Events
- 1 January – the UK's first Medical Officer of Health is appointed, Dr. William Henry Duncan in Liverpool. [1]
- 13 January – the Irish Confederation is formed by people in the Young Ireland movement who had broken away from the Repeal Association. [2]
- 14 January – all thirteen members of the Point of Ayr life-boat crew are drowned when it capsizes off Rhyl.
- 25–27 February – 1847 University of Cambridge Chancellor election: Prince Albert is unsuccessfully challenged for the chancellorship of the University of Cambridge by The Earl of Powis. The winning margin is less than 120 votes.
- 5 March – an explosion at The Oaks in the Barnsley seam in Yorkshire kills 73 men and boys. [3]
- 15 March – new system of county courts, with 60 judicial circuits and 491 courts, comes into operation in England and Wales under terms of the County Courts Act (28 August 1846). [4]
- 24 March (starting 12 midday) – National Day of Fast and Humiliation for the Great Famine (Ireland) is held across the UK by royal proclamation. [5]
- 5 April – the world's first civic public park, Birkenhead Park in Birkenhead, Merseyside is opened. [6]
- 15 April – the House of Lords in the Palace of Westminster, designed by Charles Barry and Augustus Pugin, is opened.
- 28 April – the brig Exmouth carrying emigrants from Derry bound for Quebec is wrecked off Islay with only three survivors from more than 250 on board. [7] [8]
- May
- United Presbyterian Church of Scotland constituted. [9]
- The Architectural Association School of Architecture is founded in London.
- 24 May – the Dee bridge disaster: a cast iron girder bridge across the river Dee at Chester, designed by Robert Stephenson for the Chester and Holyhead Railway, collapses under a Shrewsbury and Chester Railway train with five fatalities. [10]
- June – E. H. Booth & Co. Ltd, which becomes the Northern England supermarket chain Booths, is founded when 19-year-old tea dealer Edwin Henry Booth opens a shop called "The China House" in Blackpool.
- 1 June
- Military General Service Medal and Naval General Service Medal, the first British campaign medals, are introduced.
- The public school Ratcliffe College opens near Leicester as a Catholic institution.
- 8 June – Factory Act establishes a maximum 10-hour working day for women, and for boys aged 13–18. [11]
- 9 June – the public school Radley College is founded near Oxford as a High Anglican institution. [12]
- 1 July – publication of Reports of the Commissioners of Inquiry into the state of education in Wales containing opinions hostile to Welsh culture, and commonly known in Wales as the "Treason of the Blue Books".
- 14 July – Faversham guncotton explosion kills 18.
- 22 July – Town Police Clauses Act 1847 provides powers to regulate urban streets, some of which remain in force into the 21st century.
- 9 August – the Whig Party under Lord John Russell wins the general election.
- 13 August – John Russell Hind makes the first British discovery of an asteroid, from London, 7 Iris. On 18 October he discovers 8 Flora.
- 16 September
- William Shakespeare's birthplace in Stratford-upon-Avon (pictured) is bought by the United Shakespeare Company for preservation. [13]
- The Band of Hope is established to promote teetotalism among young people by Rev. Jabez Tunnicliff in Leeds. [14] [15]
- 30 September – the Vegetarian Society is formed. It remains the oldest in the world.
- November – Rev. Henry Francis Lyte writes the hymn Abide with Me (in its final form) at Brixham; it is first sung a few weeks later at his funeral.
- 4–8 November – James Young Simpson discovers the anaesthetic properties of chloroform and first uses it, successfully, on a patient, in an obstetric case in Edinburgh. [16] [17]
- December – the Christmas cracker is marketed by Tom Smith of London. [18]
- 20 December – Royal Navy steam frigate HMS Avenger (1845) is wrecked on the Sorelle Rocks in the Mediterranean Sea with the loss of 246 lives and only eight survivors. [19]
Undated
- Ongoing – Great Famine (Ireland): this summer's potato crop is free from blight, but inadequate due to the small area sown. [20] The British Relief Association is founded and raises money throughout England, the United States and Australia to relieve distress, with the help of the "Queen's Letters", two letters from Queen Victoria appealing for assistance. [21]
- Panic of 1847: A crisis in the banking sector prompted largely by the collapse of Railway Mania. On 25 October the Bank Charter Act 1844 is suspended. [22]
