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Victorian Timeline
1837
! Petworth Emigration Scheme to Canada ends
! Sussex Agricultural Express newspaper starts publication
! Queen Victoria becomes Queen aged 18
1838
! Oliver Twist by Charles Dickens published
! First practical photographic process is invented by Louis Daguerre
! Launch of Brunel's Great Western, the first steamship to routinely cross the Atlantic
1839
! Sussex County Cricket Club formed, the first in Britain
! First pedalled bicycle invented, Scotland
1840
! Brighton to Shoreham railway line opens, the first in Sussex
! Horsham Volunteer Fire Brigade established
! Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert of Saxe-Coburg-Gotha
! First postage stamps and postal system introduced by Roland Hill
1841
! London to Brighton railway line completed
! Brighton, Burgess Hill, Haywards Heath & Three Bridges railway stations (& others) open
! 'Punch' magazine begins publication
! Thomas Cook travel company created
1842
! Mines Act forbids the employment of children under
ten underground
! Queen Victoria makes her first railway journey
1843
! First public telegraph service, enabling telegrams to be sent
! Wordsworth becomes Poet Laureate
! Launch of Brunel's Great Britain, the first screw-propellor-driven steamship to
cross the Atlantic
1844
1845
! Worthing railway station opens
! Regular horse-drawn coach service from Worthing to London stops running
! Potato famine in Ireland from 1845 to 1848
! Osborne House, Isle of Wight, becomes Queen Victoria's seaside holiday home
1846
! Chichester railway station opens
! Shoreham Harbour lighthouse built
! Portsmouth railway station opens
! Lancing College founded in New Shoreham by the Rev. Nathaniel Woodard,
! Factory Act forbids employment of children under 8, etc
! Factory Act limits women and 13 to 18 years olds to 10 working
1847
hours per day
! First double-decker horse bus
followed by others at Ardingly & Hurstpierpoint
1848
! Horsham railway station opens
! Health of Towns Act passed
! Telegraph cable laid under the English Channel
1850s
! The Great Exhibition opens in the Crystal Palace in Hyde Park, London
1851
! Isaac Singer invents the first practical domestic sewing machine
! First free public library opens in Manchester
1852
! Worthing Local Board of Health established
! Bognor gas-works opens
1853
! West Sussex Gazette starts
! Compulsory Vaccination Act makes smallpox vaccination
compulsory for all infants
1854
! Crimean War begins when Britain, France & Turkey
declare war on Russia
! East Grinstead railway station opens
! Southwick lock at Shoreham Harbour opens
! Petworth railway station opens
! Sussex County Lunatic Asylum (St Francis Hospital) opens at Haywards Heath
! Sussex Artillery Volunteers formed
! Chichester Cathedral spire collapses
! Train crash at Clayton tunnel kills 23
1860
! Bognor railway station opens
! Midhurst railway station opens
! Tin can opener invented in United States
! 'Boneshaker' bicycle appears on the roads
! Victoria railway station opens
1862
! Louis Pasteur, French scientist, proves the connection between bacteria and disease
1863
! World's first underground railway built in London
! Football Association formed
1864
1865
! Bognor Pier opens
! East Grinstead Turnpike Trust disbanded
! Bognor Local Board of Health established
! First paraffin lamps introduced
! Prince Albert dies of typhoid
1861
! Littlehampton railway station opens
soldiers
! First football club in the world formed: Sheffield F.C.
! Daily Telegraph first published.
! Mrs Beeton's Cookery Book published
! Victoria Falls in Africa discovered by explorer David Livingstone
1858
1859
! Worthing Pier opens
! Florence Nightingale goes to the Crimea to nurse injured
1856
1857
! West Sussex (Police) Constabulary formed
1855
! Alice in Wonderland by Lewis Carroll published
! Salvation Army founded as the Christian Mission in the East End of London
1866
! Bognor Police station opens
1867
! Reform Act allows more people, especially working classes in towns, to vote
1869
! First Sainsbury's shop opens
! Suez Canal opens, improving trade links with India, South
East Asia and Far East
! Portslade gas-works opens
! Sussex Daily News starts publication
1870
! Forster's Education Act encourages schooling for 5 to 10 year olds
! Dr. Barnado opens his first home for poor boys in East End
1871
! The Wey and Arun Canal closes
1872
! Bognor Observer starts publication
1873
! Bank holidays are introduced
! Trade unions are legalised
! First F.A. Cup Final; Wanderers beat Royal Engineers
1-0 at the Kennington Oval
! Typewriters (Danish) sold in Britain for first time
! Agricultural Children Act forbids employment of children
under 8 in agricultural work
1874
1875
1876
! Last two sailing ships were built in Shoreham shipyards
! Petworth Turnpike Trust disbanded
1877
! Chichester District Cycling Club founded
! First Boots shop opens
! Artisans and Labourers Dwelling Act allows slum housing to be demolished
! Queen Victoria given the title 'Empress of India' by Parliament
! Telephone invented by Alexander Graham Bell
! First Wimbledon tennis championships
! First international cricket match: Australia versus England in Melbourne
! Thomas Edison invents the phonograph, to play sound (music) recordings
! First permanent electric street lights in the U.K., on Victoria Embankment, London
1878
! Joseph Swan & Thomas Edison (U.S.) invent the electric light
! First telephone exchange in Britain opens in Glasgow
1879
! Mundella's Education Act imposes compulsory school attendance
! Amateur Athletic Association formed
1880
! Electric iron invented in United States
1882
! Volk's railway opens in Brighton, the first electric railway in the world
! Salvation Army riots ('Skeleton Army') in Worthing
! Oscar Wilde writes 'The Importance of Being Earnest' in Worthing
1883
! Boys' Brigade founded, in Glasgow
! First successful petrol-driven motor car made in France
1884
! 'Safety Bicycle' invented
! Reform Act allows more people to vote, particularly agricultural labourers
! First electric trams, in Blackpool
1885
! Dyke railway opens
! First meeting of West Sussex County Council
! Worthing receives its Royal Charter and becomes
the Borough of Worthing
! Arundel Castle re-built 1890-1903
1887
1888
1889
! Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee
! Football League founded
! World's first electric oven installed in a Swiss hotel
1890
! Worthing Borough Fire Brigade established
! Shippam's meat paste factory opens in Chichester
! Sewerage scheme approved in Chichester
1891
! School fees abolished, making schooling free for all.
! The Adventures of Sherlock Holmes by Sir Arthur Conan Doyle published
! First public display of films (motion pictures) in United States
1892
! Typhoid epidemic in Worthing kills 188
1893
! Parish Councils, Rural District Councils & Urban District Council
created by the Local Government Act
! First 'Cinematographe' film show in West Sussex, at Pier Pavilion, Worthing
! Typhoid outbreak at Chichester ( also in 1897 & 1898)
! Brighton's Chain Pier destroyed in a storm
1894
1896
! Chichester to Selsey railway line (Hundred of Manhood & Selsey Tramway) opened
! First petrol-driven motor car runs on Britain's roads, in Catford, London
! Marks and Spencer shops founded
! Wireless Telegraph was invented by Marconi
! Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee
! Dracula by Bram Stoker published
1897
1898
1899
1901
! War of the Worlds by H. G. Wells published
! School leaving age raised to 12 years
! Boer War begins (ends 1902)
! Queen Victoria dies
Victorian Timeline