A Victorian timeline
Year Events in Powys Events in Britain Events in the world
1837 A new hot-blast furnace for iron smelting is introduced at Ynyscedwyn Queen Victoria comes to the throne Papineau protests against British treatment of French Canadians
1838 Llanfyllin workhouse is built; Branches of the Chartist movement are set up in Newtown and in Llanidloes The Public Record Office is established Britain is involved in a war in Afghanistan
1840 Mary Tibbott of Llanbrynmair is tried for stealing flannel The penny post is introduced Civil war in Colombia breaks out
1845 Constable Jones is on the beat around Four Crosses Brunel builds the first propeller-driven steamship The start of the Irish famine
1847 Life expectancy in Brecon is estimated at around 30 Marx and Engels publish The Communist Manifesto War of the Sonderbund in Switzerland
1849 The case of Elizabeth Grist of Abermule comes before the Quarter Sessions in Welshpool Dickens publishes David Copperfield Britain conquers the Punjab region of northern India
1850 Orders are made by the magistrates in Breconshire for giving Superintendent Constables a proper uniform Tennyson becomes poet laureate The British raid Tendeba in the Gambia region of West Africa
1851 The 1851 census shows that the population of Welshpool has decreased due to "the removal of flannel manufacture to Newtown" The Great Exhibition is held in the Crystal Palace in London War between France and Vietnam begins
1853 The Duhonw flood causes devastation in the Builth Wells area The Royal Photographic Society is formed The Crimean War begins (Britain and France at war with Russia)
1854 An epidemic of cholera strikes Brecon The Chartist Movement ends Further fighting in the Crimea
1855 Richard Pugh is the blacksmith at Park Street, Newtown Browning’s Men and Women is published The explorer Livingstone arrives at Victoria Falls in Africa
1857 The Radnorshire Constabulary is established Matrimonial Causes Act establishes divorce courts The Indian Mutiny (An Indian revolt against British rule in India)
1859 The Llanidloes and Newtown Railway is opened; Pryce Jones of Newtown starts the world’s first mail order company Darwin’s Origin of Species is published The Spanish-Moroccan War breaks out
1860 The Machynlleth workhouse is opened The first British horse-drawn passenger trams appear in the streets Abraham Lincoln becomes President of the United States of America
1861 The railway comes to Knighton Death of Prince Albert, Queen Victoria's husband Victor Emmanuel II becomes the first king of a united Italy
1865 Lead mining begins at Van Lewis Carroll’s Alice in Wonderland is published End of the American Civil War
1868 The Montgomeryshire Infirmary opens Transportation of criminals is ended Revolution in Venezuela (South America)
1870 Francis Kilvert, curate of Clyro, starts to keep a diary Education Act passed Tientsin Massacre in China
1871 Free Street railway station Bank holidays are introduced; Trade unions are legalized Bismarck becomes the first Chancellor of the newly created Germany
1874 Robert Jones of Llanfair Caereinion is sent to gaol for 3 months with hard labour for larceny The Factory Act introduces a maximum 10 hour working day The French occupy Hanoi in Vietnam
1876 A teacher at Ynscedwyn Board School records that the school has no lighting The Elementary Education Act ensured that all children received instruction in reading, writing and arithmetic Queen Victoria becomes Empress of India
1881 Construction begins on the first large masonry dam in Britain at Lake Vrynwy Flogging is banned by the British Navy The first Boer War is fought in South Africa; Tsar Alexander II is assassinated in Russia
1882 Snow storms prevent children from attending school at Pantycrai Maxim patents the machine gun The British occupy Egypt
1888 A teacher at Gungrog Road School in Welshpool records that the boys had to produce examples of sewing and knitting for an examination Oscar Wilde’s The Happy Prince is published William II becomes the German emperor
1891 See our forthcoming project, Powys: A Day in the Life
1894 Caban Coch dam in the Elan Valley is constructed The Manchester Ship Canal is opened Nicholas II becomes tsar of Russia; New Zealand is the first country to give women the right to vote
1895 A teacher at Llangamarch School records that there is no fire at the school during the bitterly cold winter The National Trust is formed Jameson raids the Transvaal in South Africa
1899 A new building for John Beddoes School in Presteigne is opened School leaving age raised to 12 years The second Boer War breaks out in South Africa
1900 A little girl is badly injured as she goes home from Ynscedwyn School over the local railway line Joseph Conrad’s Lord Jim is published The Boxer rising against foreign presence in China
1901 The fire brigade in Hay-on-Wye obtain a steam-powered fire pump Death of Queen Victoria Romania and Bulgaria clash over mutual claims on Turkish-held Macedonia
       
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