1885 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1885 in the United Kingdom.

Incumbents

*Monarch - Victoria of the United Kingdom
*Prime Minister - William Gladstone, Liberal (until 9 June), Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury, Conservative

Events

* 17 January - Mahdist War: British victory at the Battle of Abu Klea.
* 24 January - Irish terrorists damage Westminster Hall and the Tower of London with dynamite.cite book |last=Palmer |first=Alan & Veronica |year=1992 |title= The Chronology of British History|publisher= Century Ltd|location=London|pages= 310-311|isbn= 0-7126-5616-2]
* 26 January - Mahdist War: In Sudan, following the Siege of Khartoum, British and Egyptian forces are defeated by the Mahdist Sudanese. The British commander Charles George Gordon is killed.cite book|last=Williams|first=Hywel|title=Cassell's Chronology of World History|publisher=Weidenfeld & Nicolson|year=2005|isbn=0-304-35730-8|pages=438–440]
* February - The Berlin Conference sees the major European powers including the United Kingdom establish their spheres of influence in the "scramble for Africa".
* 23 February - a British executioner fails to hang John Lee, sentenced for the murder of Emma Keyse. Sentence is commuted to life imprisonment.
* 14 March - W. S. Gilbert and Arthur Sullivan's "The Mikado" opens at the Savoy Theatre. [cite book |title= The Hutchinson Factfinder |publisher= Helicon |year= 1999 |isbn= 1-85986-000-1 ]
* 26 March - "The Times" reports that "A lady well-known in literary and scientific circles" has been cremated by the Cremation Society in Woking, Surrey. Jeannette C. Pickersgill was the first person to be officially cremated.
* 31 March - The United Kingdom establishes a protectorate over Bechuanaland.
* 29 April - Women permitted to the take the University of Oxford entrance examination for the first time.cite book|title=Penguin Pocket On This Day|publisher=Penguin Reference Library|isbn=0-141-02715-0|year=2006]
* 5 June - Niger River basin becomes a British protectorate.
* 9 June - William Gladstone's Liberal government is defeated following criticism of the fall of Khartoum and violence in Ireland. Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury forms a new Conservative government.
* 24 June - Randolph Churchill becomes Secretary of State for India.
* July - William Thomas Stead publishes a series of articles in the "Pall Mall Gazette" entitled "The Maiden Tribute of Modern Babylon" exposing the extent of female prostitution in London.
* 7 August - Criminal Law Amendment Act 1885 passes through Parliament raising the age of consent from 13 to 16, and thereby outlawing child prostitution. The Labouchere Amendment to the act outlaws "gross indecency" between males.
* 20 July - Professional football is legalised.
* 29 September - Opening of the Blackpool tramway.
* 30 September - A British force abolishes the Boer republic of Stellaland and adds it to British Bechuanaland.
* October - Third Burmese War begins.
* 23 November - General election. Liberals under Gladstone hold the largest number of seats, but Salisbury remains Prime Minister with the support of the Irish Party.
* 28 November - British occupy Mandalay.
* 7 December - John Boyd Dunlop patents his invention, the pneumatic tyre.

Undated

* Creation of the first genuine safety bicycle, the Rover, by the nephew of James Starley of Coventry Company; John K Starley.
* SSAFA Forces Help established.
* Soap manufacturer Lever Brothers founded.

Publications

* Henry Rider Haggard's novel "King Solomon's Mines".
* George Meredith's novel "Diana of the Crossways".
* Walter Pater's novel "Marius the Epicurean".

Births

* 15 February - Princess Alice of Battenberg (died 1969)
* 7 March - John Tovey, admiral of the fleet (died 1971)
* 11 March - Malcolm Campbell, land and water racer (died 1948)
* 9 June - John Edensor Littlewood, mathematician (died 1977)
* 18 August - A. E. J. Collins, cricketer and soldier (died 1914)
* 11 September - D. H. Lawrence, English author (died 1930)

Deaths

* 26 January - Charles "Chinese" Gordon, general (killed in battle) (born 1833)
* 8 April - Susanna Moodie, author (born 1803)
* 8 August - Charles Wood, 1st Viscount Halifax, politician (born 1800)
* 1 October - Anthony Ashley-Cooper, 7th Earl of Shaftesbury, politician and philanthorpist (born 1801)
* 26 November - Thomas Andrews, chemist (born 1813)

References

ee also