1817

Candice’s book Miss Lacey’s Last Fling is set in 1817.

All links are to Wikipedia entries.

1817 gold sovereign

1817 gold sovereign

Government, Politics, and War:

  • The British secretary for Ireland Robert Peel establishes a regular constabulary for Ireland. The Irish will call the constables “Peelers.”
  • February: The last major Luddite attack occurs, against lace-making machines in Loughborough.
  • March 4: Parliament passes the Coercion Acts against seditious meetings, primarily to suppress civil disturbances such as 1816’s Spa Fields Riots and the various activities of the Luddites. Among other things, they temporarily suspense habeas corpus.
  • March 4: James Monroe becomes fifth President of the United States.
  • March 10: The Blanketeers march from Manchester to London to petition the Prince Regent over the desperate state of the textile industry in Lancashire, and to protest the recent suspension of habeas corpus. The march was broken up violently and its leaders imprisoned
  • June 9–10: Pentrich Rising: The British Army prevent an armed uprising of about 300 laborers from Derbyshire marching on Nottingham
  • July 5: The Royal Mint replaces the gold guinea with a new gold sovereign coin.
  • November 5: The Third Anglo-Maratha War begins as the British governor general Lord Hastings sends troops into Maratha territory while conducting operations against Pindari robber bands.

Society and Social History:

  • A typhus epidemic occurs in Edinburgh and Glasgow.
  • April 3: The infamous imposter, Princess Caraboo, makes her first appearance in England.
  • November 6: Princess Charlotte dies after giving birth to a stillborn son.
Jane Austen

Jane Austen

Literature, Journalism, and Publishing:

Art, Architecture, and Design:

Music:

  • Beethoven composes String Quintet (Opus 104).
  • November: Rossini premiers his opera La Cenerentola (Cinderella) in Rome.

Theater and Dramatic Arts:

  • Gas lighting is installed at Covent Garden Theatre.
  • June: Actor John Philip Kemble makes his last appearance on the London stage in the role of Coriolanus at Covent Garden.

Science and Industry:

Natural History and Exploration:

  • January 1: Sailing through the Sandwich Islands, Otto von Kotzebue discovers New Year Island.