Events
- 2 February – John Henry Newman founds the first Oratory in the English-speaking world when he establishes the Birmingham Oratory at 'Maryvale', Old Oscott.
- 15 February – The Caledonian Railway is opened throughout between Edinburgh, Carstairs and Carlisle, completing a through rail route from London by the West Coast Main Line and providing the first service of through carriages between Scotland and England. [1]
- 17 February – John Bird Sumner is nominated archbishop of Canterbury.
- 24 February – Amid a revolt, French King Louis-Philippe abdicates and escapes to England.
- 29 March – Queen's College, London, founded, the world's first school to award academic qualifications to young women.
- 8 April – Queen Victoria leaves London for the Isle of Wight under threat of civil unrest.
- 10 April – A 'Monster' Chartist rally is held in Kennington Park, London, headed by Feargus O'Connor. A petition demanding the franchise is presented to Parliament.
- 18 April – Second Anglo-Sikh War breaks out in the Punjab.
- 21 April–23 November – Chopin visits London and Scotland, his last public appearance on a concert platform being on 16 November at the Guildhall, London. [2]
- 22 April – Treason Felony Act passed, reducing certain categories of capital high treason to felony punishable by penal transportation.
- May – Huddersfield workhouse scandal: an inquiry reveals the poor conditions in which inmates have been kept.
- 30 May – The Prudential Mutual Assurance Investment and Loan Association is established at Hatton Garden in London to provide loans to professional and working people. [3]
- July – Great Famine (Ireland): Potato blight has returned and outbreaks of cholera are reported. Famine victims on outdoor relief peak this month at almost 840,000 people. [4]
- 4 July – St George's Cathedral, Southwark, is opened as a Roman Catholic church, designed by Augustus Pugin.
- 11 July – London Waterloo station opens. [5]
- 26 July – Matale Rebellion against British rule in Sri Lanka.
- 29 July – Young Irelander Rebellion at Ballingarry, South Tipperary, is broken up by the Irish Constabulary. [6]
- 24 August – The U.S. barque Ocean Monarch is burnt out off the Great Orme, North Wales, with the loss of 178, chiefly emigrants. [7]
- 26 August – The Plymouth Brethren split into the Exclusive and Open Brethren.
- 31 August – The Public Health Act receives Royal Assent, establishing Boards of Health across England and Wales and paving the way for considerable improvements in public sanitation to counter endemic cholera in British cities. [6] This year the third cholera pandemic reaches the UK.
- 16 September – William Lassell independently co-discovers Hyperion, one of the moons of Saturn. [8]
- 1 November – First W H Smith bookstall at a railway station opens, at Euston Station, in London. [6] [5]
- 21 November – First convicts arrive at HM Prison Portland, the first in which inmates are required to serve on public works (in this case, quarrying stone for Portland Harbour breakwaters). [9]
- 22 November – Battle of Ramnagar: Lord Gough makes some strategic blunders and British cavalry are repulsed with heavy losses, resulting in a Sikh victory. [10]
- 28 November – Murders at Stanfield Hall: Norfolk tenant farmer James Rush shoots and kills his landlord and his landlord's son in an elaborate attempt to avoid eviction. [11]
- 23 December – A picture of the royal family gathered around a Christmas tree at Windsor Castle appears on the cover of The Illustrated London News (special Christmas supplement), popularising the custom of the tree in Britain.
Undated
- New Anglican sisterhoods founded: Society of the Most Holy Trinity (the 'Devonport Sisters' or Ascot Priory) is established by Lydia Sellon to minister to the poor in the seafaring community of Devonport [12] and the Community of St Mary the Virgin is founded at Wantage. [13]
- Cambridge rules for Association football drawn up.
- British, Dutch and German governments lay claim to New Guinea.