1803 in the United Kingdom

1803 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland:

Other years

1801 | 1802 | 1803 | 1804 | 1805

Events from the year 1803 in the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland.

Incumbents

• Monarch - George III of the United Kingdom
• Prime Minister - Henry Addington, Tory

Events

• 4 January - William Symington demonstrates his Charlotte Dundas, the "first practical steamboat".
• 21 February - Edward Despard and six others are hanged, drawn and quartered for plotting to assassinate king George III and to destroy the Bank of England.
• 16 May - The United Kingdom redeclares war on France after France refused to withdraw from Dutch territory.^[1]
  • June - Britain captures Tobago and Saint Lucia from France.^[2]
    • 9 June - Matthew Flinders completes the first known circumnavigation of Australia.^[3]
      • 24 June - abortion is made a crime by Lord Ellenborough's Act.^[4]
        • 23 July - Robert Emmet's uprising in Ireland begins.^[1]
          • 26 July - The wagonway between Wandsworth and Croydon is opened, being the first public railway line of the world.
          • 3 August - British begin Second Anglo-Maratha War against Sindhia of Gwalior
          • 20 September - Irish rebel Robert Emmet is executed.^[2]
            • 23 September - The Battle of Assaye in India – British-lead troops defeat Maratha forces.^[2]

              Undated

              • William Hyde Wollaston discovers the chemical element rhodium.
              • Smithson Tennant discovers the chemical elements iridium and osmium.
              • John Dalton presents a paper to the Manchester Literary and Philosophical Society containing the first table of atomic weights.^[5]
                • Construction of Caledonian Canal begins.^[1]
                  • The British Army adopts the anti-personnel shell invented by Henry Shrapnel.^[1]
                    • Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin begins the removal the Elgin Marbles from the Parthenon in Athens to protect them from destruction during the Ottoman occupation of Greece.^[1]
                      • Martello Towers built to protect against the threat of French invasion.^[2]
                        • Thomas Telford begins work on improving roads in Scotland.^[2]

                          Births

                          • 25 May - Edward George Bulwer-Lytton, novelist and playwright (died 1873)
                          • 24 June - George James Webb, English-born composer (died 1887)
                          • 3 August - Joseph Paxton, gardiner and architect (died 1865)
                          • 6 December - Susanna Moodie, writer (died 1885)
                          • 21 December - Joseph Whitworth, engineer and entrepreneur (died 1887)

                          Deaths

                          • 23 January - Arthur Guinness, Irish brewer (born 1725)
                          • 2 April - Sir James Montgomery, 1st Baronet, politician and judge (born 1721)
                          • 6 April - William Hamilton, diplomat (born 1730)
                          • 19 April - Thomas Jones, landscape painter (born 1742)
                          • 3 June - Lord George Murray, Bishop of St David's and developer of the UK's first optical telegraph (born 1761))
                          • 26 October - Granville Leveson-Gower, 1st Marquess of Stafford, politician (born 1721)

                          References

                          1. ^ ^{a b c d e} Williams, Hywel (2005). Cassell's Chronology of World History. Weidenfeld & Nicolson. ISBN 0-304-35730-8. 
                          2. ^ ^{a b c d e} Palmer, Alan & Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd, 239-240. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2. 
                          3. ^ British History Timeline, BBC History. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
                          4. ^ Lord Ellenborough's Act. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.
                          5. ^ John Dalton, the man and his legacy: the bicentenary of his Atomic Theory, PDF. Retrieved on 2008-02-17.

                          
                          

                          See also

                          v • d • e Years in the United Kingdom (1801–present)

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