1814 A fair on the Thames, it being frozen over above the London bridges, Feb. 2. Bourdeaux surrenders to Lord Wellington. Peace between England and France. The allied Sovereigns visit London. City of Washington taken by the British army under General Ross. Treaty of peace between England and America, Dec. 24. Joanna Southcott an impostor, died; and, with her, the hopes of the promised Shiloh, and all her other prophecies.
1815 Bonaparte sailed from Elba, and landed with 1,000 men at Cannes, in France. Bonaparte enters Paris, March 21. An attempt made by Margaret Moore to steal the Crown from the Tower. Memorable battle of Waterloo, June 17, 18; Bonaparte fled; the Duke of Wellington’s horse killed under him. Bonaparte sailed for St. Helena, August 7. Submission of the island of Ceylon to Britain. Bonaparte landed at St. Helena, October 16. The English repulsed at New Orleans, with the loss of several thousand in killed and wounded, including several generals. General Jackson commanded the Americans. General Packenham was killed. A column of light appeared in the north-east, so vivid as to alarm many persons. By the explosion of a coal-pit near Newbattle, in the county of Durham, 70 persons perished. Bonaparte resigns the government to a provisional council. In the colliery above-mentioned at Newbattle, a steam engine burst, and 57 persons were killed or wounded.
1816 Princess Charlotte of Wales married, to Prince Leopold of Saxe Coburg, May 2. Sir Humphrey Davy invented a Safety Lamp to prevent the accidents which happen in coal-mines from fire damp.
1817 The Princess Charlotte died in child-birth, having been delivered of a still-born child. Steamboats generally adopted for river navigation in America and Europe. The magnetic needle, which had for many years taken a western declination from the meridian, returned towards the north.
1818 The Queen of Great Britain, Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, died Nov. 21. Two expeditions to penetrate the North-pole sailed, one to the north-east, and the other to the north-west, but neither succeeded. The kaleidoscope, a new optical instrument, invented by Dr. Brewster of Edinburgh. Three systems of education in this year claimed public attention: that of mutual instruction propagated by Dr. Bell and Mr. Lancaster; the interrogative or intellectual system of questions without answers; and that of Mr. Pestalozzi by oral questions. Belzoni transported from Egypt to England the statue of Memnon. The Duke of Clarence married to the Princess of Saxe Meiningen; and the Duke of Kent to a Princess of Saxe Coburg. For two or three days the metropolis, as well as the country round, were enveloped in a thick impenetrable fog, which obstructed all travelling, and caused a number of fatal accidents. The Duke of Richmond died in Canada, from the bite of a rabid fox.
1819 Messrs. Perkins and Co., of Philadelphia, introduced into London a mode of engraving on soft steel, which, when hardened, will multiply fine impressions indefinitely. Many distressed persons embarked, under the sanction of government, to establish a new colony at the Cape of Good Hope. Southwark bridge opened, making the sixth metropolitan bridge over the Thames. Forty persons killed by the explosion of a mine near Newcastle. A shoal of young whales appeared in Dungannan Bay, forty taken by the fishermen. A whirlwind at Aldborough, Suffolk, carried up a quantity of barley from a field to a great height. Another expedition was fitted out to try a north-west passage to the Pacific Ocean. Field Marshal Prince Blucher died.
1820 Lieutenant Parry returned from his voyage to attempt the discovery of a north-west passage: he reached the 10th degree of west longitude, where he passed one winter in latitude 74, and returned for further supplies. Lamented death of H.R.H. the Duke of Kent. Death, in Windsor-castle, of George III, in the 82d year of his age, and 60th of his reign. George IV held his first court in Carlton-house. Takes oath to maintain the Church of England. Oaths of allegiance administered. Cato-street conspirators arrested. Thistlewood and his associates executed before Newgate. Regent’s canal from Paddington to Limehouse opened. Extraordinary solar-eclipse; central and annular in the interior of Europe. An Estadfod, or assembly of Welch bards, in Wrexham, North Wales. Lieutenant Parry returns from his voyage of discovery in the seas on the north of North America.
1821 A Pedo-motive machine invented by Dr. Cartwright for travelling the public roads without the aid of horses. A mammoth’s bones found by Captain Vetch, on the west bank of the Medway, near Rochester. Mr. Kent of Glasgow, invented a machine for walking on the surface of the water, at the rate of three miles an hour. A penknife, containing 2,016 blades, was presented to the Queen, by a Sheffield manufacturer; another was afterwards made containing 1,821 blades. Duel between Mr. Scott, of the London Magazine, and Mr. Christie, of an Edinburgh Magazine, in which the former was mortally wounded. News received of a dreadful massacre in Manilla, arising from religious fanaticism. A gambling-house, in London, entered by the police, and about 70 individuals held to bail. The Discovery-ships sailed from Deptford, for the American Arctic Seas. Sale of a collection of Pictures, by Sir Joshua Reynolds, which produced £15,000. A bog burst forth from Kilmalady, in Ireland, and in an hour covered 100 acres from 20 to 60 feet deep; it proceeded to a great extent, 200 yards wide, and 80 feet deep, at the rate of two yards per hour. Roads and bridges were covered, communications cut off, and great damage done. Queen Caroline died at Hammersmith, after an illness of eight days. Loss of the Juliana, East-Indiaman, in the Margate-roads, in which 38, out of the 40 individuals on board, perished.