1872 in the United Kingdom
Encyclopedia
 1872 in the United Kingdom: |
| Other years |
| 1870 1870 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1870 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:* 28 January — General Post Office takes over business of private telegraph companies.... | 1871 1871 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1871 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:... | 1872 | 1873 1873 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1873 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal-Events:... | 1874 1874 in the United Kingdom Events from the year 1874 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — William Ewart Gladstone, Liberal , Benjamin Disraeli, Conservative-Events:... |
| Sport |
| 1872 English cricket season 1872 English cricket season -Events:An experiment took place at Lord's to study the effects of covering the pitch before the start of a match, the first time this is known to have been tried.-External links:* -Bibliography:... |
 1871–72 in English football |
Events from the year 1872 in the United Kingdom
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
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Incumbents
- Monarch — Queen Victoria
- Prime Minister — William Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart GladstoneWilliam Ewart Gladstone FRS FSS was a British Liberal statesman. In a career lasting over sixty years, he served as Prime Minister four separate times , more than any other person. Gladstone was also Britain's oldest Prime Minister, 84 years old when he resigned for the last time...
, LiberalLiberal Party (UK)The Liberal Party was one of the two major political parties of the United Kingdom during the 19th and early 20th centuries. It was a third party of negligible importance throughout the latter half of the 20th Century, before merging with the Social Democratic Party in 1988 to form the present day...
Events
- 1 January — C. P. ScottC. P. ScottCharles Prestwich Scott was a British journalist, publisher and politician. Born in Bath, Somerset, he was the editor of the Manchester Guardian from 1872 until 1929 and its owner from 1907 until his death...
becomes editor of The Manchester GuardianThe GuardianThe Guardian, formerly known as The Manchester Guardian , is a British national daily newspaper in the Berliner format...
. - 2 February — British government buys a number of forts on the Gold CoastGold Coast (region)The Gold Coast was the region of West Africa which is now the nation of Ghana. Early uses of the term refer literally to the coast and not the interior. It was not until the 19th century that the term came to refer to areas that are far from the coast...
from the NetherlandsNetherlandsThe Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...
. - 5 March — Tichborne CaseTichborne CaseThe affair of the Tichborne claimant was the celebrated 19th-century legal case in the United Kingdom of Arthur Orton , an imposter who claimed to be Sir Roger Tichborne , the missing heir to the Tichborne Baronetcy....
decided against the impostor Arthur OrtonArthur OrtonArthur Orton , was the celebrated Tichborne claimant of the Victorian era.-Biography:Orton was born at Wapping, London, the son of George Orton, a butcher and purveyor of ships' stores....
. - 11 March — Work begins setting up Seven SistersSeven Sisters, WalesSeven Sisters Dulais) is a village in the Dulais Valley, Wales, UK. It lies north-east of Neath. Seven Sisters falls within the Seven Sisters ward of Neath Port Talbot county borough.-History:...
Colliery, South WalesSouth WalesSouth Wales is an area of Wales bordered by England and the Bristol Channel to the east and south, and Mid Wales and West Wales to the north and west. The most densely populated region in the south-west of the United Kingdom, it is home to around 2.1 million people and includes the capital city of...
, located on one of the richest coal sources in Britain. - 16 March — In the first ever finalFA Cup Final 1872Match rules:90 minutes normal time.30 minutes extra-time if scores are level, at captains' discretion.Replay if scores still level.No substitutes.-Post-match:...
of the FA CupFA CupThe Football Association Challenge Cup, commonly known as the FA Cup, is a knockout cup competition in English football and is the oldest association football competition in the world. The "FA Cup" is run by and named after The Football Association and usually refers to the English men's...
, the world's oldest footballFootball (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
competition, Wanderers F.C.Wanderers F.C.Wanderers Football Club is an English amateur football club, based in London, that plays in the Surrey South Eastern Combination. Founded as Forest Football Club in 1859, the club changed its name to Wanderers in 1864....
defeat Royal Engineers A.F.C.Royal Engineers A.F.C.The Royal Engineers Association Football Club is an association football team representing the Corps of Royal Engineers, the "Sappers", of the British Army. In the 1870s it was one of the strongest sides in English football, winning the FA Cup in 1875 and being Cup Finalists in four of the first...
1–0 at The OvalThe OvalThe Kia Oval, still commonly referred to by its original name of The Oval, is an international cricket ground in Kennington, in the London Borough of Lambeth. In the past it was also sometimes called the Kennington Oval...
in KenningtonKenningtonKennington is a district of South London, England, mainly within the London Borough of Lambeth, although part of the area is within the London Borough of Southwark....
, LondonLondonLondon is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...
. - June — American-born painter James McNeill WhistlerJames McNeill WhistlerJames Abbott McNeill Whistler was an American-born, British-based artist. Averse to sentimentality and moral allusion in painting, he was a leading proponent of the credo "art for art's sake". His famous signature for his paintings was in the shape of a stylized butterfly possessing a long stinger...
exhibits Arrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's MotherWhistler's MotherArrangement in Grey and Black: The Artist's Mother, famous under its colloquial name Whistler's Mother, is an 1871 oil-on-canvas painting by American-born painter James McNeill Whistler. The painting is , displayed in a frame of Whistler's own design, and is now owned by the Musée d'Orsay in Paris....
, painted the previous year in London, at the Royal Academy summer exhibitionRoyal Academy summer exhibitionThe Summer Exhibition is an open art exhibition held annually by the Royal Academy in Burlington House, Piccadilly in central London, England, during the summer months of June, July, and August...
. - July — Queen Victoria opens the Albert MemorialAlbert MemorialThe Albert Memorial is situated in Kensington Gardens, London, England, directly to the north of the Royal Albert Hall. It was commissioned by Queen Victoria in memory of her beloved husband, Prince Albert who died of typhoid in 1861. The memorial was designed by Sir George Gilbert Scott in the...
in memory of her husband Prince Albert. - 18 July
- Ballot ActBallot Act 1872The Ballot Act 1872 was an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom that introduced the requirement that parliamentary and local government elections in the United Kingdom be held by secret ballot.-Background:...
introduces secret ballotSecret ballotThe secret ballot is a voting method in which a voter's choices in an election or a referendum are anonymous. The key aim is to ensure the voter records a sincere choice by forestalling attempts to influence the voter by intimidation or bribery. The system is one means of achieving the goal of...
s in United Kingdom elections. - PhilanthropistPhilanthropistA philanthropist is someone who engages in philanthropy; that is, someone who donates his or her time, money, and/or reputation to charitable causes...
Angela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-CouttsAngela Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-CouttsAngela Georgina Burdett-Coutts, 1st Baroness Burdett-Coutts , born Angela Georgina Burdett, was a nineteenth-century philanthropist, the daughter of Sir Francis Burdett, 5th Baronet and the former Sophia Coutts, daughter of banker Thomas Coutts...
, becomes the first woman to be made an Honorary Freeman of the City of London.
- Ballot Act
- 31 July — Licensing ActLicensing Act 1872The Licensing Act 1872 is an Act of the Parliament of the United Kingdom. It enacted various regulations and offences relating to alcohol, particularly licensing of premises. Most parts of the Act have been superseded by more recent Licensing Acts, but some parts remain in force...
establishes licenses for public housePublic houseA public house, informally known as a pub, is a drinking establishment fundamental to the culture of Britain, Ireland, Australia and New Zealand. There are approximately 53,500 public houses in the United Kingdom. This number has been declining every year, so that nearly half of the smaller...
s and limits drinking hours. - 5 August — Hastings PierHastings PierHastings Pier was a pleasure pier in Hastings, East Sussex, England. Built in 1872 and enjoying its prime in the 1930s, though becoming a popular music venue in the 1960s, it received major storm damage in 1990, closed to the public between 1999 and 2002, then closed again from 2006. Efforts...
opened. Designed by Eugenius BirchEugenius BirchEugenius Birch was a 19th Century English naval architect, engineer and noted pier builder.-Biography:Both Eugenius and his brother were born in Gloucester Terrace, Shoreditch, to grain dealer John and wife Susanne...
, it is the first in Britain with an entertainment pavilion incorporated from new. - 10 August — PortlandIsle of PortlandThe Isle of Portland is a limestone tied island, long by wide, in the English Channel. Portland is south of the resort of Weymouth, forming the southernmost point of the county of Dorset, England. A tombolo over which runs the A354 road connects it to Chesil Beach and the mainland. Portland and...
BreakwaterBreakwater (structure)Breakwaters are structures constructed on coasts as part of coastal defence or to protect an anchorage from the effects of weather and longshore drift.-Purposes of breakwaters:...
completed. - 1 September — Group of Icaiche MayaMaya peoplesThe Maya people constitute a diverse range of the Native American people of southern Mexico and northern Central America. The overarching term "Maya" is a collective designation to include the peoples of the region who share some degree of cultural and linguistic heritage; however, the term...
under Marcos Canul attack Orange Walk TownOrange Walk TownOrange Walk Town is the second largest town in the nation of Belize, with a population of about 13,400 . It is the capital of the Orange Walk District...
in British HondurasBritish HondurasBritish Honduras was a British colony that is now the independent nation of Belize.First colonised by Spaniards in the 17th century, the territory on the east coast of Central America, south of Mexico, became a British crown colony from 1862 until 1964, when it became self-governing. Belize became...
. British troops are sent against them. - 7 October — An underground explosionExplosionAn explosion is a rapid increase in volume and release of energy in an extreme manner, usually with the generation of high temperatures and the release of gases. An explosion creates a shock wave. If the shock wave is a supersonic detonation, then the source of the blast is called a "high explosive"...
at Morley Main Colliery, Morley, West YorkshireMorley, West YorkshireMorley is a market town and civil parish within the metropolitan borough of the City of Leeds, in West Yorkshire, England. It lies approximately south-west of Leeds city centre. Together with Drighlington, Gildersome, Churwell, Tingley and East/West Ardsley, the town had a population of 47,579 in...
, kills 34. - 21 November — Wigan F.C. founded (now Wigan Warriors R.L.F.C.Wigan WarriorsWigan Warriors is an English rugby league club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester. The club's first team squad competes in the engage Super League and the team are the current Challenge Cup holders as of the 27th August 2011....
) - 25 November — Loss of the iron sailing shipSailing shipThe term sailing ship is now used to refer to any large wind-powered vessel. In technical terms, a ship was a sailing vessel with a specific rig of at least three masts, square rigged on all of them, making the sailing adjective redundant. In popular usage "ship" became associated with all large...
Royal AdelaideRoyal Adelaide (1865)The Royal Adelaide was an iron sailing ship of 1400 tons built by William Patterson at Bristol in 1865.She was wrecked on Chesil Beach on 25 November 1872, while on a passage from London to Sydney with a crew of 32 and 35 passengers. In bad weather the ship tried to reach the shelter of Portland...
on Chesil BeachChesil BeachChesil Beach, sometimes called Chesil Bank, in Dorset, southern England is one of three major shingle structures in Britain. Its toponym is derived from the Old English ceosel or cisel, meaning "gravel" or "shingle"....
: 60 saved, 7 drowned. - 30 November — Scotland v EnglandScotland v England (1872)Scotland v England was the first ever official international football match to be played. It was contested by the national teams of Scotland and England. The match took place on 30 November 1872 at West of Scotland Cricket Club's ground at Hamilton Crescent in Partick, Scotland...
, the first FIFAFIFAThe Fédération Internationale de Football Association , commonly known by the acronym FIFA , is the international governing body of :association football, futsal and beach football. Its headquarters are located in Zurich, Switzerland, and its president is Sepp Blatter, who is in his fourth...
-recognized international footballFootball (soccer)Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a sport played between two teams of eleven players with a spherical ball...
match, takes place at Hamilton CrescentHamilton CrescentHamilton Crescent is a cricket ground located in the Partick area of Glasgow, Scotland. It is the home of the West of Scotland Cricket Club.Hamilton Crescent is famous for holding the first ever international football match, played between Scotland and England...
in ScotlandScotlandScotland is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Occupying the northern third of the island of Great Britain, it shares a border with England to the south and is bounded by the North Sea to the east, the Atlantic Ocean to the north and west, and the North Channel and Irish Sea to the...
. - 12 December — A meteoriteMeteoriteA meteorite is a natural object originating in outer space that survives impact with the Earth's surface. Meteorites can be big or small. Most meteorites derive from small astronomical objects called meteoroids, but they are also sometimes produced by impacts of asteroids...
strikes earth near BanburyBanburyBanbury is a market town and civil parish on the River Cherwell in the Cherwell District of Oxfordshire. It is northwest of London, southeast of Birmingham, south of Coventry and north northwest of the county town of Oxford...
. - 21 December — The Challenger expeditionChallenger expeditionThe Challenger expedition of 1872–76 was a scientific exercise that made many discoveries to lay the foundation of oceanography. The expedition was named after the mother vessel, HMS Challenger....
sails from PortsmouthPortsmouthPortsmouth is the second largest city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire on the south coast of England. Portsmouth is notable for being the United Kingdom's only island city; it is located mainly on Portsea Island...
on the four year scientific expedition that will lay the foundation for the science of oceanographyOceanographyOceanography , also called oceanology or marine science, is the branch of Earth science that studies the ocean...
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Undated
- London Metropolitan Police strike.
- University College Wales established at AberystwythAberystwythAberystwyth is a historic market town, administrative centre and holiday resort within Ceredigion, Wales. Often colloquially known as Aber, it is located at the confluence of the rivers Ystwyth and Rheidol....
. - Dante Gabriel RossettiDante Gabriel RossettiDante Gabriel Rossetti was an English poet, illustrator, painter and translator. He founded the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood in 1848 with William Holman Hunt and John Everett Millais, and was later to be the main inspiration for a second generation of artists and writers influenced by the movement,...
completes his painting Beata BeatrixBeata BeatrixBeata Beatrix is an oil on canvas painting by Pre-Raphaelite artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti, completed in 1872. It depicts Beatrice Portinari from Dante Alighieri's poem La Vita Nuova at the moment of her death. Rossetti modeled Beatrice after his deceased wife and frequent model Elizabeth Siddal....
, modelled on Lizzie Rossetti.
Publications
- Samuel ButlerSamuel Butler (novelist)Samuel Butler was an iconoclastic Victorian author who published a variety of works. Two of his most famous pieces are the Utopian satire Erewhon and a semi-autobiographical novel published posthumously, The Way of All Flesh...
's anonymous satirical novel ErewhonErewhonErewhon: or, Over the Range is a novel by Samuel Butler, published anonymously in 1872. The title is also the name of a country, supposedly discovered by the protagonist. In the novel, it is not revealed in which part of the world Erewhon is, but it is clear that it is a fictional country...
. - Charles DarwinCharles DarwinCharles Robert Darwin FRS was an English naturalist. He established that all species of life have descended over time from common ancestry, and proposed the scientific theory that this branching pattern of evolution resulted from a process that he called natural selection.He published his theory...
's study The Expression of the Emotions in Man and AnimalsThe Expression of the Emotions in Man and AnimalsThe Expression of the Emotions in Man and Animals is a book by Charles Darwin, published in 1872, concerning genetically determined aspects of behaviour. It was published thirteen years after On The Origin of Species and is, along with his 1871 book The Descent of Man, Darwin's main consideration...
. - George EliotGeorge EliotMary Anne Evans , better known by her pen name George Eliot, was an English novelist, journalist and translator, and one of the leading writers of the Victorian era...
's novel MiddlemarchMiddlemarchMiddlemarch: A Study of Provincial Life is a novel by George Eliot, the pen name of Mary Anne Evans, later Marian Evans. It is her seventh novel, begun in 1869 and then put aside during the final illness of Thornton Lewes, the son of her companion George Henry Lewes...
. - Thomas HardyThomas HardyThomas Hardy, OM was an English novelist and poet. While his works typically belong to the Naturalism movement, several poems display elements of the previous Romantic and Enlightenment periods of literature, such as his fascination with the supernatural.While he regarded himself primarily as a...
's anonymous romantic novel Under the Greenwood TreeUnder the Greenwood TreeUnder the Greenwood Tree or The Mellstock Quire: A Rural Painting of the Dutch School is a novel by Thomas Hardy, published anonymously in 1872. It was Hardy's second published novel, the last to be printed without his name, and the first of his great series of Wessex novels...
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Births
- 18 May — Bertrand RussellBertrand RussellBertrand Arthur William Russell, 3rd Earl Russell, OM, FRS was a British philosopher, logician, mathematician, historian, and social critic. At various points in his life he considered himself a liberal, a socialist, and a pacifist, but he also admitted that he had never been any of these things...
, philosopher and mathematician, recipient of the Nobel Prize in LiteratureNobel Prize in LiteratureSince 1901, the Nobel Prize in Literature has been awarded annually to an author from any country who has, in the words from the will of Alfred Nobel, produced "in the field of literature the most outstanding work in an ideal direction"...
(died 19701970 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1970 in the United Kingdom. This is a General Election year with a change of government.-Incumbents:* Monarch - Elizabeth II* Prime Minister - Harold Wilson , Labour Party ; Edward Heath, Conservative Party...
) - 31 May — Heath Robinson, cartoonist and illustrator (died 19441944 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1944 in the United Kingdom. This year is dominated by World War II.-Incumbents:*Monarch – King George VI*Prime Minister – Winston Churchill, coalition-Events:...
) - 23 July — Edward A. WilsonEdward Adrian WilsonEdward Adrian Wilson was a notable English polar explorer, physician, naturalist, painter and ornithologist.-Early life:...
, explorer, physician, naturalist and ornithologist (died 19121912 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1912 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George V*Prime Minister - H. H. Asquith, Liberal-Events:* 1 January - Post Office takes over National Telephone Company....
) - 21 August — Aubrey BeardsleyAubrey BeardsleyAubrey Vincent Beardsley was an English illustrator and author. His drawings, done in black ink and influenced by the style of Japanese woodcuts, emphasized the grotesque, the decadent, and the erotic. He was a leading figure in the Aesthetic movement which also included Oscar Wilde and James A....
, artist (died 18981898 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1898 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch — Queen Victoria*Prime Minister — Robert Cecil, Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative-Events:...
) - 8 October — John Cowper PowysJohn Cowper Powys-Biography:Powys was born in Shirley, Derbyshire, in 1872, the son of the Reverend Charles Francis Powys , who was vicar of Montacute, Somerset for thirty-two years, and Mary Cowper Johnson, a descendent of the poet William Cowper. He came from a family of eleven children, many of whom were also...
, writer and philosopher (died 19631963 in the United KingdomEvents of the year 1963 in the United Kingdom. The year sees changes in the leadership of both principal political parties, the Profumo Affair and the rise of The Beatles.-Incumbents:* Monarch – Elizabeth II...
) - 12 October — Ralph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan WilliamsRalph Vaughan Williams OM was an English composer of symphonies, chamber music, opera, choral music, and film scores. He was also a collector of English folk music and song: this activity both influenced his editorial approach to the English Hymnal, beginning in 1904, in which he included many...
, composer (died 19581958 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1958 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch – Elizabeth II*Prime Minister – Harold Macmillan, Conservative Party-Events:...
) - 26 December — Norman AngellNorman AngellSir Ralph Norman Angell was an English lecturer, journalist, author, and Member of Parliament for the Labour Party.Angell was one of the principal founders of the Union of Democratic Control...
, politician, recipient of the Nobel Peace PrizeNobel Peace PrizeThe Nobel Peace Prize is one of the five Nobel Prizes bequeathed by the Swedish industrialist and inventor Alfred Nobel.-Background:According to Nobel's will, the Peace Prize shall be awarded to the person who...
(died 19671967 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1967 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:* Monarch – Elizabeth II* Prime Minister – Harold Wilson, Labour Party-January:* January – UK release of the London-set film Blowup....
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Deaths
- 16 February — Henry Fothergill ChorleyHenry Fothergill ChorleyHenry Fothergill Chorley was an English literary, art and music critic and editor. He was also an author of novels, drama, poetry and lyrics....
, critic (born 18081808 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1808 in the United Kingdom.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - Duke of Portland, Tory-Events:* 1 January - Sierra Leone becomes a British Crown Colony....
) - 27 February — John McLeod CampbellJohn McLeod CampbellJohn McLeod Campbell was a nineteenth century Scottish minister who has also been called Scotland's most creative Reformed theologian of the same century...
, churchman (born 18001800 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1800 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* 8 January - First soup kitchens open in London.* 17 March - catches fire with the loss of 700 lives....
) - 1 April — Frederick Maurice, theologian (born 18051805 in the United KingdomEvents from the year 1805 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. This is the year of the Battle of Trafalgar.-Incumbents:*Monarch - King George III*Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:...
) - 28 November — Mary SomervilleMary SomervilleMary Fairfax Somerville was a Scottish science writer and polymath, at a time when women's participation in science was discouraged...
, mathematician (born 17801780 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1780 in Great Britain.-Incumbents:*Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom*Prime Minister - Frederick North, Lord North, Tory-Events:* 16 January - American Revolutionary War: British victory at the Battle of Cape St...
) - 15 December — Lady BeaconsfieldMary Anne Disraeli, 1st Viscountess BeaconsfieldMary Anne Disraeli, 1st Viscountess Beaconsfield was a British peeress and society figure, the wife of Prime Minister Benjamin Disraeli....
, wife of Benjamin Disraeli (born 17921792 in Great BritainEvents from the year 1792 in the Kingdom of Great Britain.-Incumbents:* Monarch - King George III* Prime Minister - William Pitt the Younger, Tory-Events:* 25 January - The radical London Corresponding Society established....
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