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Period: to
Victorian Age
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Catholic Emancipation Act is passed by Parliament
The Roman Catholic Relief Act 1829 (10 Geo IV c.7) was passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom on 24 March 1829, and received Royal Assent on 13 April. It was the culmination of the process of Catholic Emancipation throughout the nation -
Great Reform Act (1st reform Act) is passed by British Parliament
Calls for reform had been mooted long before 1832, but perennially without success. The Act which finally succeeded was proposed by the Whigs led by the Prime Minister Lord Grey. -
Second Reform Act is passed by British Parliament
According to its preamble, the act was designed to "take effectual Measures for correcting divers Abuses that have long prevailed in the Choice of Members to serve in the Commons House of Parliament." -
Slavery is banned in all British colonies
The Slavery Abolition Act 1833 was an 1833 Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom abolishing slavery throughout most of the British Empire. -
Queen Victoria ascends to the throne
Queen Victoria ruled the UK for over 63 years, longer than any other British monarch. Her reign coincided with the height of the Industrial Revolution and was marked by significant social, economic, and technological changes in the UK. Though the Irish Potato Famine adversely affected Victoria's popularity, she was mostly well liked -
Irish Potato Famine begins
Famine fever"--cholera, dysentery, scurvy, typhus, and infestations of lice--soon spread through the Irish countryside. Observers reported seeing children crying with pain and looking "like skeletons, their features sharpened with hunger and their limbs wasted, so that there was little left but bones." Masses of bodies were buried without coffins, a few inches below the soil. -
Use of Secret Ballot in Great Britain passes
The secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are confidential. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of political privacy. -
British Parliament ends all public hangings
The modern expression Gala Day is derived from the Anglo-Saxon gallows day. After hangings retreated inside prisons, large crowds would still often gather outside the gates to see the posting of the death notice or to protest the execution. -
Queen Victoria dies
The queen dies -
All women 30 and older gain the right to vote in Great Britain
The 1918 Representation of the People Act was the start of female suffrage in Great Britain. The bill was passed by an overwhelming majority in the House of Commons (385 for to 55 against)