Events
- February–March – brief resignation of government and Cabinet crisis over passage of the Ecclesiastical Titles Act.
- March – sculptor Frederick Scott Archer makes public the wet plate collodion photographic process. [1]
- 12 March – foundation of Owens College, Manchester, predecessor of the Victoria University of Manchester.
- 30 March – the United Kingdom Census 1851 is the first to include detailed ages, date and place of birth, occupations and marital status of those listed. The population of the UK is revealed to have reached 21 million. 6.3 million live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales and such cities account for 35% of the total English population. Uniquely, this census also counts attendance at places of religious worship: it shows that only 35% of the population attend and, of those, nonconformists are in a majority. As part of the legacy of the Great Irish Famine, the population of Ireland has fallen to 6,575,000 – a drop of 1.6 million in ten years. [2]
- 6 April – Henry Edward Manning is received into the Roman Catholic Church.
- 1 May – the Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations in the Crystal Palace, Hyde Park, London is opened by Queen Victoria. [3]
- 26 May – first international chess tournament held in London, organised by Howard Staunton.
- c. June – Sir Edwin Landseer's painting of a Scottish stag, The Monarch of the Glen , is first exhibited, at the Royal Academy Summer Exhibition.
- 5 June – Arsenic Act 1851, placing restrictions on the sale of the substance, comes into force.
- 24 June – abolition of the Window Tax. [4]
- July
- Banker David Salomons attempts to occupy the seat to which he has been elected in the House of Commons but is prevented from doing so since, as a Jew, he is unable to take the oath in the prescribed form.
- Florence Nightingale's father allows her to return to the Institution of Protestant Deaconesses at Kaiserswerth in Germany for 3 months of nurse training. [5]
- 24 July – Housing Acts promoted by the Earl of Shaftesbury are passed:
- Common Lodging Houses Act gives local authorities power to supervise common lodging houses for the poor and migratory people for public health purposes.
- Labouring Classes Lodging Houses Act gives local authorities power to provide lodging houses for single working people, but is little used. [6]
- 1 August – Ecclesiastical Titles Act ("An Act to prevent the Assumption of certain Ecclesiastical Titles in respect of Places in the United Kingdom"), passed into law in response to the previous year's recreation of the Roman Catholic hierarchy by the papal bull Universalis Ecclesiae , attempts to prevent the use of English titles by Catholic bishops; it has no practical effect.
- 22 August – first international challenge for the 100 Guineas Cup yacht race (later known after the winner, America , as the America's Cup) held around the Isle of Wight. [7]
- 15 October – end of the Great Exhibition. [7]
- 23 October – exiled Hungarian regent-president Lajos Kossuth arrives at Southampton. After a tour of the UK and 6 months in the United States, he will spend 8 years in England. [8]
- 24 October – Ariel and Umbriel, moons of Uranus, are discovered by William Lassell. [9]
- 13 November – first protected submarine telegraph cable laid, across the English Channel.
- 19 December – Palmerston is dismissed as Foreign Secretary for sending a congratulatory telegram to Napoleon III on his recent coup d'ėtat. [4]
Undated
- The New Model Union the Amalgamated Society of Engineers, Machinists, Smiths, Millwrights and Patternmakers is formed.
- Royal School of Mines established, as the Government School of Mines and Science Applied to the Art.
- The Royal Marsden is established as the Free Cancer Hospital by surgeon William Marsden in London, the world's first specialist cancer hospital.
- Admiralty determines that Welsh steam coal is the best suited to its ships, giving a boost to the South Wales industry. [10]
- The card game Happy Families is introduced by Jaques of London. [11]