Events from the year 1804 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 ...

–

George III George III (George William Frederick; 4 June 173829 January 1820) was King of Great Britain and of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two kingdoms on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Br ...

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 ...

–

Henry Addington Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth, (30 May 175715 February 1844) was an English Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1801 to 1804. Addington is best known for obtaining the Treaty of Amiens in 1802, an ...

(

Tory A Tory () is a person who holds a political philosophy known as Toryism, based on a British version of traditionalism and conservatism, which upholds the supremacy of social order as it has evolved in the English culture throughout history. Th ...

) (until 10 May),

William Pitt the Younger William Pitt the Younger (28 May 175923 January 1806) was a British statesman, the youngest and last prime minister of Great Britain (before the Acts of Union 1800) and then first prime minister of the United Kingdom (of Great Britain and Ire ...

(

) (starting 10 May) *

Foreign Secretary The secretary of state for foreign, Commonwealth and development affairs, known as the foreign secretary, is a minister of the Crown of the Government of the United Kingdom and head of the Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office. Seen as ...

– Lord Hawkesbury (until 14 May) Dudley Ryder, 1st Earl of Harrowby (from 14 May) *

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 ...

–

2nd A second is the base unit of time in the International System of Units (SI). Second, Seconds or 2nd may also refer to: Mathematics * 2 (number), as an ordinal (also written as ''2nd'' or ''2d'') * Second of arc, an angular measurement unit ...

Events

* January – flounders on patrol off Scotland, apparently striking the Inchcape rock, with the loss of all 491 on board. * 3 January – Hammersmith Ghost murder case. * 21 February – the

Cornishman The Cornish people or Cornish ( kw, Kernowyon, ang, Cornƿīelisċ) are an ethnic group native to, or associated with Cornwall: and a recognised national minority in the United Kingdom, which can trace its roots to the ancient Britons w ...

Richard Trevithick's newly built "Penydarren"

steam locomotive A steam locomotive is a locomotive that provides the force to move itself and other vehicles by means of the expansion of steam. It is fuelled by burning combustible material (usually coal, oil or, rarely, wood) to heat water in the locomot ...

operates on the

Merthyr Tramroad The Merthyr Tramroad (sometimes referred to as the Penydarren Tramroad due to its use by Trevithick's locomotive built at that ironworks) was a long line that opened in 1802, connecting the private lines belonging to the Dowlais and Penydarren I ...

between Penydarren Ironworks in

Merthyr Tydfil Merthyr Tydfil (; cy, Merthyr Tudful ) is the main town in Merthyr Tydfil County Borough, Wales, administered by Merthyr Tydfil County Borough Council. It is about north of Cardiff. Often called just Merthyr, it is said to be named after Tydf ...

and

Abercynon Abercynon (), is both a village and a community (and electoral ward) in the Cynon Valley within the unitary authority of Rhondda Cynon Taf, Wales. The community comprises the village and the districts of Carnetown and Grovers Field to the south, ...

South Wales South Wales ( cy, De Cymru) is a loosely defined region of Wales bordered by England to the east and mid Wales to the north. Generally considered to include the historic counties of Glamorgan and Monmouthshire, south Wales extends westwards ...

, following several trials since 13 February, the world's first locomotive to work on rails. * 7 March ** John Wedgwood founds the

Royal Horticultural Society The Royal Horticultural Society (RHS), founded in 1804 as the Horticultural Society of London, is the UK's leading gardening charity. The RHS promotes horticulture through its five gardens at Wisley (Surrey), Hyde Hall (Essex), Harlow Carr (Nort ...

as the Horticultural Society of London. Another founding member, William Forsyth, dies on 25 July. ** Thomas Charles is instrumental in founding the

Bible Society A Bible society is a non-profit organization, usually nondenominational in makeup, devoted to translating, publishing, and distributing the Bible at affordable prices. In recent years they also are increasingly involved in advocating its credibi ...

. * 2 April – forty

merchant vessel A merchant ship, merchant vessel, trading vessel, or merchantman is a watercraft that transports cargo or carries passengers for hire. This is in contrast to pleasure craft, which are used for personal recreation, and naval ships, which are us ...

s are wrecked when a convoy led by HMS ''Apollo'' runs aground off

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

. * 5 April – High Possil meteorite, the first recorded

meteorite A meteorite is a solid piece of debris from an object, such as a comet, asteroid, or meteoroid, that originates in outer space and survives its passage through the atmosphere to reach the surface of a planet or Natural satellite, moon. When the ...

to fall in

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to the ...

in modern times, falls at Possil. * 26 April –

resigns as

. * 10 May –

begins his second premiership as Prime Minister. * 12 December – Spain declares war on Britain. * 21 December –

Rochdale Canal The Rochdale Canal is in Northern England, between Manchester and Sowerby Bridge, part of the connected system of the canals of Great Britain. Its name refers to the town of Rochdale through which it passes. The Rochdale is a broad canal beca ...

opens, the first to cross the

Pennines The Pennines (), also known as the Pennine Chain or Pennine Hills, are a range of uplands running between three regions of Northern England: North West England on the west, North East England and Yorkshire and the Humber on the east. Commo ...

Ongoing

* Anglo-Spanish War, 1796–1808 *

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

, 1803–1815

Undated

* Construction of Martello towers to protect the coasts of south east England and Ireland against the threat of French invasion is begun, together with (from 30 October) the Royal Military Canal.Lowry, Bernard (2006). ''Discovering Fortifications: From the Tudors to the Cold War''. Shire Publications. *

Marlborough White Horse Marlborough White Horse, also called the Preshute White Horse, is a hill figure on Granham Hill, a fairly shallow slope of the downland above the hamlet of Preshute, southwest of Marlborough in the county of Wiltshire, England. Dating from 1804 ...

cut in Wiltshire. *

William Blake William Blake (28 November 1757 – 12 August 1827) was an English poet, painter, and printmaker. Largely unrecognised during his life, Blake is now considered a seminal figure in the history of the poetry and visual art of the Romantic Age. ...

writes '' Milton: a Poem'' including the poem ''

And did those feet in ancient time "And did those feet in ancient time" is a poem by William Blake from the preface to his epic '' Milton: A Poem in Two Books'', one of a collection of writings known as the Prophetic Books. The date of 1804 on the title page is probably when the ...

''. *

William Wordsworth William Wordsworth (7 April 177023 April 1850) was an English Romantic poet who, with Samuel Taylor Coleridge, helped to launch the Romantic Age in English literature with their joint publication ''Lyrical Ballads'' (1798). Wordsworth's ' ...

writes ''

I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud "I Wandered Lonely as a Cloud" (also commonly known as "Daffodils") is a lyric poem by William Wordsworth. It is one of his most popular, and was inspired by a forest encounter on 15 April 1802 between he, his younger sister Dorothy and a "lon ...

''.

Births

*Early February –

James Bronterre O'Brien James Bronterre O'Brien (1805Many sources give the time of his birth as 'early February 1804'. – 23 December 1864) was an Irish Chartist leader, reformer and journalist. Early years James O'Brien was born near Granard, County Longford, I ...

, Irish-born Chartist leader, reformer and

journalist A journalist is an individual that collects/gathers information in form of text, audio, or pictures, processes them into a news-worthy form, and disseminates it to the public. The act or process mainly done by the journalist is called journalism ...

(died 1864) *4 April –

Andrew Nicholl Andrew Nicholl RHA (4 April 1804 – 16 April 1886) was an Irish painter. He was a founding member of the Belfast Association of Artists and in 1847 was elected as an associate member to the Royal Hibernian Academy, becoming a full member in 1 ...

, Irish-born painter (died 1886) *20 July –

James Kay-Shuttleworth Sir James Phillips Kay-Shuttleworth, 1st Baronet (20 July 1804 – 26 May 1877, born James Kay) of Gawthorpe Hall, Lancashire, was a British politician and educationist. He founded a further-education college that would eventually become Plymo ...

, educationist (died 1877) *6 November –

Benjamin Hall Kennedy Benjamin Hall Kennedy (6 November 1804 – 6 April 1889) was an English scholar and schoolmaster, known for his work in the teaching of the Latin language. He was an active supporter of Newnham College and Girton College as Cambridge University ...

, Latin scholar and promoter of women's higher education (died 1889) *21 December –

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 ...

(died 1881)

Deaths

*4 January –

Charlotte Lennox Charlotte Lennox, ''née'' Ramsay (c. 1729 – 4 January 1804), was a Scottish novelist, playwright, poet, translator, essayist, and magazine editor, who has primarily been remembered as the author of ''The Female Quixote'', and for her associ ...

, author and poet (born 1727) *15 January – Dru Drury, entomologist (born 1725) *6 February –

Joseph Priestley Joseph Priestley (; 24 March 1733 – 6 February 1804) was an English chemist, natural philosopher, separatist theologian, grammarian, multi-subject educator, and liberal political theorist. He published over 150 works, and conducted exp ...

, chemist (born 1733) *4 August –

Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan Admiral Adam Duncan, 1st Viscount Duncan, KB (1 July 17314 August 1804) was a British admiral who defeated the Dutch fleet off Camperdown on 11 October 1797. This victory is considered one of the most significant actions in naval history. Li ...

, Scottish-born admiral (born 1731) *29 October –

Sarah Crosby Sarah Crosby (6 October 1729 – 29 October 1804) was an English Methodist preacher, and is considered to be the first woman to hold this title. Crosby, along with Mary Bosanquet, are the most popular women preachers of Methodism. Scholars suc ...

, Methodist preacher (born 1729) *23 November – Richard Graves, writer (born 1715)

References

{{Year in Europe, 1804 Years of the 19th century in the United Kingdom