1816 CE

A riot breaks out on Wimbledon Common after inaccurate newspaper reports that a military review will commemorate the first anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. After a drunken crowd sets fire to the heath, cavalry are called in to disperse them. An earthquake in Inverness is the strongest ever in Scotland. Indiana is admitted as the 19th U.S. state (see History of Indiana).

In the 1810s, the 19th century.

Geopolitics & Diplomacy

  • March 1 – The Gorkha War between the United Kingdom and Nepal is ended after more than a year by the ratification of the Treaty of Sugauli, with Nepal ceding about one-third of its territory to British Indian control.source
  • March 16 – U.S. Secretary of State James Monroe is nominated by a caucus of Democratic-Republican Party members of Congress, to be its party's representative in the U.S. presidential election; Monroe receives 65 votes, and Secretary of War William H. Crawford receives 54 votes.source
  • March 22 – The United States signs a treaty with the Cherokee Nation, acknowledging that it will return land in Alabama and Georgia that had been illegally ceded to the U.S. in 1814 by the Creek Nation. General and future U.S. president Andrew Jackson, refuses to honor the treaty, and uses the controversy as a justification for removing Indians from the southeastern United States.source
  • March 29–April 10 – The Second Bank of the United States obtains its charter.source
  • May 8 – Divorce is abolished in France by the Chambre introuvable, after having been permitted following the French Revolution.source
  • 21 May – Highland Society of London (established 1778) incorporated by Act of Parliament.Scotlandsource
  • June 4 (N.S.) (May 23 O.S.) – The Governorate of Estonia of the Russian Empire emancipates its peasants from serfdom.source
  • July 9 – The United Provinces of South America (today Argentina, Uruguay, Bolivia and southern Brazil) declares independence from Spain.source
  • August 12–24 – The Treaty of St. Louis, between the United States and the Council of Three Fires tribes, is signed in St. Louis.source
  • August 14 – The United Kingdom formally annexes the Tristan da Cunha archipelago in the southern Atlantic Ocean, ruling it from the Cape Colony.source
  • September 6 – King Louis XVIII dissolves the Chambre introuvable, the legislature that had been elected after the Second Bourbon Restoration re-established the old monarchy.source
  • 6 September – King Louis XVIII dissolves the Chambre introuvable, the legislature that had been elected after the Second Restoration re-established the old monarchy.Francesource
  • November 1–December 3 – 1816 United States presidential election: James Monroe defeats Rufus King.source
  • 2 December – John Oxley allots the first land grants in the Illawarra district.Australiasource
  • December 11 – Indiana is admitted as the 19th U.S. state.source
  • December 11 – Indiana is admitted as the 19th U.S. state (see History of Indiana).United Statessource
  • December 12 – The thrones of Sicily and Naples are merged into the Kingdom of the Two Sicilies, under King Ferdinand I.source
  • Saint Pierre and Miquelon resettled.source
  • The French Artistic Mission arrived in Rio de Janeiro under the invitation of King John VI of Portugal. Led by artists like Jean-Baptiste Debret and Nicolas-Antoine Taunay, the mission aimed to establish European artistic and cultural standards in Brazil. This initiative later contributed to the founding of the Academia Imperial de Belas Artes, shaping Brazilian art and architecture and leaving a lasting cultural legacy.Brazilsource
  • Province of Brandenburg establishedGermanysource
  • Bodø was granted township status.Norwaysource
  • Sweden joins the Holy Alliance.Swedensource

Conflict & Security

  • 22 May – Littleport and Ely riots break out as a result of economic distress in East Anglia.United Kingdomsource
  • 18 June – A riot breaks out on Wimbledon Common after inaccurate newspaper reports that a military review will commemorate the first anniversary of the Battle of Waterloo. After a drunken crowd sets fire to the heath, cavalry are called in to disperse them.United Kingdomsource
  • June 19 – Battle of Seven Oaks: The Hudson's Bay Company is defeated by the North West Company, near Winnipeg, Canada.source
  • June 19 – After several years of harassment, sabotage, and minor skirmishes between members of the Hudson's Bay and North West Companies, a full-scale battle (today known at Battle of Seven Oaks) breaks out between parties led by Cuthbert Grant and Robert Semple. The Hudson's Bay men, instigators of the confrontation though outnumbered nearly three to one, suffer 21 deaths, while Grant's party suffers two deaths, one Métis and one Native. The battle is frequently cited as a seminal moment in the history of the Métis people.Canadasource
  • June – Fort Dearborn is reestablished in the place that will become Chicago, Illinois.United Statessource
  • July 27 – U.S. forces destroy the Negro Fort in Spanish Florida.United Statessource
  • August 27 – Bombardment of Algiers: An Anglo-Dutch fleet forces Omar Agha, Dey of Algiers to free Christian slaves.source
  • November 10 – The British troop transport Harpooner, returning from Quebec to Britain, is wrecked at Cape Pine on Newfoundland (island) with the loss of 208 of the 385 people on board.source
  • In 1816, Brazil was still under Portuguese colonial rule as part of the United Kingdom of Portugal, Brazil, and the Algarves. This year is notably remembered for the arrival of the French Artistic Mission in Brazil.Brazilsource
  • The Neue Wache, a listed building on Unter den Linden boulevard in the historic centre of Berlin. Erected from 1816 to 1818.Germanysource
  • Around July, Shaka becomes king of the Zulu people after the death of his father, Senzangakhona kaJama. With the support of Dingiswayo, chief of the Mthethwa, Shaka seized power by killing his half-brother and rival, Sigujana. His accession marked the beginning of major military reforms that saw the Zulu army expand significantly within a year.South Africasource

Exploration & Expansion

  • February – Thomas and Elizabeth Hansen arrive at Oihi, Rangihoua from Port Jackson on the Active. They are the first non-missionary European family to settle in New Zealand. They eventually raised 11 children who all lived to at least their late 60s.New Zealandsource
  • March – Tui and Tītore, who arrived the previous year, leave Port Jackson (Sydney) for England in HMS Kangaroo. While there they may have helped Professor Samuel Lee start his Maori dictionary.New Zealandsource
  • April – Banjul, capital of the Gambia, is founded as a trading post named Bathurst.source
  • 16 May – Beau Brummell flees England by way of the port of Dover, sailing to France in order to escape his gambling debts.United Kingdomsource
  • December 9–21 – The American Colonization Society is established, to support the emigration of free African Americans to Africa.source
  • The British found Banjul, The Gambia.United Kingdomsource
  • A British expedition explores up from the mouth of the Congo River.United Kingdomsource
  • Samuel Johnson - A Diary of a Journey Into North Wales, in the Year 1774Walessource
  • Taliesin Williams, son of Iolo Morganwg, opens a school at Merthyr Tydfil.Walessource

Religion & Belief

  • January 6 – (December 25, 1815 on the Russian Julian calendar): Tsar Alexander I of Russia signs an order, expelling the Jesuits from St. Petersburg and Moscow.source
  • March 30–April 11 – In Philadelphia, the African Methodist Episcopal Church is established by Richard Allen and other African-American Methodists, the first such denomination in the U.S. completely independent of White churches.source
  • April 11 – In Philadelphia, the African Methodist Episcopal Church is established by Richard Allen and other African-American Methodists, the first such denomination completely independent of White churches.United Statessource
  • 26 May - The Norwegian Bible Society, the oldest interchurch organization in Norway is founded.Norwaysource
  • June – St. George's Church, Belfast, is opened, the oldest in the city built for the United Church of England and Ireland.Irelandsource
  • July 13 – Carl Maria von Weber meets Count Vitzthum von Eckstädt at Carlsbad; the encounter leads to Weber being appointed Kapellmeister at Dresden.Germanysource
  • September 3 – Pope Pius VII sends a directive to Stanisław Bohusz Siestrzeńcewicz, the Roman Catholic Archbishop of Mohilev, advising Siestrzeńcewicz not to continue the Russian Bible Society's plans to circulate the Scriptures written in the Russian language, commenting that "if the Sacred Scriptures were allowed in the vulgar tongue, more detriment than benefit would arise."source
  • Franz Bopp – Über das Conjugationssystem der Sanskritsprache in Vergleichung mit jenem der griechischen, lateinischen, persischen und germanischen Sprache (On the Conjugation System of Sanskrit in comparison with that of Greek, Latin, Persian and Germanic)Germanysource
  • St Andrew's Cathedral, Glasgow, is completed as the city's first post-Reformation Roman Catholic church (architect: James Gillespie Graham).Scotlandsource
  • In early 1816, Ntsikana Gaba, an influential amaXhosa diviner, converted to Christianity. He renounced his former practices and began holding daily worship services, for which he composed some of the first Christian hymns in the Xhosa language. A visitor from the London Missionary Society, Rev. Joseph Williams, attested in September 1816 that "the man Ntsikana daily meets with a devoted circle for prayer."South Africasource
  • Joseph Harris (Gomer) - Traethawd ar Briodol Dduwdod ein Harglwydd Iesu GristWalessource

Economy & Finance

  • 18 March – Income tax abolished.United Kingdomsource
  • April 27 – The Dallas tariff is passed in Congress seeking to protect American manufacturing against an influx of cheaper British goods following the War of 1812.United Statessource
  • April 28 – The French Caisse des dépôts et consignations, a public investment body, is created by Louis XVIII.source
  • 14 June - Norges Bank, the central bank of Norway is founded.Norwaysource
  • Mutuelle de L'assurance contre L'incendie ("L'Anciente Mutuelle"), predecessor of Axa, the global insurance and financial services company, is founded in Rouen, France.source
  • Pinkus Müller brewery established.Germanysource
  • Lagavulin distillery established on Islay.Scotlandsource
  • The Coinage Act and Great Recoinage attempt to stabilise the currency by reintroduction of a silver coinage (for transactions under forty shillings) and changing the gold coinage from the guinea valued at 21 shillings to the slightly lighter sovereign worth 20 shillings and defining the value of the pound sterling relative to gold.United Kingdomsource

Technology & Infrastructure

  • 10 February - Pembroke Dock's first Royal Navy ships are launched: HMS Ariadne and HMS Valorous.Walessource
  • 20 February – Preston becomes the first English town outside London with gas lighting publicly available, promoted by the Jesuit priest Joseph Dunn.United Kingdomsource
  • 17 March – Richmond Bridge, designed by James Savage, is opened over Dublin's River Liffey.Irelandsource
  • 30 March – Francis Greenway is appointed as the government's Civil Architect.Australiasource
  • 1 June – Andrew Bent starts regular publication of the Hobart Town Gazette and Southern Reporter.Australiasource
  • 18 June – causeway, bridge and sluice across Loch Fleet at The Mound, designed by Thomas Telford, completed.Scotlandsource
  • Robert Stirling patents his Stirling engine, at this time known as "Stirling's air engine", in the United Kingdom.source
  • E. Remington and Sons, the firearm and later typewriter manufacturing company, is founded in the United States.source
  • A steamboat PS Frontenac is first placed on Lake Ontario.Canadasource
  • E. Remington and Sons (the firearm and later typewriter manufacturing company) is founded in Ilion, New York.United Statessource

Science & Discovery

  • 1 September – the Northern Lighthouse Board's new light on the Isle of May, designed by Robert Stevenson, is completed.Scotlandsource
  • David Brewster discovers stress birefringence.Scotlandsource

Health & Medicine

  • 1 January – The first public hospital, the Rum Hospital, is opened.Australiasource
  • 22 January – Large numbers of Māori from North Cape, Whangaroa and Thames visit the mission at Rangihoua.New Zealandsource
  • René Laennec invents the stethoscope.source
  • Iceland made the clergy responsible for smallpox vaccination and gave them the responsibility of keeping vaccination records for their parishes.Icelandsource

Crime & Justice

  • April – Highland Clearances: Factor Patrick Sellar is tried but acquitted at Inverness of culpable homicide during the mass expulsion of crofting tenants from Strathnaver in 1814.Scotlandsource
  • 26 June – First prisoners admitted to the National Penitentiary, Millbank Prison, in London.United Kingdomsource
  • 28 June – Luddites destroy the bobbinet lace machines in John Heathcoat's Loughborough factory.United Kingdomsource
  • 9 October - Fanny Imlay, half-sister of Mary Wollstonecraft Godwin, takes a room at the Mackworth Arms in Swansea, and instructs the maid not to disturb her. The following day she is found dead, having taken a fatal dose of laudanum.Walessource
  • 29–30 October – Wildgoose Lodge Murders: eight people are burned to death by a gang in County Louth.Irelandsource
  • By the Pillory Abolition Act, use of the pillory is limited to punishment for perjury.United Kingdomsource

Disasters & Accidents

  • January 9 – Sir Humphry Davy's Davy lamp is first tested underground as a coal mining safety lamp, at Hebburn Colliery in northeast England;source
  • 9 January – Sir Humphry Davy's Davy lamp is first tested underground as a coal mining safety lamp at Hebburn Colliery in the Durham Coalfield.United Kingdomsource
  • January 17 – Fire nearly destroys the city of St. John's, Newfoundland.source
  • 30 January – wrecking of the Sea Horse, Boadicea and Lord Melville (military transport ships) off Tramore in a gale with the loss of over 500 persons.Irelandsource
  • 30 January – Wrecking of the Sea Horse, Boadicea and Lord Melville (military transport ships) off the coast of Ireland in a gale with the loss of around 570.United Kingdomsource
  • July 2 – The French frigate Medusa runs aground off the coast of Senegal, with 140 lives lost in the botched rescue that takes weeks, leading to a scandal in the French government.source
  • 2 July – French frigate Méduse (1810) runs aground off the coast of Senegal, with 140 lives lost in the botched rescue that takes weeks, leading to a scandal in the French government.Francesource

Climate & Environment

  • 13 August – an earthquake in Inverness is the strongest ever in Scotland.Scotlandsource
  • 13 August – An earthquake in Aberdeen is the strongest ever in Scotland.United Kingdomsource
  • The Year Without a Summer – famine and typhoid kill 65,000 people by 1819.Irelandsource
  • 1816 was known as 'the year without a summer' in North America and elsewhere, with widespread unseasonal weather and crop failures.United Statessource

Culture & Society

  • January 9 – Ludwig van Beethoven wins the custody battle for his nephew Karl.source
  • February 20 – Gioachino Rossini's opera buffa The Barber of Seville premières at the Teatro Argentina in Rome.source
  • March 21 – The Institut de France is reorganized by King Louis XVIII into four royal academies: a revived Académie française; the Royal Academy of Inscriptions and Belles Lettres; the Royal Academy of Sciences; and the Académie des Beaux-Arts.source
  • May 2 – Leopold of Saxe-Coburg (later King of the Belgians) marries Charlotte Augusta, daughter of the Prince Regent, at Carlton House in London.source
  • June 16 – The Society for the Promotion of Permanent and Universal Peace is founded in London.source
  • 16 August – Thomas Kendall starts the first school in New Zealand, at Rangihoua. The opening roll is 33.New Zealandsource
  • October 2 – Johann Nepomuk Hummel is offered a post at Stuttgart by Duke Frederick I of Württemberg.Germanysource
  • October 21 – Penang Free School is founded by Rev. Sparke Hutchings, on the island of Penang (in modern-day Malaysia).source
  • November 19 – The University of Warsaw is established.source
  • The Icelandic Literary Society is founded.Icelandsource
  • The oldest theatre building in Scandinavia; Trøndelag Teater was built.Norwaysource
  • The Elgin Marbles are purchased by the British government from Thomas Bruce, 7th Earl of Elgin, for the British Museum in London.Scotlandsource
  • Inauguration of the Segerlindska teatern in Gothenburg.Swedensource
  • George Bourne, possibly the first immediate and total U.S. abolitionist, publishes The Book and Slavery Irreconcilable.United Statessource
  • Jane Ellis - Cerddi (first published Welsh language book by a woman)Walessource

Births

  • January 30 – Nathaniel P. Banks, American politician, general (died 1894)source
  • February 25 – Matías Ramón Mella, Dominican revolutionary and Founding Father of the Dominican Republic (died 1864)source
  • March 14 – William Marsh Rice, American university founder (died 1900)source
  • 12 April – Sir Charles Gavan Duffy, 8th Premier of Victoria (born in the United Kingdom) (died 1903)Australiasource
  • April 21 – Charlotte Brontë, English novelist, poet (died 1855)source
  • June 14 – Priscilla Cooper Tyler, de facto First Lady of the United States (died 1889)source
  • June 19 – William Henry Webb, American industrialist, philanthropist (died 1899)source
  • July 14 – Arthur de Gobineau, French diplomat, author (died 1882)source
  • July 23 – Charlotte Cushman, American actress (died 1876)source
  • July 31 – George Henry Thomas, American general (died 1870)source
  • 31 July (in Ireland): Trevor Chute, leader of British forces in the Second Taranaki War.New Zealandsource
  • September 11 – Carl Zeiss, German maker of optical instruments (died 1888)source
  • 11 September – Carl Zeiss, German maker of optical instruments (died 1888)Germanysource
  • November 3 – Jubal Early, American Confederate general (died 1894)source
  • November 3 – Jubal Early, Confederate general (died 1894)United Statessource
  • November 4 – Stephen Johnson Field, Associate Justice of the Supreme Court of the United States (died 1899)source
  • November 29 – Morrison Waite, American politician and Chief Justice of the United States (died 1888)source
  • December 13 – Werner von Siemens, German inventor, industrialist (died 1892)source

Deaths

  • January 5 – George Prevost, British general, colonial administrator (born 1767)source
  • January 27 – Samuel Hood, 1st Viscount Hood, British admiral (born 1724)source
  • February 10 – Friedrich Karl Ludwig, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein-Sonderburg-Beck, dies and is succeeded by Friedrich Wilhelm, his son and founder of the House of Glücksburg.source
  • February 22 – Adam Ferguson, Scottish philosopher, historian (born 1723)source
  • 9 March – Cornelius Faber, Hendrik Prinsloo, Theunis de Klerk, and brothers Stefanus and Abraham Bothma are hanged for the Slagter's Nek Rebellion. The executions were ordered by Colonel Jacob Glen Cuyler. During the public hanging, four of the five ropes broke; the condemned men were forced to wait for some hours amid public agitation before being hanged a second time.South Africasource
  • March 19 – Filippo Mazzei, Italian physician, friend of Thomas Jefferson (born 1730)source
  • March 20 – Maria I, Queen of Portugal, first monarch of Brazil (born 1734)source
  • March 20 - Queen Mary I dies at the age of 81, leaving the throne to her 48-year-old son John VI.Brazilsource
  • March 31 – Francis Asbury, American Methodist bishop (born 1745)source
  • June 5 – Giovanni Paisiello, Italian composer (born 1751)source
  • July 5 – Dorothea Jordan, Irish-born actress, mistress of the future King William IV of the United Kingdom (born 1761)source
  • July 7 – Richard Brinsley Sheridan, Irish-born playwright and politician (born 1751)source
  • July 14 – Francisco de Miranda, Venezuelan revolutionary (born 1750)source
  • July 27 – Olof Tempelman, Swedish architect (born 1745)source
  • November 8 – Gouverneur Morris, American statesman (born 1752)source
  • December 30 – Louis Henri Loison, French general (born 1771)source
  • Date unknown - Vicente Carvallo y Goyeneche (born 1742)Chilesource
  • ? – Mirza-ye Qomi, Iranian Islamic scholar and writer.Iransource