1881 - 1890

Back

1881

April 3: Fifth full British Census

Postal Orders introduced

First Boer War – Transvaal independence recognised

Back

1882

May 6: Phoenix Park murders in Dublin

Institution of 'the Ashes' in cricket

Back

1883

Aug 1: Parcel post starts in Britain

October 4: Foundation of the Boys' Brigade in Glasgow by William Smith

Foundation of the Primrose League, British Conservative organisation, by Lord Randolph Churchill

Married Women's Property Act of 1882 becomes law

Eruption of Krakatoa near Java – 30,000 killed by tidal wave 

The Orient Express began service from Paris to Istanbul

Back

1884

The Third Reform Bill – vote given to agricultural workers

Greenwich Mean Time made prime meridian of the world

Back

1885

Carl Benz builds single-cylinder motor car

In 1885 American inventor George Eastman marketed his first box camera. It sold for $25, a considerable sum in those days. The Kodak camera, the first camera designed to use film rolled around a spindle, came with the film already installed. After the purchaser took 100 pictures, the camera had to be returned to the factory, where the film was removed and processed and a new spool installed. Cumbersome by modern standards, the camera seemed a marvel at the time. Although photography was more than 50 years old by 1885, Eastman was the first to market a camera simple enough for amateurs to use.

Secretary for Scotland appointed

January 26: Fall of Khartoum, General Gordon killed

Back

1886

Crofters Act

Back

1887

June 21: Queen Victoria's Golden Jubilee

Back

1888

County Councils set up in Britain 

The coin-operated public telephone.

Back

1889

Celluloid film produced

Eiffel Tower built (to mark centenary of French Revolution)

Dock Strike – docker's won their "Docker's Tanner", 6 old pennies

Back

1890

London's first electric Underground

March 4: Forth railway bridge opens – took six years to build

Back