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Literary events
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Social Events
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Charles Dickens publishes Oliver Twist in Periodical form.
The book was published in monthly instalments that began in the month of February 1837 and continued until April 1839. It was originally intended to form part of Dickens's serial "The Mudfog Papers". It was published in three volumes by Richard Bentley, the owner of Bentley's Miscellany, under the author's pseudonym, "Boz". -
Victoria becomes queen of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.
Queen Victoria (Alexandrina Victoria) was born 24 May 1819 and died 22 January 1901. She was the monarch of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 20 June 1837 until her death. From 1 May 1876, she used the additional title of Empress of India. -
William Wordsworth becomes poet laureate.
William Wordsworth was born 7 April 1770 and died 23 April 1850. Was a major English Romantic poet who helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with the 1798 joint publication Lyrical Ballads. With the death of Robert Southe in 1843, Wordsworth became the Poet Laureate. He initially refused the honor, saying he was too old, but accepted when Prime Minister Robert Peel assured him "you shall have nothing required of you" (he became the only laureate to write no official poetry). -
Potato famine begins in Ireland; close to one million people die of starvation or famine-related diseases; massive emigration begins.
In Ireland, the Great Famine was a period of mass starvation, disease and emigration between 1845 and 1852. It is also known, mostly outside Ireland, as the Irish Potato Famine. In the Irish language it is called an Gorta Mór meaning "the Great Hunger" or an Drochshaol, meaning "the bad life". -
Elizabeth Barrett and Robert Browning elope; during their courtship she writes poems included in Songs from the Portuguese.
Her 1844 Poems made her one of the most popular writers in the land, and inspired Robert Browning to write her. A friend of Elizabeth arranged for Robert Browning to come see her in May 1845, and so began one of the most famous courtships in literature. She wrote about their relationship in Sonnets from the Portuguese. Elizabeth and Robert got married secretly in London in 1846 and then they left England to travel through Europe, settling in Florence. -
Ten Hours Act limits the number of hours that women and children can work in factories.
The Factory Acts were a series of Acts passed by the Parliament of the United Kingdom to limit the number of hours worked by women and children. These acts first started in the textile industry, then later in all industries. The factory reform movement spurred the passage of laws to limit the hours that could be worked in factories and mills. The first aim of the movement was for a "ten hours bill" to limit to ten hours the working day of children. -
Charlotte Bronte publishes Jane Eyre; Emily Bronte publishes Wuthering Heights
Wuthering Heights is a novel by Emily Brontë, written between October 1845 and June 1846.It was published in 1847 under the pseudonym "Ellis Bell." It was her first and only published novel: she died aged 30 the following year. The decision to publish came after the success of her sister Charlotte's novel, Jane Eyre. After Emily's death, Charlotte edited the manuscript of Wuthering Heights, and arranged for the edited version to be published as a posthumous second edition in 1850. -
Alfred, Lord Tennyson becomes a poet laureate.
After Wordsworth's death in 1850, and Samuel Rogers' refusal, Tennyson was appointed to the position of Poet Laureate. He held this position until his own death in 1892. This is by far the longest tenure of any laureate before or since. -
Japan opens trade to the West.
Sakoku, (chained country), was the foreign relations policy of Japan. This meant that no foreigner could enter nor could any Japanese leave the country on penalty of death. The policy was enacted in 1633–39 and remained in effect until 1853. It was stopped by the arrival of the Black Ships of Commodore Matthew Perry and the forcible opening of Japan to Western trade. It was still illegal to leave Japan until the Meiji Restoration in 1868. -
The U.S. Civil War begins.
The American Civil War was also known as the War between the States or simply the Civil War. It was a civil war fought from 1861 to 1865 between the United States (the "Union" or the "North") and several Southern slave states. These southern states had declared their secession and formed the Confederate States of America. The war started because of slavery, and, after four years of combat (mostly in the South), the Confederacy was defeated and slavery was abolished.
