Two of Candice’s book are set in 1801: Once a Dreamer and Once a Scoundrel.
All links are to Wikipedia entries.
The Union Jack becomes the new flag of the United Kingdom in 1801, incorporating the Cross of St. George (England), the Cross of St. Andrew (Scotland), and the Cross of St. Patrick (Ireland).
Government, Politics, and War:
- January 1: the Act of Union with Ireland creates the United Kingdom.
- February 4: The government of William Pitt collapses over the issue of Catholic emancipation. Pitt had made veiled promises of emancipation in order to secure the Act of Union, but George III would not support it, and Pitt resigned.
- February 16: The Treaty of Lunéville, between France and the Holy Roman Empire, is signed, giving France control up to the Rhine and the French client republics in Italy and the Netherlands. Britain is now the sole nation fighting against France.
- March 4: Thomas Jefferson becomes the third President of the United States.
- March 14: Henry Addington becomes Prime Minister.
- March 23: Tsar Paul I of Russia is assassinated. He is succeeded by Tsar Alexander I.
- April 2: At the Battle of Copenhagen, Lord Nelson deals a death blow to the League of Armed Neutrality (Russia, Denmark, Sweden, and Prussia) with his destruction of the Danish fleet. When he returns to England in June, Nelson is elevated to a viscount.
- June 27: Cairo falls to British troops.
- July 6: The French fleet defeats the British fleet at the Battle of Algeciras.
- September 30: The Treaty of London is signed, a preliminary peace treaty ending the war between France and Britain.
Society and Social History:
- English horse racing at Goodwood is introduced by Charles Lennox, Duke of Richmond.
- January: Emma Hamilton gives birth to the illegitimate daughter of Lord Nelson.
- March 10: England conducts its first census.
- March: The London Stock Exchange is founded.
- April: The U.S. Library of Congress is founded.
Literature, Journalism, and Publishing:
- Maria Edgeworth’s Belinda is published.
Portrait of a Young Woman Drawing by Marie-Denise Villers. (Click on image to read more about it and to see a larger version.)
Art, Architecture, and Design:
- Architects Charles Percier and Pierre-François-Léonard Fontaine publish the Recueil de décorations intérieures, a compilation of drawings of contemporary design that will set the standard for the Empire style of interior decoration that spreads throughout Europe.
- Lord Elgin, with permission of the Turkish government that controls Athens, begins the removal of sculptured portions of the Parthenon, a task that takes five years to complete.
- Marie-Denise Villers paints Portrait of a Young Woman Drawing, thought to be a self-portrait.
- June 28: Francis Wheatley, English portrait and landscape painter, dies at age 54.
Music:
- Beethoven completes the “Moonlight Sonata” (Piano Sonata No. 14 in C-sharp minor, Opus 27).
- Joseph Haydn completes his oratorio, The Seasons.
Science and Industry:
- Joseph-Marie Jacquard develops the Jacquard Loom, in which holes strategically punched in a pasteboard card direct the movement of needles, thread, and fabric.
- Ultraviolet radiation is discovered by Johann Wilhelm Ritter.
- August: The West India Docks open after a two-year design and construction project by William Jessop. Built on the Isle of Dogs, they are the first large wet docks built in the Port of London, and can accommodate 600 ships.
- December: Richard Trevithick builds and demonstrates the first steam-powered road locomotive.
