.
Births
- 12 February - Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
, naturalist (died 18821882 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1882 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 25 January — London Chamber of Commerce founded....
) - 7 April - James GlaisherJames GlaisherJames Glaisher FRS , was an English meteorologist and aeronaut.Born in Rotherhithe, the son of a London watchmaker, Glaisher was a Junior assistant at the Cambridge Observatory from 1833 to 1835 before moving to the Royal Greenwich Observatories, where he served as Superintendent of the Department...
, meteorologist and aeronaut (died 19031903 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1903 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King Edward VII*Prime Minister - Arthur Balfour, Conservative-Events:* 1 January - Edward VII is proclaimed Emperor of India....
) - 4 June - John Henry PrattJohn Henry PrattJohn Henry Pratt was a British clergyman and mathematician who devised a theory of crustal balance which would become the basis for the isostasy principle.-Life:...
, clergyman and mathematician (died 18711871 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1871 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...
) - 6 August - Alfred Lord Tennyson, poet (died 18921892 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1892 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative , William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...
) - 27 November - Fanny KembleFanny KembleFrances Anne Kemble , was a famous British actress and author in the early and mid nineteenth century.-Youth and acting career:...
, British-born American actress and writer (died 18931893 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1893 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:...
) - 29 December - William Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, Prime Minister of the United KingdomPrime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
(died 18981898 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1898 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative-Events:...
) - date unknown - Evan JamesEvan JamesEvan James , a weaver and poet from Pontypridd, Wales, wrote the lyrics of Hen Wlad fy Nhadau , the national anthem of Wales....
, lyricist of the Welsh national anthem
Deaths
- 16 January - John MooreJohn Moore (British soldier)Lieutenant-General Sir John Moore, KB was a British soldier and General. He is best known for his military training reforms and for his death at the Battle of Corunna, in which his force was defeated but gained a tactical advantage over a French army under Marshal Soult during the Peninsular...
, British general (killed in battle) (born 17611761 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1761 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Duke of Newcastle, Tory-Events:* 16 January - In India, general Sir Eyre Coote captures Pondicherry from the French....
) - 20 February - Richard GoughRichard Gough (antiquarian)Richard Gough was an English antiquarian.He was born in London, where his father was a wealthy M.P. and director of the British East India Company. In 1751 he entered Corpus Christi College, Cambridge, where he began his work on British topography, published in 1768...
, antiquary (born 17351735 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1735 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 8 January - Premiere of George Frideric Handel's opera Ariodante at the Royal Opera House, Covent Garden....
) - 25 February - John Murray, 4th Earl of DunmoreJohn Murray, 4th Earl of DunmoreJohn Murray, 4th Earl of Dunmore was a British peer and colonial governor. He was the son of William Murray, 3rd Earl of Dunmore, and his wife Catherine . He is best remembered as the last royal governor of the Colony of Virginia.John was the eldest son of William and Catherine Murray, and nephew...
(born 17301730 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1730 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:...
) - 11 March - Hannah CowleyHannah CowleyHannah Cowley was an English dramatist and poet. Although Cowley’s plays and poetry did not enjoy wide popularity after the nineteenth century, critic Melinda Finberg rates Cowley as “one of the foremost playwrights of the late eighteenth century” whose “skill in writing fluid, sparkling dialogue...
, dramatist, poet and social reformer (born 17431743 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1743 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Spencer Compton, Earl of Wilmington, Whig , Henry Pelham, Whig-Events:...
) - 25 March - Anna SewardAnna SewardAnna Seward was an English Romantic poet, often called the Swan of Lichfield.-Life:Seward was the elder daughter of Thomas Seward , prebendary of Lichfield and Salisbury, and author...
, writer (born 17471747 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1747 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Henry Pelham, Whig-Events:* 31 January - The first venereal diseases clinic opens at London Lock Hospital....
) - April - Charles Francis GrevilleCharles Francis GrevilleCharles Francis Greville PC, FRS , was a British antiquarian, collector and politician.-Background:Greville was the second son of Francis Greville, 1st Earl of Warwick, by Elizabeth Hamilton, daughter of Lord Archibald Hamilton...
, founder of Milford Haven, 59 (born 17491749 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1749 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Henry Pelham, Whig-Events:* February - Admiralty revises the command structure of the Royal Navy and issues new Fighting Instructions....
) - 13 May - Beilby PorteusBeilby PorteusBeilby Porteus , successively Bishop of Chester and of London was an Anglican reformer and leading abolitionist in England...
, bishop and abolitionist (born 17311731 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1731 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 16 March - Treaty of Vienna signed between the Holy Roman Empire, Great Britain, the Dutch Republic and Spain....
) - 21 June - Daniel LambertDaniel LambertDaniel Lambert was a gaol keeper and animal breeder from Leicester, England, famous for his unusually large size. After serving four years as an apprentice at an engraving and die casting works in Birmingham, he returned to Leicester around 1788 and succeeded his father as keeper of Leicester's gaol...
, the fattest man in Britain, weighing 52 stones 11 pounds, died in Stamford, Lincolnshire (born 1770) - 18 August - Matthew BoultonMatthew BoultonMatthew Boulton, FRS was an English manufacturer and business partner of Scottish engineer James Watt. In the final quarter of the 18th century the partnership installed hundreds of Boulton & Watt steam engines, which were a great advance on the state of the art, making possible the...
, manufacturer and engineer (born 17281728 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1728 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George II*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:* 29 January - First performance of John Gay's The Beggar's Opera.* March - Spain ends its siege of Gibraltar....
) - 8 October - James ElphinstonJames ElphinstonJames Elphinston was a well noted 18th century Scottish educator, orthographer, phonologist and linguistics expert....
, philologist (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:...
) - 30 October - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd 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,...
, Prime Minister of the United KingdomPrime Minister of the United KingdomThe Prime Minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern Ireland is the Head of Her Majesty's Government in the United Kingdom. The Prime Minister and Cabinet are collectively accountable for their policies and actions to the Sovereign, to Parliament, to their political party and...
(born 17381738 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1738 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George II of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Robert Walpole, Whig-Events:...
) - 9 November - Paul SandbyPaul SandbyPaul Sandby was an English map-maker turned landscape painter in watercolours, who, along with his older brother Thomas, became one of the founding members of the Royal Academy in 1768.-Life and work:...
, cartographer and painter (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....
)