25 January –H. Fox Talbot shows his "photogenic drawings" at theRoyal Institution in London. Sara Anne Bright is also producing such photographic reproductions this year.[2]
17 August –Custody of Infants Act (based largely on campaigning byCaroline Norton) permits limited rights of custody of young children to divorced mothers.
27 August –County Police Act enables the appointment ofpolice in rural areas.[15] On 28 November,Wiltshire becomes the first county to appoint a chief constable under the act.[16] Also this year,City of London Police Act confirms establishment of a force in theCity.
4 November –Newport Rising: between 5,000 and 10,000Chartist sympathisers led byJohn Frost, many of them coal miners, march onNewport, Monmouthshire, to liberate Chartist prisoners; around 22 are killed when troops, directed byThomas Phillips, the mayor, fire on the crowd.[17] This is the last large-scale armed civil rebellion against authority in mainland Britain and sees the most deaths.
December – New Committee of Council on education sets up a new national system ofInspectors of Schools for grant-aided establishments.[18]
5 December –Uniform Fourpenny Post introduced, a major postal reform, whereby 4d is levied for pre-paid letters up to half an ounce in weight instead of postage being calculated by distance and number of sheets of paper.[19]
