4 January – wooden paddle steamer RMS Amazon catches fire and sinks on her maiden voyage in the Bay of Biscay with between 105 and 115 killed and 58 saved.[1]
17 January – United Kingdom recognises the independence of the Transvaal.
25 February – HMSBirkenhead sinks near Cape Town, British Cape Colony. Only 193 of the 643 on board survive, after troops stand firm on the deck so as not to overwhelm the lifeboats containing women and children.
19 October – last fatal duel on English soil takes place on Priest Hill, between Englefield Green and Old Windsor, between two French political exiles Emmanuel Barthélemy and Frederic Cournet.[15] Cournet is killed; Barthélemy is tried for murder but convicted only of manslaughter and serves a few months in prison. He is hanged two years later after another killing.
1–30 November – second-wettest month in the EWP series (wettest until 1903) with an average of 202.5 millimetres (7.97in).[16] It beats November 1772 with 200.8 millimetres (7.91in).
17 December – Earl of Derby resigns as Prime Minister, following the defeat of his budget.[5]
End of the Great Famine (Ireland).[17] In the period it has lasted since 1845, one million people have emigrated from Ireland. The Irish now make up a quarter of the population of Liverpool, and the same is true of cities on the east coast of North America.
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