1806 in the United Kingdom

Other years
1804 | 1805 | 1806 (1806) | 1807 | 1808
Constituent countries of the United Kingdom
England | Ireland | Scotland | Wales
Sport
1806 English cricket season

Events from the year 1806 in the United Kingdom.

## Incumbents

[edit]

* Monarch – George III
* Prime Minister – William Pitt the Younger (Tory) (until 23 January); William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville (Coalition) (starting 11 February)
* Foreign Secretary – Henry Phipps, 1st Earl of Mulgrave (until 7 February) Charles James Fox (from 7 February) Charles Grey, Viscount Howick (from 24 September)
* Secretary of War – Lord Castlereagh (until 5 February) William Windham (from 5 February)

## Events

[edit]

* 5 January – The body of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, lies in state in the Painted Hall of Greenwich Hospital, London.
* 8 January – Battle of Blaauwberg: British infantry force troops of the Batavian Republic in the Dutch Cape Colony to withdraw.
* 9 January
* The Dutch commandant of Cape Town surrenders to British forces. On 10 January, formal capitulation is signed under the Treaty Tree in Papendorp (modern-day Woodstock).
* Lord Nelson is given a state funeral and interment at St Paul's Cathedral in London, attended by the Prince of Wales.[1]
* 18 January – The Dutch Cape Colony capitulates to British forces, the origin of its status as a colony within the British Empire.
* 23 January – William Pitt the Younger dies aged 46 at Bowling Green House on Putney Heath of a gastrointestinal tract complaint and is succeeded as wartime Prime Minister by his cousin Lord Grenville.
* 6 February – Battle of San Domingo: The British Royal Navy gains a victory over the French off Santo Domingo.
* 11 February – Ministry of All the Talents formed by Grenville.
* 20 March – Construction begins of Dartmoor Prison, to house prisoners of war.[2]
* 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.
* 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.[3]
* 4 July – Invasion of Naples (War of the Third Coalition): Battle of Maida in Calabria – British forces defeat the French.
* 7 July – Start of the first Gentlemen v Players cricket match (discontinued in 1963).[4][5]
* 10 July – Vellore Mutiny, the first instance of a mutiny by the Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.
* 23 July – 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.
* 18 August – English seal hunter Abraham Bristow discovers the Auckland Islands.[6][7]
* 7 October – Carbon paper patented by Ralph Wedgwood.[2]
* 20 October – HMS Athenienne (1800) is wrecked in the Strait of Sicily with the loss of 347 of the 488 onboard.
* 29 October to 17 December – a General election sees Grenville continue as Prime Minister.
* 21 November – Napoleon's Berlin Decree initiates the Continental System, blocking the import of British manufactured goods to the rest of Europe.[8]

### Undated

[edit]

* Supposedly secret 'Delicate Investigation' by senior statesmen into the life of Caroline of Brunswick, the Prince of Wales's estranged wife, finds "no foundation" for allegations against her morals.[9]
* Annual British iron production reaches 260,000 tons.

### Ongoing

[edit]

* Anglo-Spanish War, 1796–1808
* Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815

## Publications

[edit]

* A New System of Domestic Cookery, 1st edition, "by A Lady" (Maria Eliza Rundell) published in London by John Murray.
* Rhymes for the Nursery by sisters Jane and Ann Taylor published in London, including Jane's "The Star" ("Twinkle, Twinkle, Little Star").[10][11][12]

## Births

[edit]

* 1 February – Jane Williams (Ysgafell), writer (died 1885)
* 6 March – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet (died 1861)
* 9 April – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer (died 1859)
* 21 April – George Cornewall Lewis, statesman (died 1863)
* 4 May – William Fothergill Cooke, inventor (died 1879)
* 20 May – John Stuart Mill, philosopher (died 1873)
* 27 June – Augustus De Morgan, mathematician, logician (died 1871)
* 10 November – Alexander Milne, admiral (died 1896)
* 11 December
* William Prowting Roberts, Chartist lawyer (died 1871)
* Alfred Swaine Taylor, toxicologist, "father of British forensic medicine" (died 1880)

## Deaths

[edit]

* c. January?? – Mungo Park, Scottish explorer (born 1771)
* 23 January – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister (born 1759)[13]
* 19 February – Elizabeth Carter, writer (born 1717)
* 20 February – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader (born 1725)
* 17 March – David Dale, Scottish philanthropist (born 1739)
* 23 March – George Pinto, composer (born 1785)
* 24 May – John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, Scottish field marshal (born 1723)
* 10 July – George Stubbs, painter (born 1724)
* 13 September – Charles James Fox, statesman (born 1749)
* 22 October – Thomas Sheraton, furniture designer (born 1751)
* 23 November – Roger Newdigate, politician (born 1719)
* 29 December – Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, politician (born 1735)

## References

[edit]

1. ^ Hibbert, Christopher (1994). Nelson: A Personal History. p. 382.
2. ^ a b Penguin Pocket On This Day. Penguin Reference Library. 2006. ISBN 0-14-102715-0.
3. ^ "Documents upon the Continental System". The Napoleon Series / Archive. The Waterloo Association. 21 April 2025.
4. ^ Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 241–242\. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
5. ^ "Gentlemen v Players in 1806 scoreboard". cricketarchive.com. Retrieved 25 February 2020.
6. ^ Mills, William J., ed. (2003). "Auckland Islands". Exploring Polar Frontiers: A Historical Encyclopedia. ABC-CLIO. p. 39. ISBN 978-1-57607-423-7. OCLC 437171111.
7. ^ Jones, A. G. E. (1970). "Captain Abraham Bristow and the Auckland Islands". Notes and Queries. 17 (10): 369–371\. doi:10.1093/nq/17-10-369.
8. ^ Marzagali, Silvia (2007). "Napoleon's Continental Blockade – An Effective Substitute to Naval Weakness?". In Elleman, Bruce A.; Paine, S. C. M. (eds.). Naval Blockades and Seapower: Strategies and Counter-Strategies, 1805–2005. London: Routledge. p. 25\. ISBN 9786611158309.
9. ^ Plowden, Alison (2005). Caroline and Charlotte: Regency Scandals 1795–1821. Stroud: Sutton Publishing. ISBN 0-7509-4173-1
10. ^ Iona and Peter Opie (1997). The Oxford Dictionary of Nursery Rhymes (2nd ed.). Oxford University Press. pp. 397–8\. ISBN 0-19-860088-7.
11. ^ Cryer, Max (2009). Love Me Tender: the Stories Behind the World's Best-loved Songs. London: Frances Lincoln. pp. 83–5. ISBN 978-0-7112-2911-2.
12. ^ "The Star". Representative Poetry Online. University of Toronto. 2005. Archived from the original on 6 July 2011.
13. ^ "History of William Pitt 'The Younger' - GOV.UK". www.gov.uk. Retrieved 1 July 2023.

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