Events from the year 1875 in the United Kingdom.
Incumbents
*
Monarch
A monarch is a head of stateWebster's II New College DictionarMonarch Houghton Mifflin. Boston. 2001. p. 707. Life tenure, for life or until abdication, and therefore the head of state of a monarchy. A monarch may exercise the highest authority ...
–
Victoria
*
Prime Minister
A prime minister, premier or chief of cabinet is the head of the cabinet and the leader of the ministers in the executive branch of government, often in a parliamentary or semi-presidential system. Under those systems, a prime minister is not ...
–
Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
(
Conservative)
*
Parliament
In modern politics, and history, a parliament is a legislative body of government. Generally, a modern parliament has three functions: Representation (politics), representing the Election#Suffrage, electorate, making laws, and overseeing ...
–
21st
Events
![Trial by Jury - Chaos in the Courtroom](https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/d/d0/Trial_by_Jury_-_Chaos_in_the_Courtroom.png)
* 1 January – the
Midland Railway
The Midland Railway (MR) was a railway company in the United Kingdom from 1844. The Midland was one of the largest railway companies in Britain in the early 20th century, and the largest employer in Derby, where it had its headquarters. It am ...
abolishes Second Class, leaving First Class and Third Class, the latter having passenger facilities upgraded to the former Second Class level. Other British railway companies follow this lead during the year and later. (Third Class is renamed Second Class in 1956.)
* 21 January –
Preston North End F.C.
Preston North End Football Club, commonly referred to as Preston, North End or PNE, is a professional football club in Preston, Lancashire, England, who currently play in the EFL Championship, the second tier of the English football league syste ...
move into their new stadium at
Deepdale.
* 25 March – ''
Trial by Jury
A jury trial, or trial by jury, is a legal proceeding in which a jury makes a decision or findings of fact. It is distinguished from a bench trial in which a judge or panel of judges makes all decisions.
Jury trials are used in a significant ...
'', the first surviving
Gilbert and Sullivan
Gilbert and Sullivan was a Victorian era, Victorian-era theatrical partnership of the dramatist W. S. Gilbert (1836–1911) and the composer Arthur Sullivan (1842–1900), who jointly created fourteen comic operas between 1871 and 1896, of which ...
opera, premières.
* 1 April – ''
The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' publishes the first daily
weather map
A weather map, also known as synoptic weather chart, displays various meteorological features across a particular area at a particular point in time and has various symbols which all have specific meanings. Such maps have been in use since the m ...
.
* 16 April –
Martha Merington becomes the first woman member of a
Board of guardians under the
Poor Law
In English and British history, poor relief refers to government and ecclesiastical action to relieve poverty. Over the centuries, various authorities have needed to decide whose poverty deserves relief and also who should bear the cost of hel ...
, in the London Borough of
Kensington
Kensington is a district in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea in the West End of London, West of Central London.
The district's commercial heart is Kensington High Street, running on an east–west axis. The north-east is taken up b ...
.
* 7 May – German liner is wrecked on rocks off the
Isles of Scilly
The Isles of Scilly (; kw, Syllan, ', or ) is an archipelago off the southwestern tip of Cornwall, England. One of the islands, St Agnes, is the most southerly point in Britain, being over further south than the most southerly point of the ...
with the loss of 311 lives.
* 29 May –
British Arctic Expedition:
George Nares
Vice-Admiral Sir George Strong Nares (24 April 1831 – 15 January 1915) was a Royal Navy officer and Arctic explorer. He commanded the ''Challenger'' Expedition, and the British Arctic Expedition. He was highly thought of as a leader an ...
sets sail on an expedition to attempt to reach the
North Pole
The North Pole, also known as the Geographic North Pole or Terrestrial North Pole, is the point in the Northern Hemisphere where the Earth's axis of rotation meets its surface. It is called the True North Pole to distinguish from the Mag ...
via
Smith Sound
Smith Sound ( da, Smith Sund; french: Détroit de Smith) is an uninhabited Arctic sea passage between Greenland and Canada's northernmost island, Ellesmere Island. It links Baffin Bay with Kane Basin and forms part of the Nares Strait.
On the ...
.
* 29 June –
Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875
The Artisans' and Labourers' Dwellings Improvement Act 1875 (38 & 39 Vict c 36) was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom designed by Richard Cross, Home Secretary during Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli's second Conservative Governme ...
is passed to permit
slum clearance
Slum clearance, slum eviction or slum removal is an urban renewal strategy used to transform low income settlements with poor reputation into another type of development or housing. This has long been a strategy for redeveloping urban communities; ...
.
* 6 July – opening of first passenger
funicular
A funicular (, , ) is a type of cable railway system that connects points along a railway track laid on a steep slope. The system is characterized by two counterbalanced carriages (also called cars or trains) permanently attached to opposite en ...
in the UK, the
South Cliff Lift
The United Kingdom, British town of Scarborough, North Yorkshire, Scarborough has had a total of five Funicular, cliff railways, or funiculars, two of which are presently operational. The town is home to the first funicular railway in the Unite ...
at
Scarborough, North Yorkshire
Scarborough () is a seaside town in the Borough of Scarborough in North Yorkshire, England. Scarborough is located on the North Sea coastline. Historic counties of England, Historically in the North Riding of Yorkshire, the town lies between 10 ...
.
* 31 July –
Public Health Act 1875
The Public Health Act 1875c 55 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom, one of the Public Health Acts, and a significant step in the advancement of public health in England.
Its purpose was to codify previous measures aimed at combatin ...
establishes a code of practice for
sanitation
Sanitation refers to public health conditions related to clean drinking water and treatment and disposal of human excreta and sewage. Preventing human contact with feces is part of sanitation, as is hand washing with soap. Sanitation systems ...
across the country.
* 6 August – Scottish football team
Hibernian F.C.
Hibernian Football Club (), commonly known as Hibs, is a professional football club based in the Leith area of Edinburgh, Scotland. The club plays in the Scottish Premiership, the top tier of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL). ...
is founded by Irishmen in
Edinburgh
Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...
.
* 11 August
**
Food and Drugs Act makes
adulteration of food or drugs an offence.
[
** ]Offences against the Person Act
Offences Against the Person Act (with its variations) is a stock short title used for legislation in the United Kingdom, in the Republic of Ireland, in Hong Kong, in New Zealand, in Tasmania, in Jamaica, and in Antigua and Barbuda, relating to of ...
effectively raises the age of consent
The age of consent is the age at which a person is considered to be legally competent to consent to sexual acts. Consequently, an adult who engages in sexual activity with a person younger than the age of consent is unable to legally claim ...
in England, Wales and Ireland from twelve to thirteen.
* 25 August – Captain Matthew Webb
Captain Matthew Webb (19 January 1848 – 24 July 1883) was an English swimmer and stuntman. He is the first recorded person to swim the English Channel for sport without the use of artificial aids. In 1875, Webb swam from Dover to Calais in l ...
becomes the first person to swim the English Channel
The English Channel, "The Sleeve"; nrf, la Maunche, "The Sleeve" (Cotentinais) or ( Jèrriais), (Guernésiais), "The Channel"; br, Mor Breizh, "Sea of Brittany"; cy, Môr Udd, "Lord's Sea"; kw, Mor Bretannek, "British Sea"; nl, Het Kana ...
.
* 27 September – American merchant sailing ship ''Ellen Southard
''Ellen Southard'' was an American full-rigged merchant ship from Bath, Maine that was built in 1863 by prominent shipbuilder T.J. Southard. She plied international trade routes for twelve years, calling at ports as far away as Sydney.
On 27 ...
'' is wrecked off Liverpool
Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a popul ...
; 12 crew and life-boatmen are lost.
* September
** Joseph Bazalgette
Sir Joseph William Bazalgette CB (; 28 March 181915 March 1891) was a 19th-century English civil engineer. As chief engineer of London's Metropolitan Board of Works, his major achievement was the creation (in response to the Great Stink of 1 ...
completes the 30-year construction of London's sewer system.[
** ]Association football
Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...
team Birmingham City F.C.
Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first tea ...
is founded as Small Heath Alliance in Birmingham
Birmingham ( ) is a city and metropolitan borough in the metropolitan county of West Midlands in England. It is the second-largest city in the United Kingdom with a population of 1.145 million in the city proper, 2.92 million in the West ...
by a group of cricketers from Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley
Holy Trinity Church, Bordesley is a Grade II listed former Church of England parish church at Camp Hill, Bordesley, Birmingham, England.
History
An example of a Commissioners' church the church was built between 1820 and 1822 by the architec ...
, playing its first match in November.
* 5 November – Blackburn Rovers F.C.
Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. Th ...
is founded by two old-boys of Shrewsbury School
Shrewsbury School is a public school (English independent boarding school for pupils aged 13 –18) in Shrewsbury.
Founded in 1552 by Edward VI by Royal Charter, it was originally a boarding school for boys; girls have been admitted into the ...
following a meeting at the Leger Hotel, Blackburn.
* 26 November – ''The Times
''The Times'' is a British daily national newspaper based in London. It began in 1785 under the title ''The Daily Universal Register'', adopting its current name on 1 January 1788. ''The Times'' and its sister paper ''The Sunday Times'' (fou ...
'' newspaper reveals that Isma'il Pasha
Isma'il Pasha ( ar, إسماعيل باشا ; 12 January 1830 – 2 March 1895), was the Khedive of Egypt and conqueror of Sudan from 1863 to 1879, when he was removed at the behest of Great Britain. Sharing the ambitious outlook of his gran ...
has sold Egypt
Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...
's 44% share in the Suez Canal
The Suez Canal ( arz, قَنَاةُ ٱلسُّوَيْسِ, ') is an artificial sea-level waterway in Egypt, connecting the Mediterranean Sea to the Red Sea through the Isthmus of Suez and dividing Africa and Asia. The long canal is a popular ...
to Britain in a deal secured by Benjamin Disraeli
Benjamin Disraeli, 1st Earl of Beaconsfield, (21 December 1804 – 19 April 1881) was a British statesman and Conservative politician who twice served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. He played a central role in the creation o ...
without the prior sanction of the British Parliament.
* 6 December
** German emigrant ship SS ''Deutschland'' (built in Scotland 1866) runs aground on Kentish Knock
The Kentish Knock is a long shoal (bank, shallows) in the North Sea east of Essex, England. It is the most easterly of those of the Thames Estuary and its core, which is shallower than , extends . Thus it is a major hazard to deep-draught navigat ...
resulting in the death of 157 passengers and crew and inspiring Gerard Manley Hopkins
Gerard Manley Hopkins (28 July 1844 – 8 June 1889) was an English poet and Jesuit priest, whose posthumous fame placed him among leading Victorian poets. His prosody – notably his concept of sprung rhythm – established him as an innovato ...
' poem ''The Wreck of the Deutschland
''The Wreck of the Deutschland'' is a 35-stanza ode by Gerard Manley Hopkins with Christian poetry, Christian themes, composed in 1875 and 1876, though not published until 1918. The poem depicts the shipwreck of the SS Deutschland (1866), SS ''D ...
''.
** A firedamp
Firedamp is any flammable gas found in coal mines, typically coalbed methane. It is particularly found in areas where the coal is bituminous. The gas accumulates in pockets in the coal and adjacent strata and when they are penetrated the releas ...
explosion
An explosion is a rapid expansion in volume associated with an extreme outward release of energy, usually with the generation of high temperatures and release of high-pressure gases. Supersonic explosions created by high explosives are known ...
at Swaithe Main Colliery in the South Yorkshire Coalfield
The South Yorkshire Coalfield is so named from its position within Yorkshire. It covers most of South Yorkshire, West Yorkshire and a small part of North Yorkshire. The exposed coalfield outcrops in the Pennine foothills and dips under Permian ro ...
results in the death of 143 miners.
* At Wimbledon
Wimbledon most often refers to:
* Wimbledon, London, a district of southwest London
* Wimbledon Championships, the oldest tennis tournament in the world and one of the four Grand Slam championships
Wimbledon may also refer to:
Places London
* ...
, Henry Cavendish Jones convinces the All England Croquet Club to replace a croquet court with a lawn tennis court.
* William Morris
William Morris (24 March 1834 – 3 October 1896) was a British textile designer, poet, artist, novelist, architectural conservationist, printer, translator and socialist activist associated with the British Arts and Crafts Movement. He ...
's '' Acanthus'' wallpaper design is produced.
Publications
* Helen Mathers
Ellen Buckingham Mathews (1849–1920) was a popular female English novelist during the late 19th and early 20th centuries. She was also known as Mrs Reeves after her marriage in 1877 to Dr. Henry Albert Reeves (1841–1914) but was best known u ...
' novel ''Comin' thro' the Rye''.
* Anthony Trollope
Anthony Trollope (; 24 April 1815 – 6 December 1882) was an English novelist and civil servant of the Victorian era. Among his best-known works is a series of novels collectively known as the '' Chronicles of Barsetshire'', which revolves ar ...
's novel '' The Way We Live Now''.
Births
* 4 January – William Williams, Welsh poet and Archdruid (died 1968)
* 6 February – Cyril Garbett, Anglican prelate, Archbishop of York
The archbishop of York is a senior bishop in the Church of England, second only to the archbishop of Canterbury. The archbishop is the diocesan bishop of the Diocese of York and the metropolitan bishop of the province of York, which covers th ...
(died 1955)
* 1 April – Edgar Wallace, born Richard Horatio Edgar, writer (died 1932)
* 12 May – Charles Holden, architect (died 1960)
* 31 May – Rosa May Billinghurst
Rosa May Billinghurst (31 May 1875 – 29 July 1953) was a British suffragette and women's rights activist. She was known popularly as the "cripple suffragette" as she campaigned in a tricycle.
Early life
She was born in 1875 in Lewisham, Londo ...
, women's suffrage activist (died 1953)
* 9 June – Henry Hallett Dale
Sir Henry Hallett Dale (9 June 1875 – 23 July 1968) was an English pharmacologist and physiologist. For his study of acetylcholine as agent in the chemical transmission of nerve pulses (neurotransmission) he shared the 1936 Nobel Prize in Ph ...
, pharmacologist and physiologist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1968)
* 15 August – Samuel Coleridge-Taylor, composer (died 1912)
* 26 August – John Buchan
John Buchan, 1st Baron Tweedsmuir (; 26 August 1875 – 11 February 1940) was a Scottish novelist, historian, and Unionist politician who served as Governor General of Canada, the 15th since Canadian Confederation.
After a brief legal career ...
, novelist and politician (died 1940)
* 10 September – John Evans, Welsh politician (died 1961)
* 18 September – Arthur Henry Knighton-Hammond
Arthur Henry Knighton-Hammond (18 September 1875 – 28 February 1970) was born in Arnold, Nottinghamshire as Arthur Henry Hammond. Knighton-Hammond was an English artist best known for landscapes, society portraits and industrial paintings. Kn ...
, watercolourist (died 1970)
* 26 September – Eric Geddes
Sir Eric Campbell Geddes (26 September 1875 – 22 June 1937) was a British businessman and Conservative politician. With a background in railways, he served as head of Military Transportation on the Western Front, with the rank of major-ge ...
, transport manager and politician (died 1937)
* 12 October – Aleister Crowley, occultist (died 1947)
* 26 October – Sir Lewis Casson
Sir Lewis Thomas Casson MC (26 October 187516 May 1969) was an English actor and theatre director, and the husband of actress Dame Sybil Thorndike.Devlin, DianaCasson, Sir Lewis Thomas (1875–1969) ''The Oxford Dictionary of National Biograph ...
, actor and theatre director (died 1969)
* 11 November – Johnny Jenkins
Johnny Edward Jenkins (March 5, 1939 – June 26, 2006) was an American left-handed blues guitarist, who helped launch the career of Otis Redding. His flamboyant style of guitar playing also influenced Jimi Hendrix.
Career
In the 1960s Je ...
, Welsh-born racing driver (died 1945)
* 3 December – Clara Rackham
Clara Dorothea Tabor Rackham (3 December 1875 – 11 March 1966) was an English feminist and politician active in the women's suffrage movement, the Women's Co-operative Guild, the peace movement, adult education, the family planning movement, an ...
, women's suffrage activist (died 1966)
* 6 December – Evelyn Underhill, writer on Christian mysticism (died 1941)
* 9 December – Grace Hadow, activist for women's advancement (died 1940)
* 20 December – T. F. Powys
Theodore Francis Powys (20 December 1875 – 27 November 1953) – published as T. F. Powys – was a British novelist and short-story writer."Powys, Theodore Francis" in Christine L. Krueger, ''Encyclopedia of British Writers, 19th and 20th Ce ...
, Anglo-Welsh writer (died 1953)
Deaths
* 23 January – Charles Kingsley
Charles Kingsley (12 June 1819 – 23 January 1875) was a broad church priest of the Church of England, a university professor, social reformer, historian, novelist and poet. He is particularly associated with Christian socialism, the working ...
, novelist (born 1819)
* 25 January – George Myers, master builder (born 1803)
* 22 February – Sir Charles Lyell
Sir Charles Lyell, 1st Baronet, (14 November 1797 – 22 February 1875) was a Scottish geologist who demonstrated the power of known natural causes in explaining the earth's history. He is best known as the author of ''Principles of Geolo ...
, Scottish geologist (born 1797)
* 7 March
** Sir James Hope Grant
General Sir James Hope Grant, GCB (22 July 1808 – 7 March 1875) was a British Army officer. He served in the First Opium War, First Anglo-Sikh War, Indian Rebellion of 1857, and Second Opium War.
Early life
Grant was the fifth and younge ...
, military leader (born 1808)
** John Edward Gray
John Edward Gray, FRS (12 February 1800 – 7 March 1875) was a British zoologist. He was the elder brother of zoologist George Robert Gray and son of the pharmacologist and botanist Samuel Frederick Gray (1766–1828). The same is used for ...
, zoologist (born 1800)
* 22 March – Alexander Thomson, architect in the Greek Revival style (born 1817)
* 3 April – William Gibbs, businessman, richest commoner (born 1790)
* 1 May – Alfred Stevens, sculptor (born 1817)
* 22 May – John Sinclair, Archdeacon of Middlesex (born 1797)
* 29 June – Henry Doubleday, entomologist and ornithologist (born 1808)
* 27 July – Connop Thirlwall, bishop (born 1797)
* 19 August – Robert Ellis (Cynddelw), Welsh language poet, biographer, lexicographer and Baptist minister (born 1812)
* 9 September – Sir Charles Elliot, admiral, diplomat and colonial administrator (died 1875)
* 19 October – Sir Charles Wheatstone, physicist (born 1802)
* 29 October – John Gardner Wilkinson
Sir John Gardner Wilkinson (5 October 1797 – 29 October 1875) was an English traveller, writer and pioneer Egyptologist of the 19th century. He is often referred to as "the Father of British Egyptology".
Childhood and education
Wilkinson ...
, traveller, writer and Egyptologist (born 1797)
* 27 November – Richard Christopher Carrington, astronomer (born 1826)
* 23 December – Charles Frederick, admiral, Third Sea Lord (born 1797)
* 25 December – Young Tom Morris
Thomas Morris (20 April 1851 – 25 December 1875), known as Tom Morris Junior, Young Tom Morris and also Tommy Morris, was a Scottish professional golfer. He is considered one of the pioneers of professional golf, and was the first young prodig ...
, Scottish golfer (born 1851)
References
{{Year in Europe, 1875
Years of the 19th century in the United Kingdom
1875 by country
1870s in the United Kingdom
1875 in Europe