1808 in the United Kingdom
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 1808 in the United Kingdom: |
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Events from the year 1808 in the United Kingdom.
Contents |
[edit] Incumbents
- Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom
- Prime Minister - William Cavendish-Bentinck, 3rd Duke of Portland, Tory
[edit] Events
- 1 January - Sierra Leone becomes a British Crown Colony.[1]
- 20 July - Henry Crabb Robinson makes the first despatch from a specialist war reporter, to The Times newspaper.[1]
- 1 August - Peninsular War: British expeditionary force lands near Oporto.[1]
- 21 August - Peninsular War: British-Portuguese victory over the French at the Battle of Vimeiro.[2]
- 20 December - the original Covent Garden Theatre in London was destroyed by a fire along with most of the scenery, costumes and scripts.
[edit] Undated
- West Africa Squadron established to suppress the slave trade along the coast of West Africa.[3]
- Barium, calcium, magnesium and strontium isolated by Sir Humphry Davy.
- John Dalton publishes New System of Chemical Philosophy, explaining his atomic theory of chemistry.
[edit] Births
- 20 March - Charles Henry Cooper, antiquarian (died 1866)
- 27 April - William Cavendish, 7th Duke of Devonshire, politician (died 1891)
- 2 May - Emma Darwin, wife of Charles Darwin (died 1896)
- 12 May - Edwin Abbott, educator (died 1882)
- 12 June - George Wilshere, 1st Baron Bramwell, judge (died 1892)
- 11 June - James Ballantine, artist and author (died 1877)
- 19 June - Montagu Bertie, 6th Earl of Abingdon, politician (died 1884)
- 1 July - Henry Doubleday, entomologist and ornithologist (died 1875)
- 15 July - Henry Cole, civil servant (died 1882)
- 30 July - Frederick Nicholls Crouch, composer and cellist (died 1896)
- 19 August - James Nasmyth, engineer (died 1890)
- 24 August - William Lindsay Alexander, church leader (died 1884)
- 5 September - Arthur William Buller, Member of Parliament (died 1869)
- 15 September - John Hutton Balfour, botanist (died 1884)
- 6 November - Thomas Legh Claughton, academic, poet and clergyman (died 1892)
- 22 November - Thomas Cook, travel entrepreneur (died 1892)
[edit] Unknown dates
- Caroline Chisholm, humanitarian (died 1877)
- Henry Fothergill Chorley, critic (died 1872)
- William Cureton, Orientalist (died 1864)
[edit] Deaths
- 28 May - Richard Hurd, bishop and writer (born 1720)
- 5 September - John Home, writer (born 1722)
- 10 November - Guy Carleton, 1st Baron Dorchester, soldier and governor of Quebec (born 1724)
- Theophilus Lindsey, theologian (born 1723)
[edit] References
- ^ a b c Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd, 242-243. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ (2006) Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ British History Timeline, BBC History
