Events from the year 1879 in the United Kingdom. [edit] Incumbents [edit] Events - 8 January - British army occupies Kandahar in Afghanistan.[1]
- 11 January - Anglo-Zulu War begins.
- 22 January - Zulu troops massacre British troops at the Battle of Isandlwana. At Rorke's Drift, outnumbered British soldiers drive the attackers away after hours of fighting.[2]
- 12 March - Anglo-Zulu War: At the Battle of Intombe, a British force over one-hundred strong is ambushed and destroyed by Zulu forces.
- 13 March - Marriage of The Duke of Connaught and Strathearn, third son of Queen Victoria, to Princess Louise Marguerite of Prussia.
- 28 March - Anglo-Zulu War: British forces suffer a defeat at the Battle of Hlobane.[2]
- 29 March - Anglo-Zulu War: Battle of Kambula: British forces defeat 20,000 Zulus.
- 3 April - Anglo-Zulu War: British forces successfully lift the two-month Siege of Eshowe.
- 26 May - Russia and the United Kingdom sign the Treaty of Gandamak establishing an Afghan state.
- 14 June - Sidney Faithorn Green, an Anglican priest in the Church of England, is tried and convicted for using Ritualist practices.
- 4 July - The Anglo-Zulu War effectively ends with British victory at the Battle of Ulundi.[1]
- 19 August - The foundation of Eddystone Lighthouse laid by the Duke of Edinburgh and the Prince of Wales.[2]
- 18 September - Blackpool Illuminations lit for the first time.[2]
- October - First female students admitted to Oxford University.[1]
- November–March 1880 - probably the longest ever fog in the city's history engulfs London.[3]
- 27 October - Liverpool Echo newspaper first published.[2]
- 15 December–23 December - Second Anglo-Afghan War: British victory at the Siege of the Sherpur Cantonment.
- 28 December - The Tay Bridge Disaster: The central part of the Tay Rail Bridge in Dundee, Scotland collapses as a train passes over it, killing 78.[1]
- 30 December - The Pirates of Penzance is first performed in Paignton, Devon.[2]
[edit] Undated [edit] Publications [edit] Births - 1 January - E. M. Forster, writer (died 1970)
- 26 February - Frank Bridge, composer (died 1941)
- 5 March - William Beveridge, economist and social reformer (died 1963)
- 26 April - Owen Willans Richardson, physicist, Nobel Prize laureate (died 1959)
- 29 April - Thomas Beecham, conductor (died 1961)
- 19 May - Viscount Waldorf Astor, businessman and politician (died 1952)
- 25 May - Max Aitken, 1st Baron Beaverbrook, Canadian-British business tycoon, politician and writer (died 1964)
- 30 May - Colin Blythe, cricketer (died 1917)
- 13 August - John Ireland, composer (died 1962)
- 27 December - Sydney Greenstreet, actor (died 1954)
[edit] Deaths [edit] References - ^ a b c d e Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 303–304. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
- ^ a b c d e f Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-141-02715-0.
- ^ The London Encyclopaedia, Ben Weinreb & Christopher Hibbert, Macmillan, 1995, ISBN 0-333-57688-8
[edit] See also |
