March 1839Invasion of AfghanistanJohn Keane
By late March 1839, the British forces had reached Quetta, crossed the Bolan Pass and begun their march to Kabul
Historical records for Great Britain in 1839, rendered directly from the World History Database and ordered by month, day and event.
By late March 1839, the British forces had reached Quetta, crossed the Bolan Pass and begun their march to Kabul
Commits Britain to the international settlement guaranteeing Belgium as an independent and permanently neutral state.
Helps conclude the final settlement between Belgium, the Netherlands and the five Great Powers.
Accepts Britain's place among the five powers guaranteeing the Belgian settlement.
Commits Britain to the Great Power guarantee of Belgium's independence and perpetual neutrality.
Melbourne's government accepts Britain's role in guaranteeing Belgian independence and perpetual neutrality.
Accepts provisions protecting navigation on the Scheldt as part of the Belgian-Dutch settlement.
Supports treaty provisions regulating navigation and commerce on the Scheldt after Belgian independence.
His government signs the final international settlement recognising Belgium and guaranteeing its permanent neutrality.
Signs the 1839 guarantee settlement for Britain as Foreign Secretary.
Helps complete the definitive arrangement based on the Twenty-Four Articles negotiated by the Great Powers.
Kandahar is captured
Maidenhead Railway Bridge opens to traffic and vindicates Brunel's unusually flat arch design.
Construction begins on Brunel's iron-hulled transatlantic steamship SS Great Britain.
Difficult rock strata and heavy water ingress delay excavation, with less than half of the tunnel completed.
Sails with HMS Erebus and HMS Terror on the British Antarctic expedition that will explore the Ross Sea region
The official British position that their troops were merely supporting Shah Shujas small army in retaking what was once his throne was generally seen (at the time, as well as now) as pretext for incorporating Afghanistan into the British empire
Founds the Anti Corn Law League to promote free trade & internationalism
Helps found the Anti-Corn Law League
The Tudor-Gothic bridge forms part of Brunel's Bristol-Bath railway works.
Completes Brook Road Bridge for the Great Western Railway near Bath.
Appointed Captain
Appointed Chief Whip
Supports installation of electric telegraph wires beside the Great Western Railway.
The Chinese Government confiscates 20,000 British crates of opium
Founds the Anti Corn Law League to promote free trade & internationalism
1st of the 2 Opium Wars between China & Britain
Denounces the war as "unjust and iniquitous" and criticised Lord Palmerston's willingness "to protect an infamous contraband traffic."
Asks Peel to to form a Government but refuses to replace Whigs at Court
Brunel successfully defends his engineering decisions when dissatisfied shareholders attempt to remove him from the railway project.
The official British position that their troops were merely supporting Shah Shujas small army in retaking what was once his throne was generally seen (at the time, as well as now) as pretext for incorporating Afghanistan into the British empire. The British denied that they were invading Afghanistan, instead claiming they were merely supporting its legitimate Shuja Government "against foreign interference and factious opposition"
With Persia ruled by a pron, it may well have been the case that Britain was trying to install a pro-British leader in Afghanistan to prevent Russia from becoming the dominant power and threatening the North-West Frontier. The British denied that they were invading Afghanistan, instead claiming they were merely supporting its legitimate Shuja Government "against foreign interference and factious opposition"
Brunel and the building committee recommend changing the new steamship from wood to iron construction.
Appointed Lord Privy Seal
Marries Catherine Glynne, to whom he remained married until his death 59 years later
On their 2nd meeting Victoria asks Prince Albert to marry her
The Paddington-West Drayton link becomes an early commercial telegraph installation.
The Chartist petition is delivered to the House of Commons
His postal reform ideas draw on experience as a Birmingham educator and campaigner.
Brunel develops the masonry viaduct carrying the Great Western Railway across the River Avon in Wiltshire.
Commands the Antarctic expedition of HMS Erebus and HMS Terror, with Francis Crozier as second-in-command, and begins charting much of the coastline of the continent
Appointed Member of Royal Society
Appointed Secretary for War & the Colonies
Serves as Birmingham’s first mayor after incorporation.
This page is generated from stored World History Database records matching the exact country and year shown above. Exact duplicate display records are collapsed. Records without a month are listed after the monthly sections. Source provenance varies by record; formal academic citation should be checked against the relevant primary source, archive or specialist historical reference.