Timeline: Mary Craxford: The Craxford Family Genealogy Magazine

1782 - 1803 (~ 20 years)

	Date	Event(s)
1	1782	1782: Gilbert's Act establishes outdoor poor relief – the way of life of the poor beginning to alter due to industrialisation – New factories in rapidly expanding towns required a workforce that would adjust to new work patterns 1782: James Watt patents his steam engine
2	1783	1783: Duty payable on Parish Register entries (3d per entry – repealed 1794) – led to a fall in entries! 3 Sep 1783: Treaty of Versailles (Britain/US) 3 Nov 1783: Last public execution at Tyburn in London (John Austin, a highwayman)
3	1784	1784: Pitt's India Act – the Crown (as opposed to officers of the East India Company) has power to guide Indian politics 1784: Wesley breaks with the Church of England 1784: First golf club founded at St Andrews 1784: Invention of threshing machine by Andrew Meikle 2 Aug 1784: First mail coaches in England (4pm Bristol / 8am London)
4	1785	1785: Sunday School Society founded to educate poor children (by 1851, enrols more than 2 million) 1 Jan 1785: John Walter publishes first edition of The Times (called The Daily Universal Register for 3 years)
5	1787	1787: MCC (Marylebone Cricket Club) established at Thomas Lord's ground in London
6	1788	1788: First steamboat demonstrated in Scotland 1788: Law passed requiring that chimney sweepers be a minimum of 8 years old (not enforced) 1788: First slave carrying act, the Dolben Act of 1788, regulates the slave trade – stipulates more humane conditions on slave ships 1788: King George III's mental illness occasions the Regency Crisis – Edmund Burke and Charles James Fox attack ministry of William Pitt – trying to obtain full regal powers for the Prince of Wales 1788: Gibbon completes "Decline and Fall of the Roman Empire" 26 Jan 1788: First convicts (and free settlers) arrive in New South Wales (left Portsmouth 13 May 1787) — the 'First Fleet'; eleven ships commanded by Captain Arthur Phillip
7	1789	28 Apr 1789: Mutiny on HMS Bounty – Captain William Bligh and 18 sailors are set adrift and the rebel crew ends up on Pitcairn Island
8	1790	1790: Forth and Clyde Canal opened in Scotland
9	1791	1791: John Bell, printer, abandons the "long s" (the "s" that looks like an "f") 1791: Establishment of the Ordnance Survey of Great Britain 4 Dec 1791: First publication of The Observer – world's oldest Sunday newspaper
10	1792	1792: Repression in Britain (restrictions on freedom of the press) – Fox gets Libel Act through Parliament, requiring a jury and not a judge to determine libel 1792: Boyle's Street Directory published 1792: Coal-gas lighting invented by William Murdock, an Ayrshire Scot 1 Oct 1792: Introduction of Money Orders in Britain 1 Dec 1792: King's Proclamation drawing out the British militia
11	1793	11 Feb 1793: Britain declares war on France (1793-1802) 15 Apr 1793: £5 notes first issued by the Bank of England
12	1794	1794: Abolition of Parish Register duties 6 Oct 1794: The prosecutor for Britain, Lord Justice Eyre, charges reformers with High Treason – he argued that, since reform of parliament would lead to revolution and revolution to executing the King, the desire for reform endangered the King's life and was therefore treasonous
13	1795	1795: The Famine Year 1795: Foundation of the Orange Order 1795: Speenhamland Act proclaims that the Parish is responsible for bringing up the labourer's wage to subsistence level – towards the end of the eighteenth century, the number of poor and unemployed increased dramatically – price increases during the Napoleonic Wars (1793-1815) far outstripped wage rises – many small farmers were bankrupted by the move towards enclosures and became landless labourers – their wages were often pitifully low 1795: Pitt and Grenville introduce "The Gagging Acts" or "Two Bills" (the Seditious Meetings and Treasonable Practices Bills) – outlawed the mass meeting and the political lecture. 1795: Consumption of lime juice made compulsory in Royal Navy
14	1796	1796: Pitt's "Reign of Terror": More treason trials – leading radicals emigrate 1796: Legacy Tax on sums over £20 excluding those to wives, children, parents and grandparents 14 May 1796: Dr Edward Jenner gave first vaccination for smallpox in England
15	1797	1797: England in Crisis, Bank of England suspends cash payments 1797: Mutinies in the British Navy at Spithead and Nore 1797: Tax on newspapers (including cheap, topical journals) increased to repress radical publications 1797: The first copper pennies were produced ('cartwheels') by application of steam power to the coining press 22 Feb 1797: French invade Fishguard, Wales; last time UK invaded; all captured 2 days later 26 Feb 1797: First £1 (and £2) notes issued by Bank of England
16	1798	1798: First planned human experiment with vaccination, to test theories of Edward Jenner Feb 1798: The Irish Rebellion; 100,000 peasants revolt; approximately 25,000 die – Irish Parliament abolished (Feb-Oct) 1 Aug 1798: Battle of the Nile (won by Nelson)
17	1799	1799: Foundation of Royal Military College Sandhurst by the Duke of York 1799: Foundation of the Royal Institution of Great Britain 9 Jan 1799: Pitt brings in 10% income tax, as a wartime financial measure 12 Jul 1799: 'Combination Laws' in Britain against political associations and combinations 15 Jul 1799: "Rosetta Stone" discovered in Egypt, made possible the deciphering (in 1822) of Ancient Egyptian hieroglyphics
18	1800	1800: Electric light first produced by Sir Humphrey Davy 1800: Use of high pressure steam pioneered by Richard Trevithick (1771-1833) 1800: Royal College of Surgeons founded 1800: Herschel discovers infra-red light 1800: Volta makes first electrical battery 2 Jul 1800: Parliamentary union of Great Britain and Ireland
19	1801	1801: Grand Union Canal opens in England 1801: Elgin Marbles brought from Athens to London 1 Jan 1801: Union Jack becomes the official British flag 10 Mar 1801: First census puts the population of England and Wales at 9,168,000. Population of Britain nearly 11 million (75% rural) 24 Dec 1801: Richard Trevithick built the first self-propelled passenger carrying road loco
20	1802	25 Mar 1802: Treaty of Amiens signed by Britain, France, Spain, and the Netherlands – the "Peace of Amiens," as it was known, brought a temporary peace of 14 months during the Napoleonic Wars – one of its most important cultural effects was that travel and correspondence across the English Channel became possible again
21	1803	1803: Poaching made a Capital offence in England if capture resisted 1803: Richard Trevithick built another steam carriage and ran it in London as the first self-propelled vehicle in the capital and the first London bus 1803: Semaphore signalling perfected by Admiral Popham 30 Apr 1803: Louisiana Purchase: Napoleon sells French possessions in America to United States 12 May 1803: Peace of Amiens ends – resumption of war with France – The Napoleonic Wars (1803-18l5) 23 Jul 1803: First public railway opens (Surrey Iron Railway, 9 miles from Wandsworth to Croydon, horse-drawn)

Return to Top of Page