• 5 January – The
United States House of Representatives votes to stop sharing the
Oregon Territory with the United Kingdom. • 10 February –
First Anglo-Sikh War: British victory at the
Battle of Sobraon. • 9 March – The conclusion of the First Anglo-Sikh War with the signing of the
Treaty of Lahore.
Kashmir is ceded to the
British East India Company and the
Koh-i-Noor diamond is surrendered to
Queen Victoria. • 13 March –
Ballinglass Incident: eviction of 300 tenants at the village of Ballinglass in
Ireland during the
Great Famine. • 14 March – First property purchased for
Feargus O'Connor's
Chartist-backed English
National Land Company to provide smallholdings and suffrage for working men, at
Heronsgate (O'Connorville) in Hertfordshire. • 3 April – Last
London-based
mail coach runs to
Norwich. • 20 April –
Jonathan Balls commits suicide in the Norfolk village of
Happisburgh, aged around 76. Subsequent investigations suggest that he murdered at least 22 people, almost all family members, by
arsenic poisoning over 20 years, making him one of Britain's most prolific
serial killers. • 15 May – Under the leadership of
Prime Minister Robert Peel, the
House of Commons votes to repeal the
Corn Laws by passing an Importation Bill, replacing the old
colonial mercantile trade system with
free trade. On 25 June the
Duke of Wellington persuades the
House of Lords to pass the Act, which will take full effect from February 1849. • 15 June –
Treaty of Washington establishes the 49th Parallel as the border between
Oregon and British
Canada. • 26 June – The
Great Northern Railway is authorised by
Act of Parliament with powers to construct a direct line from London to
York (with a loop via
Boston), with a capital of £5,600,000, the largest single railway scheme ever approved by
Parliament. • 29 June – Peel resigns, and is succeeded as prime minister by
Lord John Russell (
Whig). The Conservatives split into
Peelite and
Young England factions, the latter led by Disraeli. • 9 July – A flood at
East Wheal Rose lead mine in
Cornwall kills 39. • 16 July – The
London and North Western Railway is formed in England by amalgamation of the
London and Birmingham Railway,
Grand Junction Railway and
Manchester and Birmingham Railway. • 30 July – Opening of
Albert Dock, Liverpool. • 1 August –
Fatal Accidents Act 1846 ("Lord Campbell's Act") provides for a
wrongful death claim in civil law. • 8 August – The planet
Neptune is first observed but not recognised by
James Challis, director of the
Cambridge Observatory. • 15 August – Inauguration of
Scott Monument in
Edinburgh. • 18 August –
Parliament of the United Kingdom passes the following
Acts •
Religious Opinions Relief Act, removing most remaining disabilities affecting the ability of
Jews,
Dissenters and
Roman Catholics to participate in public life. •
Deodands Act, abolishing the ancient
legal remedy of
deodand, with effect from 1 September. •
Gauge Act, ruling that new railways in Great Britain should be built to
standard gauge (5 ft 3 inches in
Ireland) unless otherwise authorised. • 22 August –
Peel Park, Salford, and Queen's Park and
Philips Park in Manchester open as two of the world's first free
public parks. • 26 August • The Public Baths and Wash Houses Act (
An Act to encourage the Establishment of public Baths and Wash-houses) is passed by Parliament permitting local authorities to establish
baths and wash houses in Britain. •
Felix Mendelssohn's oratorio
Elijah first performed at the
Birmingham Festival. •
Railway Mania reaches its zenith, with 272 railway construction Acts being passed in this year. • 3 September –
Electric Telegraph Company founded. • 10 October –
William Lassell discovers
Triton, one of the moons of
Neptune. • 21 December – Surgeon
Robert Liston carries out the first operation under anaesthesia in Britain.
Phytophthora infestans almost totally destroys the summer potato crop and the Famine worsens considerably. By December a third of a million destitute people are employed on public works. ==Publications==