Victorian

Aug 15, 1835

Edward Fanshawe is commissioned as a Lieutenant

Location: Brazil

Feb 02, 1836

Lieutenant Milward is promoted to Commander

Location: Britain

Feb 08, 1836

Richard Ashmore Powell is rated as a Mate

Location: Britain

Mar 18, 1836

Lieutenant Robinson transfers to HMS Asia in the Mediterranean

Location: Mediterranean

May 04, 1836

Lieutenant Buckle is promoted to Commander

Location: Britain

May 24, 1837

Midshipman Stoddart is made an Acting-Lieutenant by Commander Thomas Henderson on board HMS Columbine in the Mediterranean

Location: Mediterranean

Jul 05, 1837

HMS Hazard Commissioned

Location: Britain

Jul 19, 1837

The PS Great Western is launched in Bristol. She is the largest passenger ship afloat at the time.

Location: Britain

Aug 1837

Darwin starts correcting the proofs of his re-written Journal prior to publication

Location: Britain

Aug 21, 1837

Henry Lawrence marries Honoria Marshall in the Mission Church in Calcutta

Location: Calcutta

Aug 30, 1837

Lieutenant Horatio Young is promoted to Commander

Location: Britain

Sep 20, 1837

The stress of processing all of the work that Darwin did during his time on board HMS Beagle cause him to have a heart palpitation. His doctors tell him to work less and go on holiday for a few weeks.

Location: Britain

Sep 22, 1837

Ada Lovelace's second child Anne Isabella is born

Location: Britain

Sep 28, 1837

Bahadur Shah Zafar is crowned as the Emperor of the Mughal Empire, although at this point his power does not extend beyond the walls of Delhi.

Location: Delhi

Sep 29, 1837

Lieutenant Robinson transfers to HMS Tyne in the Mediterranean

Location: Mediterranean

Sep 30, 1837

Sherard Osborn joins the Royal Navy as a First Class Volunteer in HMS Hyacinth in China and the East Indies

Location: China

Oct 21, 1837

Lieutenant Symonds is promoted to Commander while in the East Indies

Location: Pacific ocean

Nov 01, 1837

Darwin presents a new and important theory on the role of earthworms in soil formation at the Geological Society, which had been inspired by talking to his uncle while on his holiday.

Location: Britain

1838

Ye Mingchen joins the civil service as prefect of Xing'an in Shannxi province, and begins his rise through the ranks

Location: China

1838

George Day's ship is dispatched to the Mediterranean

Location: Mediterranean

1838

Sir John Herschel returns to Britain and is created a Baronet of Slough in the County of Buckingham

Location: Britain

1838

The monastery were Kassa Haile is studying to become a Deacon is destroyed by raiding bandits. He escapes into the mountains as the only survivor. A band of guerrilla fights grows around who respect his courage, strength and his unusual habit of dividing any plunder equally.

Location: Ethiopia

1838

Mary Clarke rents rooms in the Saint-Germain district of Paris. She opens them up as a Saloon that will become one of the social hubs for the intellectuals of Paris and beyond.

Location: Paris

1838

Florence Nightingale and her family start a tour of Europe. During this tour they will meet Mary Clarke in Paris. Florence and her remain friends for the next 40 years.

Location: Britain

1838

The Maidenhead Bridge is completed. The centring for the arches is left in place as people are worried about the innovative nature of the arch design. They would eventually be washed away during a storm showing that there was no need to have been worried about it.

Location: Britain

1838

George Anson becomes Clerk of the Ordnance under Lord Melbourne

Location: Britain

Jan 24, 1838

Lieutenant Dyke transfers to HMS Scylla commanded by Joseph Denman in the West Indies

Location: West Indies

Mar 21, 1838

James Dundas resigns his seat in parliament to become Clerk of the Ordnance

Location: Britain

Mar 28, 1838

Darwin sees an orang-utan at London Zoo and notes its child like behaviour.

Location: Britain

Mar 31, 1838

The PS Great Western begins her maiden voyage from Bristol to New York. A fire broke out in the engine room. The fire was put out, but in the confusion Brunel was injured after falling 20 feet.

Location: Britain

Apr 08, 1838

The PS Great Western sets out from Avonmouth for New York. After the fire many passengers had cancelled their bookings so when she left Avonmouth she had only 7 passengers on board. She becomes the fastest passenger ship to cross the Atlantic travelling at an average of 8.6 Knots.

Location: Britain

Apr 14, 1838

Captain Charles Austen is given command of HMS Bellerophon

Location: Britain

May 13, 1838

William Peel joins the navy

Location: Britain

Jun 13, 1838

HMS Hydra is launched. She is a wooden hulled paddle steamer of 1096 tons

Location: Britain

Jun 17, 1838

Edward Robinson is born

Location: Britain

Jun 28, 1838

Lieutenant Robinson is promoted to Commander

Location: Britain

Aug 27, 1838

Commander Symonds is given command of HMS Rover on the North America & West Indies station

Location: North America

Oct 17, 1838

Captain Reynolds returns to the Royal Navy after a long period on half pay and is given command of HMS Ganges in the Mediterranean.

Location: Mediterranean

Dec 1838

Work begins on the Box Tunnel through Box Hill in Wiltshire

Location: Britain

Dec 27, 1838

James Stoddart is commissioned as a Lieutenant

Location: Mediterranean

1839

Lord John Hay joins the Royal Navy

Location: Britain

1839

James Outram is promoted to Major and moves to Lower Sindh as the political agent there

Location: India

Jan 01, 1839

Charles Napier is Captain of HMS Powerful in the Mediterranean

Location: Mediterranean

1839

John Russel marries Harriette Osborne

Location: Britain

Jan 08, 1839

Dong Fuxiang is born

Location: China

Jan 14, 1839

HMS Hecla is launched

Location: Britain

Jan 19, 1839

Britain had acquired Aden from Muhsin bin Fadl in 1838 in order to provide a base for protecting British ships against pirates in the Indian Ocean. But when the British force arrived in 1839, the garrison there had not been removed because the sultan's son did not approve of the sale. A battle ensued between the British and the arab garrison resulting in a British victory.

Location: Indian Ocean

Jan 19, 1839

Commander Milward is given command of HMS Hydra and sent to the Mediterranean

Location: Mediterranean

Feb 1839

John Nicholson leaves Britain for India

Location: Britain

Feb 25, 1839

Syms Covington leaves the service of Charles Darwin as he wanted to emigrate to Australia

Location: Britain

Mar 18, 1839

George Back is knighted as a Knight Bachelor

Location: Britain

Apr 1839

Commander Robinson publishes him book on steam engines called:

The Nautical Steam Engine Explained, and Its Powers and Capabilities Described for the Officers of the Navy and Others Interested in the Important Results of Steam Navigation

Location: Britain

May 1839

The Narrative of the Surveying Voyages of His Majesty's Ships Adventure and Beagle is published. Volume two is FitzRoy’s account of the voyage, and volume three is by Darwin

Location: Britain

May 11, 1839

Lieutenant Dyke transfers to HMS Tribune a fifth rate ship of the line commanded by Charles Hamlyn Williams

Location: Britain

Jun 26, 1839

Lieutenant Stoddart is posted to HMS Princess Charlotte in the Mediterranean

Location: Mediterranean

Jul 01, 1839

Sultan Mahmud II dies

Location: Constantinople

Jul 01, 1839

Maidenhead Bridge is brought into use

Location: Britain

Jul 1839

John Nicholson arrives in India and joins the 41st Native Infantry at Benares

Location: India

Jul 02, 1839

Ada Lovelace's third child Ralph Gordon is born

Location: Britain

Jul 02, 1839

Abdulmejid I ascends to the thrown

Location: Constantinople

Jul 20, 1839

Commander Robinson is given command of HMS Phoenix in the Mediterranean

Location: Mediterranean

Oct 25, 1839

James Dundas is knighted a Companion of the Order of the Bath

Location: Britain

Nov 23, 1839

HMS Ganges is given to Captain John William Montagu at Portsmouth as the flagship of Admiral Edward Codrington

Location: Britain

Nov 28, 1839

HMS Tribune is wreaked off Tarragona

Location: Spain

Dec 1839

Helmuth von Moltke arrives back in Berlin after the Ottoman defeat at the Battle of Nezib. He published a memoir about his time in the Ottoman empire under the name "Letters on Conditions and Events in Turkey in the Years 1835 to 1839"

Location: Germany

Dec 1839

John Nicholson transfers to the 27th Native Infantry based at Ferozepore as an Ensign

Location: India

Dec 07, 1839

Redvers Buller is Born in Crediton

Location: Britain

1840

HMS Venus is out of commission in the reserves at Sheerness

Location: Britain

1840

Syms Covington arrives in Australia

Location: Australia

1840

The first Ottoman paper banknotes are introduced

Location: Constantinople

1840

Helmuth von Moltke marries Maria Bertha Helena Burt, the daughter of John Heyliger Burt esq. of St. Croix in the Danish West Indies. He was also appointed to the general staff of the 4th Army Corps who were stationed in Berlin.

Location: Germany

Jan 1840

HMS Diana is being used as a depot ship at Chatham

Location: Chatham

1840

Osman Digna is born

Location: Sudan

1840

Francis Grenfell is born

Location: Britain

Feb 18, 1840

Commander Milward dies on Malta while in command of HMS Hydra

Location: Malta