1841 - 1850

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1841

February 10: Penny Red replaces Penny Black postage stamp

June 6: First full census in Britain in which all names were recorded

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1842

Mail steamship to India

Civil Registration in Channel Islands started

Government report 'The Sanitary Condition of the Labouring Population'

Laws outlawing women and children in the mines 

Illustrated London News appears.

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1843

First Christmas card in England

Brunel's 'Great Britain' launched

Disruption of the Church of Scotland – 474 ministers signed the Deed of Demission and formed the Free Church of Scotland (the "Wee Free")

Factory safety regulations enacted

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1844

Outdoor Relief Prohibition Order – parish relief received only in a workhouse

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1845

Excise tax on glass production repealed

Potato famine in Ireland (to 1848) – temporary repeal of the Corn Laws

Kelly's Directories

Tarmac laid for first time (in Nottingham)

First voyage of 'Great Britain' – to America

Royal Naval Biographical Dictionary published

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1846

Free Church of Scotland formed

An anaesthetic used for the first time in England

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1847

United Succession becomes the United Presbyterian Church

Ten Hours Act shortens factory work day to ten hours for women and children

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1848

General revolutionary movement throughout the Continent

Rotary press first introduced

Public Health Act

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1849

Civil Registration of Births in Isle of Man started

Florin (2 shilling coin) introduced as the first step to decimalisation – which finally occurred in 1971!

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1850

Telegraph cable Dover to Calais [others say 1851] 

The paper bag arrives.

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