1811 in the United Kingdom explained

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

Incumbents

• Monarch – George III
• Regent – George, Prince Regent (starting 5 February)
• Prime Minister – Spencer Perceval (Tory)
  • Foreign Secretary – Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley Home Secretary – Richard Ryder

Events

• 1 February – Bell Rock Lighthouse begins operation off the coast of Scotland.^[1]
• 5 February – George, Prince of Wales becomes Regent^[1] under terms of the Regency Act because of the perceived insanity of his father, King George III.^[2] He is known as the Prince Regent and this is the beginning of the Regency period.^[3]
• 21 February – The John and Jane, carrying troops bound for the Peninsular War, is accidentally run down and sunk by HMS Franchise off Lizard Point, Cornwall with the loss of a majority of the 300 on board.^[4]
• 22 February – Editor Leigh Hunt and his publisher brother John, defended by Henry Brougham, are cleared of seditious libel over a September 1810 article in their newspaper, The Examiner, criticising flogging in the Army.^[5]
• 13 March – Battle of Lissa: British fleet defeats the French.
• 25–27 March – Battle of Anholt: British naval forces defeat those of Denmark.
• 4 April – Huddersfield Narrow Canal completed by opening of Standedge Tunnel under the Pennines, the longest (5413yd), deepest and highest canal tunnel in Britain.^[6]
• 27 May – The second national Census reveals that the population of England and Wales has increased in ten years by over a million to 10.1 million.^[7]
• 10 June – A volcanic eruption, observed from Royal Navy sloop, creates Sabrina Island (Azores) which on 4 July is claimed for Britain; a few months later it sinks beneath the sea.
• 18 June – The Welsh Calvinistic Methodists leave the established Church of England by ordaining their own ministers in Bala, North Wales.
• 19 June – The Carlton House Fête is held at Carlton House in London. A costly and extravagant event it celebrated the beginning of the Regency era.
• 8 September – The first known landing on Rockall is made by a party from HMS Endymion.^{[8] [9]}
• 16 October – National Society for Promoting the Education of the Poor in the Principles of the Established Church in England and Wales established by the Church of England to promote a system of National Schools.
• November – Luddite uprisings begin in northern England and Midlands.^[10]
• 4 December – Royal Navy frigate is driven in a gale onto rocks in Lough Swilly in Ireland with no survivors from the estimated 253 aboard.^[11]
• 7–19 December – Ratcliff Highway murders in London.
• 24 December – Christmas Eve storm in the North Sea leads to wreck of, and Fancy off Jutland; and and the transport Archimedes off Texel with the loss of nearly 2,000 men.^[12]

Ongoing

• Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815
• Anglo-Russian War, 1807–1812
• Anglo-Swedish War 1810–1812
• Peninsular War, 1808–1814

Undated

• Highland Clearances: The Marquess and Marchioness of Stafford begin mass expulsion of crofting tenants from their Highland estates to make way for sheep farming.^{[13] [14]}
• Building of Regent Street begins John Nash's development of the West End of London.^[15]
• The first complete ichthyosaur fossil is found by Mary Anning at Lyme Regis.

Publications

• Jane Austen's novel Sense and Sensibility ('by a lady').
• Francis Place's Illustrations and Proofs of the Principles of Population, including an examination of the proposed remedies of Mr. Malthus, and a reply to the objections of Mr. Godwin and others, the first significant text in English to advocate contraception.^[16]

Births

• 9 January – Gilbert Abbott à Beckett, writer (died 1856)
• 1 February – Arthur Hallam, poet (died 1833)^[17]
• 6 February – Henry Liddell, academic and cleric (died 1898)
• 24 February – Edward Dickinson Baker, United States Senator from Oregon from 1860 (died 1861 in the United States)
• 21 March – Nathaniel Woodard, educationalist (died 1891)^[18]
• 7 June – James Simpson, Scottish obstetrician and pioneer of anaesthesia (died 1870)
• 13 June – Owen Stanley, Royal Navy officer (died 1850)
• 11 July – William Robert Grove, Welsh chemist, inventor (died 1896)^[19]
• 13 July
  • George Gilbert Scott, architect (died 1878)
  • James "paraffin" Young, Scottish chemist (died 1883)^[20]
• 18 July – William Makepeace Thackeray, novelist (died 1863)
• 14 September – William Budd, physician and epidemiologist (died 1880)^[21]
• 31 October – William Loring, admiral (died 1895)^[22]
• 8 November – John Tarleton, admiral (died 1880)^[23]
• 21 December – Archibald Campbell Tait, Archbishop of Canterbury (died 1882)

Deaths

• 9 February – Nevil Maskelyne, Astronomer Royal (born 1732)
• 24 February – James Brudenell, 5th Earl of Cardigan, politician (born 1715)
• 14 March – Augustus FitzRoy, 3rd Duke of Grafton, Prime Minister of Great Britain (born 1735)^[24]
• 4 April – Mary Woffington, Irish socialite (b. 1729)^[25]
• 5 May – Robert Mylne, architect (born 1734)^[26]
• 7 May – Richard Cumberland, dramatist (born 1732)
• 28 May – Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville, Scottish politician, Home Secretary for Great Britain (born 1742)^[27]
• 29 July – William Cavendish, 5th Duke of Devonshire (born 1748)^[28]
• 30 September – Thomas Percy, poet, ballad collector and bishop (born 1729)^[29]
• 15 October – Sir Nathaniel Dance-Holland, portrait painter and politician (born 1735)
• 27 November – Andrew Meikle, Scottish mechanical engineer (born 1719)^[30]
• 21 December – Sir Peter Parker, 1st Baronet, Admiral of the Fleet (born 1721 in Ireland)
• 31 December – Benjamin Vulliamy, clockmaker (born 1747)

Notes and References

1. Book: Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 0-14-102715-0. 2006.
2. [Regency Acts#Care of King During his Illness, etc. Act 1811|Care of King During his Illness, etc. Act 1811]
3. Web site: George IV (1762–1830). BBC History. 2011-09-02.
4. Brian. French. Dangerous Waters. Maritime South West. 26. 2013. 93–123.
5. Roe, Nicholas (2005). Fiery Heart: The First Life of Leigh Hunt. London: Pimlico. .
6. Web site: Standedge Tunnel: a true wonder of the waterways. British Waterways. 2009-01-23. https://archive.today/20120915072522/http://www.standedge.co.uk/index.htm. 15 September 2012. dead.
7. Web site: 1811. 2011 Census. 2011. 2011-02-13. https://web.archive.org/web/20110718064050/http://2011.census.gov.uk/Did-you-know.../Census-history/Census-history-facts:-the-first-100-years/Census-year:-1811. 18 July 2011. dead.
8. Book: Hall, Basil. Fragments of Voyages and Travels. Basil Hall. London. 1831.
9. Book: Fisher, James. Rockall. James Fisher (naturalist). 1957. Country Book Club. 23–35.
10. Web site: Icons, a portrait of England 1800–1820. 2007-09-11. https://web.archive.org/web/20071017042835/http://www.icons.org.uk/theicons/icons-timeline/1800-1820. 17 October 2007 .
11. Book: Hepper, David J.. 1994. British Warship Losses in the Age of Sail, 1650–1859. Rotherfield. Jean Boudriot. 0-948864-30-3.
12. Book: William Patrick. Gosset. 1986. The Lost Ships of the Royal Navy, 1793–1900. Mansell. 0-7201-1816-6.
13. Web site: George Granville Leveson-Gower (1st Duke of Sutherland). Gazetteer for Scotland. 2010-11-10.
14. Web site: Noble. Ross. The Cultural Impact of the Highland Clearances. BBC. British History in-depth. 15 October 2010. 2010-11-10.
15. Book: Palmer. Alan. Palmer . Veronica. 1992. The Chronology of British History. Century Ltd. London. 244–245. 0-7126-5616-2.
16. Web site: Francis Place . Spartacus Educational . 2011-10-12 . dead . https://web.archive.org/web/20070806065706/http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/CHplace.htm . 6 August 2007 .
17. Book: Blocksidge, Martin. A Life Lived Quickly: Tennyson's friend Arthur Hallam and his legend. Sussex Academic Press. Brighton. 2010. 978-1-84519-418-5.
18. Book: Gibbs, David. 2011. In Search of Nathaniel Woodard: Victorian Founder of Schools. Chichester. Phillimore. 978-1-86077-667-0.
19. 11685. Iwan Rhys. Morus. Grove, Sir William Robert (1811–1896).
20. Web site: James Young (1811–1883), engineer, founder of first commercial oil-works in the world and the father of the petrochemical industry. Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame. 2011. 2021-02-14.
21. 3881. Margaret. Pelling. Budd, William.
22. William Richard. O'Byrne. Loring, William. A Naval Biographical Dictionary. 1849. John Murray.
23. William Richard. O'Byrne. Tarleton, John Walter. A Naval Biographical Dictionary. 1849. John Murray.
24. Web site: History of Augustus Henry Fitzroy, 3rd Duke of Grafton - GOV.UK . www.gov.uk . 25 June 2023 . en.
25. Book: Highfill . Philip H. . Burnim . Kalman A. . Langhans . Edward A. . A Biographical Dictionary of Actors, Actresses, Musicians, Dancers, Managers and Other Stage Personnel in London, 1660-1800 . 1993 . . Carbondale . 978-0-8093-1803-2 . en . 16 . 225.
26. Book: Ward, Robert. 2007. The Man Who Buried Nelson: The Surprising Life of Robert Mylne. Stroud. Tempus. 978-0-7524-3922-8.
27. 58758. Michael. Durban. Cavendish, William, fifth duke of Devonshire (1748–1811).
28. 8250. Michael. Fry. Dundas, Henry, first Viscount Melville (1742–1811).
29. 21959. Percy, Thomas (1729–1811). Palmer, Roy.
30. Web site: Andrew Meikle (1719–1811) engineer and inventor of the threshing machine. Scottish Engineering Hall of Fame. 2011. 2021-02-14.