1812 in the United Kingdom

	1812 in the United Kingdom
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Last updated December 17, 2024

Events from the year 1812 in the United Kingdom . The United Kingdom is still involved in the Napoleonic Wars with France and its attempts to stop French trade lead to the War of 1812 with the United States. Lord Wellington is active in the Peninsular War in Spain. This year also marks the only assassination of a British prime minister when Spencer Perceval is shot.

Incumbents

Monarch – George III
Regent – George, Prince Regent
Prime Minister – Spencer Perceval (Tory) (until 11 May); Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) (starting 8 June)
Foreign Secretary – Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley (until 4 March) Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh (starting 4 March)
Home Secretary – Richard Ryder (until 8 June) Lord Sidmouth (from 11 June)
Secretary of War – Earl of Liverpool (until 11 June) Earl Bathurst (from 11 June)

Events

1 January – The Bishop of Durham, Shute Barrington, orders troops from Durham Castle to break up a miners' strike in Chester-le-Street, Co. Durham
27 February – Poet Lord Byron gives his first address as a member of the House of Lords, in opposition to government repression of Luddite violence against industrialism in his home county of Nottinghamshire.
15 March – Luddites attack the wool processing factory of Frank Vickerman in West Yorkshire.
16 March–6 April – Siege of Badajoz (Peninsular War): The Anglo-Portuguese Army, under the Earl of Wellington, besieges Badajoz in Spain and forces surrender of the French garrison.
20 March – Destruction of Stocking Frames, etc. Act 1812 ("Frame-breaking Act") makes Luddite machine-breakers subject to capital punishment.^[1]
4 April – U.S. President James Madison enacts a ninety–day embargo on trade with the United Kingdom.
24 April – Luddites attack the Westhoughton Mill of Thomas Rowe in Lancashire.
11 May – Bankrupt banker John Bellingham assassinates Prime Minister Spencer Perceval in the lobby of the House of Commons.
18 May – John Bellingham is hanged at Newgate Prison.
25 May – Felling mine disaster: mine explosion at Felling colliery near Jarrow, 96 dead.
8 June – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) becomes Prime Minister. Aged 42 at accession, he will hold the office for almost fifteen years, the third longest-serving Prime Minister of the United Kingdom after Pitt the Younger, who was in office for over 18 years across his two premierships and Sir Robert Walpole whose single term was the longest, lasting 21 years from 1721 to 1742.
18 June – The War of 1812 begins between the United States and the United Kingdom.
18 July – The Treaty of Orebro brings an end to the Anglo-Russian War and the Anglo-Swedish War.
22 July – Peninsular War: at the Battle of Salamanca, British forces led by Lord Wellington defeat French troops near Salamanca in Spain.^[2]
August – Henry Bell's PS Comet begins a passenger service on the River Clyde between Glasgow and Greenock, the first commercially successful steamboat service in Europe.^[3]
12 August
- Peninsular War: Wellington enters Madrid following the Battle of Salamanca.
- The Middleton Railway, serving coal pits at Leeds, becomes the first to use steam locomotives successfully in regular service.^[4]
16 August – War of 1812: American General William Hull surrenders Fort Detroit without a fight to the British Army.
19 August – War of 1812: USS Constitution defeats the British frigate Guerrière off the coast of Nova Scotia.
5 October–10 November – A general election sees victory for the Tory Party under Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool.
9 October – War of 1812: in a naval engagement on Lake Erie, American forces capture two British ships, HMS Detroit and HMS Caledonia.
13 October – War of 1812: Battle of Queenston Heights – as part of the Niagara campaign in Ontario, Canada, American forces under General Stephen Van Rensselaer IV are repulsed from invading Canada by British and native troops led by Sir Isaac Brock (although he dies during the battle).
7 November – HMS Victory is retired from front-line service.^[5]

Undated

Alton Barnes White Horse cut in Wiltshire.

Ongoing

Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815
Peninsular War, 1808–1814

Publications

First two cantos of Lord Byron's Childe Harold's Pilgrimage .^[1] This sells out in five days after publication on 20 March, giving rise to Byron's comment "I awoke one morning and found myself famous".^[6]
Sir Richard Colt Hoare's study The Ancient History of South Wiltshire, one of the earliest works to use evidence from archaeology.
James and Horace Smith's parodies Rejected Addresses .

Births

7 February – Charles Dickens, novelist (died 1870)
1 March – Augustus Pugin, architect (died 1852)
12 March – Joseph Prestwich, geologist (died 1896)
7 May – Robert Browning, poet (died 1889)
12 May – Edward Lear, nonsense poet, illustrator and painter (died 1888)
8 July – Louisa Hamilton, Duchess of Abercorn, aristocrat (died 1905)^[7]
24 September – Mary Ann Browne, poet and writer of musical scores (died 1845)^[8]
25 November – Henry Mayhew, writer (died 1887)
14 December – Charles Canning, 1st Viceroy of India (died 1862)^[9]
23 December – Samuel Smiles, author and reformer (died 1904)

Deaths

23 January – Robert Craufurd, general (mortally wounded in battle) (born 1764)
11 March – Philip James de Loutherbourg, painter (born 1740 in Alsace)^[10]
18 March – John Horne Tooke, politician and philologist (born 1736)^[11]
7 April – Robert Willan, dermatologist (born 1757)^[12]
25 April – Edmond Malone, Shakespearian scholar (born 1741 in Ireland)^[13]
11 May – Spencer Perceval, Prime Minister (assassinated) (born 1762)
18 May – John Bellingham, Perceval's killer (executed) (born c. 1769)
12 August – William Booth, forger (executed) (baptised 1776)^[14]
13 October – Isaac Brock, British general (killed in battle) (born 1769)
28 October – Susanna Duncombe, poet and painter (born 1725)^[15]
16 November – John Walter, newspaper proprietor (born c. 1738)^[16]

Related Research Articles

<span class="mw-page-title-main">1812</span> Calendar year

1812 (MDCCCXII) was a leap year starting on Wednesday of the Gregorian calendar and a leap year starting on Monday of the Julian calendar, the 1812th year of the Common Era (CE) and Anno Domini (AD) designations, the 812th year of the 2nd millennium, the 12th year of the 19th century, and the 3rd year of the 1810s decade. As of the start of 1812, the Gregorian calendar was 12 days ahead of the Julian calendar, which remained in localized use until 1923.

Spencer Perceval was a British statesman and barrister who was Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from October 1809 until his assassination in May 1812. He is the only British prime minister to have been assassinated, and the only solicitor-general or attorney-general to have become prime minister.

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool was a British Tory statesman who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1812 to 1827. Before becoming Prime Minister he had been Foreign Secretary, Home Secretary and Secretary of State for War and the Colonies. He held the constituency of Rye from 1790 until his elevation to the House of Lords in 1803, of which he was Leader from 1807 to 1827.

Frederick John Robinson, 1st Earl of Ripon, styled The Honourable F. J. Robinson until 1827 and known between 1827 and 1833 as The Viscount Goderich, the name by which he is best known to history, was a British politician who served as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom from 1827 to 1828.

Henry Bathurst, 3rd Earl Bathurst, was a High Tory, High Church Pittite. He was an MP for thirty years before ennoblement. A personal friend of William Pitt the Younger, he became a broker of deals across cabinet factions during the Napoleonic era. After the Napoleonic Wars, Bathurst was on the conservative wing of the Tory party.

The article lists the records of prime ministers of the United Kingdom since 1721.

Charles Cecil Cope Jenkinson, 3rd Earl of Liverpool, styled The Honourable Charles Jenkinson between 1786 and 1828, was a British politician.

Events from the year 1828 in the United Kingdom.

The 1812 United Kingdom general election was the fourth general election after the Union of Great Britain and Ireland, held on 5 October 1812 to 10 November 1812, taking place at the height of the Napoleonic Wars.

Events from the year 1815 in the United Kingdom. 1815 marks the end of years of war between the United Kingdom and France when the Duke of Wellington wins a decisive victory over Napoleon at the Battle of Waterloo. Fighting in the War of 1812 between the UK and the United States also ceases, peace terms having been agreed at the end of 1814. The year also sees the introduction of the Corn Laws which protect British land owners from cheaper foreign imports of corn.

Events from the year 1809 in the United Kingdom.

Events from the year 1811 in the United Kingdom. This is a census year and the start of the British Regency.

Events from the year 1813 in the United Kingdom.

Events from the year 1814 in the United Kingdom.

Events from the year 1818 in the United Kingdom.

The Canningites, led by George Canning and then the Viscount Goderich as First Lord of the Treasury, governed the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland from 1827 until 1828.

Robert Banks Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool was invited by the Prince Regent to form a government on 8 June 1812. This is a list of members of the government of the United Kingdom in office under the leadership of Lord Liverpool from 1812 to 1827. He was appointed Prime Minister of the United Kingdom by the Prince Regent after the assassination of Spencer Perceval.

<span class="mw-page-title-main">Assassination of Spencer Perceval</span> 1812 murder in London, England

On 11 May 1812, at about 5:15 pm, Spencer Perceval, the prime minister of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland, was shot dead in the lobby of the House of Commons by John Bellingham, a Liverpool merchant with a grievance against the government. Bellingham was detained; four days after the murder, he was tried, convicted and sentenced to death. He was hanged at Newgate Prison on 18 May, one week after the assassination and one month before the start of the War of 1812. Perceval remains the sole British prime minister to have been assassinated.

Louisa Theodosia Jenkinson, Countess of Liverpool was a British noblewoman and the first wife of Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool, who served as prime minister from 1812 to 1827.

The Portrait of Lord Hawkesbury is a work by the English artist Thomas Lawrence depicting the British politician and future Prime Minister Lord Hawkesbury, then in his mid-twenties. It is also known as the Portrait of Lord Liverpool, referring to the title he inherited in 1808 and by which he is better known. It is in the style of Romanticism.

References

1 2 Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 240–241. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
↑ Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
↑ McCrorie, Ian (1986). Clyde Pleasure Steamers. Greenock: Orr, Pollock & Co. Ltd. ISBN 1-869850-00-9.
↑ Bushell, J. (1975). The World's Oldest Railway: a history of the Middleton Railway. Sheffield: Turntable Publications. ISBN 0-902844-27-X.
↑ "Icons, a portrait of England 1800–1820". Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2007.
↑ Spengler-Axiopoulos, Barbara (1 July 2006), Der skeptische Kosmopolit (in German), NZZ, archived from the original on 18 March 2012, retrieved 27 March 2012
↑ Cokayne, G. E., et al., eds. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. New ed., 1910–1959. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000. I:9.
↑ Alison Chapman (ed.) and the DVPP team, “Browne, Mary Ann (Mrs. James Grey) (F),” Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry Project, Edition 0.98.8beta, University of Victoria, 30th June 2023.
↑ Metcalf, Thomas R. "Canning, Charles John (1812–1862)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4554.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
↑ Encyclopædia Britannica 9th ed.
↑ Encyclopædia Britannica 11th ed.
↑ "Robert Willan". Whonamedit?. Retrieved 16 February 2021.
↑ Martin, Peter (2005) [1995]. Edmond Malone, Shakespearean Scholar: A Literary Biography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-61982-3.
↑ The trial and execution of William Booth Who was Executed at Stafford, on Saturday Aug. 15, 1812. For Counterfeiting Forged Bank of England Notes – via Wikisource.
↑ McBriar, Shannon R. "Duncombe, Susanna (1725–1812)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8238.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)
↑ "John Walter". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 4 March 2019.

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[CBH-1] 1 2 Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 240–241. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.

[Pocket_On_This_Day-2] Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.

[3] McCrorie, Ian (1986). Clyde Pleasure Steamers. Greenock: Orr, Pollock & Co. Ltd. ISBN 1-869850-00-9.

[4] Bushell, J. (1975). The World's Oldest Railway: a history of the Middleton Railway. Sheffield: Turntable Publications. ISBN 0-902844-27-X.

[5] "Icons, a portrait of England 1800–1820". Archived from the original on 17 October 2007. Retrieved 11 September 2007.

[6] Spengler-Axiopoulos, Barbara (1 July 2006), Der skeptische Kosmopolit (in German), NZZ, archived from the original on 18 March 2012, retrieved 27 March 2012

[7] Cokayne, G. E., et al., eds. The Complete Peerage of England, Scotland, Ireland, Great Britain and the United Kingdom, Extant, Extinct or Dormant. New ed., 1910–1959. Gloucester: Alan Sutton Publishing, 2000. I:9.

[DVPP-8] Alison Chapman (ed.) and the DVPP team, “Browne, Mary Ann (Mrs. James Grey) (F),” Digital Victorian Periodical Poetry Project, Edition 0.98.8beta, University of Victoria, 30th June 2023.

[9] Metcalf, Thomas R. "Canning, Charles John (1812–1862)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/4554.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[10] Encyclopædia Britannica 9th ed.

[11] Encyclopædia Britannica 11th ed.

[12] "Robert Willan". Whonamedit?. Retrieved 16 February 2021.

[13] Martin, Peter (2005) [1995]. Edmond Malone, Shakespearean Scholar: A Literary Biography. Cambridge University Press. ISBN 0-521-61982-3.

[14] The trial and execution of William Booth Who was Executed at Stafford, on Saturday Aug. 15, 1812. For Counterfeiting Forged Bank of England Notes – via Wikisource.

[15] McBriar, Shannon R. "Duncombe, Susanna (1725–1812)". Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (online ed.). Oxford University Press. doi:10.1093/ref:odnb/8238.(Subscription or UK public library membership required.)

[16] "John Walter". Spartacus Educational. Retrieved 4 March 2019.

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v t e 1812 in Europe
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