1806 CE

Proceedings for the impeachment of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (on the initiative of Samuel Whitbread) for the misappropriation of public money at the Admiralty begin; he will be acquitted in the last impeachment trial ever held in the House of Lords. The Ferret arrives in London with Te Mahanga (Moehanga) aboard. He is the first Māori known to have visited England. In London he is rejoined by John Savage who left the ship at Cork. While in London Te Mahanga meets King George III and Queen Charlotte. Battle of Trafalgar: A British Royal Navy fleet led by Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain. About 465 of the 18,000 men on the British ships were born in Wales.

In the 1800s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • January 1 – The Kingdom of Bavaria is established by Napoleon.source
  • 10 January – Governor Jan Willem Janssens capitulates and Sir David Baird is appointed Governor of the CapeSouth Africasource
  • January 18 – The Dutch Cape Colony capitulates to British forces, the origin of its status as a colony within the British Empire.source
  • March 30 – The Napoleonic Kingdom of Naples is proclaimed.source
  • April 18 – The U.S. Congress passes the Non-importation Act in an attempt to coerce Great Britain to suspend its impressment of American sailors and to respect American sovereignty and neutrality on the high seas.United Statessource
  • June 5 – Louis Bonaparte is appointed as King of Holland by his brother, Emperor Napoleon, replacing the Batavian Republic.source
  • July 12 – Sixteen German Imperial States leave the Holy Roman Empire and form the Confederation of the Rhine, leading to the collapse of the Empire. Liechtenstein is given full sovereignty.source
  • 12 July – Sixteen German Imperial States leave the Holy Roman Empire and form the Confederation of the Rhine; Liechtenstein is given full sovereignty, leading to the collapse of the Empire after 844 years.Germanysource
  • 5 August – Captain William Bligh arrives in Sydney to take over the governorship.Australiasource
  • August 6 – Francis II, the last Holy Roman Emperor, abdicates, thus ending the Holy Roman Empire after 844 years.source
  • 6 August – The new Governor of New South Wales, William Bligh, arrives.New Zealandsource
  • 27 October – The Barony of Gaunø was established by Otto Reedtz-Thott (1785-1862) from the manors of Gavnø, Lindersvold and Strandegård.Denmarksource
  • Minor trouble arises after 1806 when a governor attempts to anglicize Lower Canada, but he is able to quell dissent if not to achieve his goal.Canadasource
  • Frederich Christopher Trampe, Count of Trampe takes over the role of Governor of Iceland, replacing Ólafur Stefánsson.Icelandsource

Conflict & Security

  • January 8 – Battle of Blaauwberg: British infantry force troops of the Batavian Republic in the Dutch Cape Colony to withdraw.source
  • 8 January – British troops land at Losperds Bay, between Bloubergstrand and Melkbosstrand in the Cape Colony.South Africasource
  • January 9 – The Dutch commandant of Cape Town surrenders to British forces. On January 10, formal capitulation is signed under the Treaty Tree in Papendorp (modern-day Woodstock).source
  • January 23 – Invasion of Naples: Ferdinand I of the Two Sicilies flees to the Kingdom of Sicily under British protection.source
  • January 23 – Following the death of William Pitt the Younger, his cousin Lord Grenville succeeds him as wartime Prime Minister of the United Kingdom.source
  • February 6 – Battle of San Domingo: The British Royal Navy gains a victory over the French off Santo Domingo.source
  • February 15 – Invasion of Naples: Joseph Bonaparte enters Naples.source
  • May 30 – Future President of the United States Andrew Jackson fights his third duel, killing lawyer Charles Dickinson following a dispute over payment of a forfeit.source
  • May 30 – Future President Andrew Jackson fights his second duel, killing Charles Dickinson.United Statessource
  • July 4 – Invasion of Naples (War of the Third Coalition): Battle of Maida – Britain defeats the French in Calabria.source
  • July 10 – Vellore Mutiny: Indian sepoys mutiny against the East India Company, for the first time.source
  • July 23 – British invasions of the River Plate: A British expeditionary force of 1,700 men lands on the left bank of the Río de la Plata and invades Buenos Aires.source
  • September 25 – Prussia issues an ultimatum to Paris, threatening war if France does not halt marching its troops through Prussian territory to reach Austria; the message does not reach Napoleon Bonaparte until October 7, and he responds by attacking Prussia.source
  • October 8 – Napoleon responds to the September 25 ultimatum from Prussia, and begins the War of the Fourth Coalition; Prussia is joined by Saxony and other minor German states.source
  • 8 October – Napoleon responds to the 25 September ultimatum from Prussia, and begins the War of the Fourth Coalition; Prussia is joined by Saxony and other minor German states.Germanysource
  • October 9 – Battle of Schleiz: French and Prussian forces fight for the first time since the war began. A more numerous French force easily defeats the Prussian army.source
  • October 10 - Battle of Saalfeld: French forces under Marshal Jean Lannes clash at Saalfeld with a Prussian advance guard. The Prussian troops are routed, and Prince Louis Ferdinand of Prussia is killed in combat.source
  • October 14 – Battle of Jena–Auerstedt: At Jena, Napoleon defeats the Prussian army of Prince Hohenlohe, while at Auerstedt, Marshal Davout defeats the main Prussian army under Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick (who is fatally wounded).source
  • 21 October - Battle of Trafalgar: A British Royal Navy fleet led by Admiral Horatio Nelson defeats a combined French and Spanish fleet off the coast of Spain. About 465 of the 18,000 men on the British ships were born in Wales.Walessource
  • October 24 – French forces enter Berlin.source
  • October 30 – Capitulation of Stettin: Believing themselves massively outnumbered, the 5,300-man garrison at Stettin in Prussia surrenders to a much smaller French force without a fight.source
  • 6 November - Swedish defeat at Lübeck in the Franco-Swedish War.Swedensource
  • 19 November – Akbar II Akbar Shah, Mughal Emperor ascended to the throne of Delhi.Indiasource
  • November 24 – The last major Prussian field force, under Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher, surrenders to the French near Lübeck. Frederick William III has by this time fled to Memel in East Prussia.source
  • November 28 – French troops enter Warsaw.source
  • Battle of Golymin – Russian forces under General Golitsyn fight a successful rearguard action against French forces, under Marshal Murat.source
  • Battle of Pułtusk – Russian forces under General Bennigsen narrowly escape from a direct confrontation with Napoleon, who goes into winter quarters.source
  • War of the Third Coalition endsRussiasource
  • Napoleonic Wars: Defensive gun batteries placed on the island of Inchgarvie in the Firth of Forth.Scotlandsource

Exploration & Expansion

  • 4 January – The British expeditionary force arrives at the CapeSouth Africasource
  • 9 January - The ship Cecelia, on a voyage from Dublin to Barbados, founders in the Irish Sea off Holyhead, Anglesey, with the loss of all hands.Walessource
  • March 23 – Explorers Lewis and Clark and their Corps of Discovery, having reached the Pacific Ocean after traveling through the Louisiana Purchase, begin their journey home.source
  • 17 June – The Venus, Captain Samuel Chace, is taken piratically at Port Dalrymple (Launceston) and sails for New Zealand. There are two women, Charlotte Badger and convict Catherine Hagerty, among those who take over the ship.New Zealandsource
  • July 15 – Pike Expedition: Near St. Louis, Missouri, United States Army Lieutenant Zebulon Pike leads an expedition from Fort Bellefontaine, to explore the American West.source
  • 12 August – Governor King boards HMS Buffalo for his return to England, and Bligh's commission is formally read.Australiasource
  • August 14 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition re-visit the Mandan Indians while making its return trip to St. Louis.United Statessource
  • August 18 – English seal hunter Abraham Bristow discovers the Auckland Islands.source
  • 18 August – English seal hunter Abraham Bristow discovers the Auckland Islands.United Kingdomsource
  • August 1806: First Russian circumnavigation of the earth completedRussiasource
  • September 23 – The Lewis and Clark Expedition reaches St. Louis, Missouri, ending a successful exploration of the Louisiana Territory and the Pacific Northwest. Their arrival comes "much to the amazement of residents, who had given the travelers up for dead" according to one historian.source
  • November 15 – Pike Expedition: During his second exploratory expedition, Lieutenant Zebulon Pike sees a distant mountain peak while near the Colorado foothills of the Rocky Mountains (later named Pikes Peak in his honor).source
  • November 21 – Napoleon's Berlin Decree initiates the Continental System, blocking the import of British manufactured goods to the rest of Europe.source
  • Russian-American Company Company collects otter pelts from Alaska to Spanish California.Canadasource

Religion & Belief

  • January 9 – Lord Nelson is given a state funeral and interment at St Paul's Cathedral in London, attended by the Prince of Wales.source
  • 9 January – Lord Nelson is given a state funeral and interment at St Paul's Cathedral in London, attended by the Prince of Wales.United Kingdomsource
  • May 16 – A British Order in Council of 16 May 1806 declares all ports from Brest (France) to the Elbe to be under a state of blockade by the British Royal Navy.source
  • 16 May – The Order in Council of 16 May 1806 declares all ports from Brest (France) to the Elbe to be under a state of blockade by the Royal Navy.United Kingdomsource
  • July 7 – Cornerstone laid for America's First Cathedral, now known as the Baltimore Basilica. Architect: Benjamin Latrobe.United Statessource
  • Casgliad o Hymnau gan mwyaf heb erioed eu hargraffu o'r blaen (collection of hymns)Walessource
  • Titus Lewis - A Welsh — English Dictionary, Geiriadur Cymraeg a SaesnegWalessource
  • William Richards - Address on the Duration or Perpetuity of Christian Baptism, with some Introductory Hints upon the Subjects and Mode of that OrdinanceWalessource
  • Titus Lewis & Joseph Harris (Gomer) - Y Drysorfa EfangylaiddWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • January 1 – The French Republican Calendar is abolished.source
  • National income - ₹11,730 millionIndiasource
  • John Kenrick III develops his great-uncle's chandlery at Wrexham into a bank.Walessource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 20 March – Construction begins of Dartmoor Prison, to house prisoners of war.United Kingdomsource
  • March 29 – Construction is authorized of the National Road (the first United States federal highway).United Statessource
  • 26 November - The Ellesmere Canal's Pontcysyllte Aqueduct is opened, the tallest and longest in Britain, completing the canal's Llangollen branch.Walessource
  • The English architect George Papworth moves to Dublin.Irelandsource
  • The first Norwegian assurance associations for ships were established.Norwaysource
  • Alexander I Palace (Taganrog) builtRussiasource
  • The first Spey Bridge at Fochabers, designed by Thomas Telford, is completed.Scotlandsource
  • The first regular inland postal service is started.South Africasource

Science & Discovery

  • 12 June – The Alexander arrives at Portsmouth with Teina and Maki aboard.New Zealandsource
  • 7 October – Carbon paper patented by Ralph Wedgwood.United Kingdomsource
  • Flights in Copenhagen with manned hot air balloon.Denmarksource
  • Noah Webster publishes A Compendious Dictionary of the English Language, his first American English dictionary.United Statessource
  • Thomas Charles - Geiriadur YsgrythyrolWalessource

Health & Medicine

  • 5 January – The body of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, lies in state in the Painted Hall of Greenwich Hospital, London.United Kingdomsource
  • 25 February – The Lady Nelson leaves Port Jackson to return Te Pahi and his sons to the Bay of Islands. Te Pahi has been given bricks and a frame for a European house, and other goods. During the journey Te Pahi becomes ill and is nursed by ex-convict George Bruce.New Zealandsource
  • May 25 – George Sweeney allegedly poisons the household of his great-uncle, Founding Father George Wythe, in order to accelerate his inheritance.United Statessource
  • Julia Ann Hatton moves to Kidwelly after her husband's death.Walessource
  • William Owen Pughe inherits the estate of the Rev. Rees Pughe in Denbighshire and takes the surname "Pughe".Walessource

Crime & Justice

  • 8 April – Proceedings for the impeachment of Henry Dundas, 1st Viscount Melville (on the initiative of Samuel Whitbread) for the misappropriation of public money at the Admiralty begin; he will be acquitted in the last impeachment trial ever held in the House of Lords.United Kingdomsource
  • 27 June – The Alexander arrives in London. Teina and Maki come under the care of Reverend Joseph Hardcastle of the London Missionary Society who tries to arrange for their return to New South Wales. However, before he can do so Teina dies and Maki is kidnapped by a crimp, his later fate unknown.New Zealandsource
  • July/August – The Venus arrives at the Bay of Islands. Two men, convicts Richard Evans and John Lancashire, the two women Badger and Hagerty, and two children, Badger's young daughter and possibly the aboriginal cabin boy William Evans, are left at Rangihoua Bay. Hegarty and Badger are the first pākehā women to stay voluntarily in New Zealand. The two men are returned to Port Jackson by visiting ships, possibly before the end of the year. The Venus with its six remaining crew then travels down the east coast of the North Island, kidnapping several Māori women along the way and selling them to rival tribes who eventually kill them. These women included the sister and niece of Te Morenga and a relative of Hongi Hika’s. Their deaths are the cause of the retaliatory raids by these two chiefs in 1818.New Zealandsource
  • Mungo Park killed by natives on Niger River in Africa.Canadasource
  • American engraver Henry Pelham, agent for Lord Lansdowne's Irish estates, is drowned from a boat while superintending the erection of a martello tower in the Kenmare River.Irelandsource
  • Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, begins to ship the Elgin Marbles to Britain from Greece.Scotlandsource
  • Anthony Bushby Bacon sells his share of the Hirwaun ironworks to his brother Thomas and buys the Mathews' estate at Aberaman.Walessource
  • Richard Colt Hoare - Life of GiraldusWalessource

Disasters & Accidents

  • July 18 – 1806 Birgu polverista explosion: A gunpowder magazine explosion in Birgu, Malta kills around 200 people.source
  • 1 October - The brig Mary runs aground on the Arklow Bank, in the Irish Sea and is wrecked with the loss of seven of the ten people on board. Two of the survivors are rescued by Mary, a ship homeported in Liverpool, Lancashire, whilst the third is rescued by Mary, a ship homeported in Amlwch, Anglesey.Walessource
  • October 20 – British ship of the line HMS Athenienne is wrecked in the Strait of Sicily with the loss of 347 of the 488 on board.source
  • 20 October – HMS Athenienne is wrecked in the Strait of Sicily with the loss of 347 of the 488 onboard.United Kingdomsource
  • 25 October - The sloop Margaret, on a voyage from Bristol, Gloucestershire to Greenock, Renfrewshire, is wrecked near Holyhead, Anglesey, with the loss of all on board.Walessource

Climate & Environment

  • August/September – November/DecemberNew Zealandsource
  • 25 December – Stotfield fishing disaster: all 21 able-bodied men of the village of Stotfield are drowned when all three of their fishing boats are overwhelmed by a storm in the Moray Firth.Scotlandsource
  • Theophilus Jones - History of the County of Brecknock, vol. 1Walessource

Culture & Society

  • March 28 – Washington College (modern-day Washington & Jefferson College) is chartered by the Pennsylvania General Assembly.source
  • April 8 – Stéphanie de Beauharnais, adopted daughter of Emperor Napoleon I, marries Prince Karl Ludwig Friedrich of Baden.source
  • 27 April – The Ferret arrives in London with Te Mahanga (Moehanga) aboard. He is the first Māori known to have visited England. In London he is rejoined by John Savage who left the ship at Cork. While in London Te Mahanga meets King George III and Queen Charlotte.New Zealandsource
  • 6 May - The first Welsh language version of the New Testament issued by the British and Foreign Bible Society is published.Walessource
  • 21 June – The wedding of Prince Christian (VIII) and Duchess Charlotte Frederica of Mecklenburg-Schwerin takes place at Ludwigslust.Denmarksource
  • 7 July – Start of the first Gentlemen v Players cricket match (discontinued in 1963).United Kingdomsource
  • December 23 – Ludwig van Beethoven premieres his violin concerto at the Theater an der Wien.source
  • Le Canadien, a Quebec nationalist newspaper, is founded.Canadasource
  • St Petersburg College for the Deaf foundedRussiasource
  • New building of Rosneath House to an 1803 Romanesque Revival design by Joseph Bonomi the Elder is finished.Scotlandsource
  • Parson Weems publishes a 2nd edition of his The Life of George Washington, with curious anecdotes laudable to himself and exemplary to his countrymen, first including the story of the young Washington and the cherry-tree.United Statessource

Births

Deaths

  • January 23 – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister of the United Kingdom (born 1759)source
  • February 20: Death of Russian commander Pavel TsitsianovRussiasource
  • March 30 – Georgiana Cavendish, Duchess of Devonshire, English noblewoman, socialite, political organizer, style icon, author and activist (born 1757)source
  • April 10 – Horatio Gates, British soldier, served as an American general during the American Revolutionary War (born 1727)source
  • April 25 – Rana Bahadur Shah is killed by his step-brother Sher Bahadur Shah in the late night meeting which triggers the two weeks' long Bhandarkhal garden massacre in Khatmandu.source
  • May 9 – Robert Morris, English-born merchant, one of the Founding Fathers of the United States, "financier of the American Revolution" (born 1734)source
  • July 10 – George Stubbs, English animal painter (born 1724)source
  • August 22 – Jean-Honoré Fragonard, French painter (born 1742)source
  • September 9 – William Paterson, Irish-born American judge, signer of the United States Constitution, Governor of New Jersey (born 1745)source
  • September 13 – Charles James Fox, English politician (born 1749)source
  • October 9 – Benjamin Banneker, American astronomer and surveyor (born 1731)source
  • October 9 – Benjamin Banneker, astronomer, surveyor (born 1731)United Statessource
  • 14 October – Battle of Jena–Auerstedt: Napoleon defeats the Prussian army of Prince Hohenlohe at Jena, while Marshal Davout defeats the main Prussian army under Charles William Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick-Wolfenbüttel, who is killed.Germanysource
  • October 17 – Emperor Jacques I of Haiti (Jean-Jacques Dessalines) is assassinated at the Pont-Rouge, Haiti, and Alexandre Pétion becomes first President of the Republic of Haiti.source
  • October 25 – Henry Knox, Secretary of War under George Washington (born 1750)source
  • October 26 – John Graves Simcoe, English army officer and colonial administrator, first Lieutenant-Governor of Upper Canada (born 1752)source
  • November 10 – Karl Wilhelm Ferdinand, Duke of Brunswick, German ruling prince and general (died of wounds) (born 1735)source
  • 19 November – Shah Alam II, Mughal EmperorIndiasource