Art and Culture/British - Hanoverians 1

George I (1714 – 1727)

By the Act of Settlement (1701) Sophia, Electress of Hanover, a granddaughter of James VI, became heiress to the English throne. After the Act of Union (1707) unified the Kingdom of England and the Kingdom of Scotland, she became heiress to the throne of Kingdom of Great Britain.

She died in May 1714 a few weeks before Queen Anne so when Anne died in August that year, her son George became King George I of England and Scotland.

Over fifty Roman Catholics bore closer blood relationships to Anne than George.

George was married to Sophia Dorothea of Celle whom he repudiated. She is best remembered for her alleged affair with Philip Christoph von Königsmarck that led to her being imprisoned in the Castle of Ahlden for the last thirty years of her life.

Jacobite Rebellion (1715) (“The Fifteen”) – was an attempt to put James Edward Stuart (The Old Pretender) on the throne. James Stuart was the son of the deposed James II of England (James VII of Scotland) and his second wife Mary of Modena. As such, he claimed the English, Scottish and Irish thrones (as James III of England and Ireland and James VIII of Scotland) after the death of his father in 1701.

The Earl of Mar raises the standard at Braemar and marched on Edinburgh. After ann inconclusive battle at Sheriffmuir the Earl of Mar failed to press on and his army dissolved. The Old Pretender arrived from France only to find the rebellion had collapsed.

Act of Grace in 1717 pardoned the Jacobites.

Piracy Act of 1717 established a seven-year penal transportation to North America.

Jacobite Rebellion (1719) (“The Nineteen”) – an invasion force set sail in 1719 with two Spanish frigates to land in Scotland to raise the clans. They two landed a party of Jacobites led by Lord Tullibardine and Earl Marischal with 300 Spanish soldiers at Loch Duich, they held Eilean Donan Castle but this was soon captured and destroyed by a Royal Naval reconnaissance force. They met only lukewarm support from a few clans. At the Battle of Glen Shiel, the Spanish soldiers were forced to surrender to government forces.

South Sea Company was a British joint stock company that traded in South America during the 18th century. Founded in 1711, the company was granted a monopoly to trade in Spain's South American colonies as part of a treaty during the War of Spanish Succession. In return, the company assumed the national debt England had incurred during the war. Speculation in the company's stock led to a great economic bubble known as the South Sea Bubble in 1720, which caused financial ruin for many.

Robert Walpole (1676 – 1745) is generally regarded as the first Prime Minister of Great Britain. He holds the record as the longest serving Prime Minister in British history (c1721 – 1742).

Under the guidance of Walpole, Parliament attempted to deal with the financial crisis brought on by the South Sea Bubble. The estates of the directors of the South Sea Company were used to relieve the suffering of the victims, and the stock of the company was divided between the Bank of England and East India Company.

John Manners, Marquess of Granby (1721–1770) was the eldest son of the 3rd Duke of Rutland. An accomplished soldier and popular figure of his time, his title was honoured by being used by a large number of pubs throughout Britain.

George I suffered a stroke on the road between Delden and Nordhorn and was taken by carriage to the Prince-Bishop's palace at Osnabrück where he died on 11 June 1727. He was buried in the chapel of Leine Castle but his remains were moved to the chapel at Herrenhausen after World War II.

George II (1727 – 1760)

He married Caroline of Ansbach in 1705.

He fought at the Battle of Oudenarde in 1708.

George II was crowned at Westminster Abbey and Handel was commissioned to write four new anthems for the coronation, including “Zadok the Priest”.

Frederick, Prince of Wales, was brought to England in 1728 and became a figurehead of the political opposition.

John Palmer – real name of Dick Turpin, hanged at York in 1739.

The War of Jenkins' Ear (known as Guerra del Asiento in Spain) was a conflict between Britain and Spain that lasted from 1739 to 1748, with major operations largely ended by 1742. Its unusual name, coined by Thomas Carlyle in 1858 refers to an ear severed from Robert Jenkins, captain of a British merchant ship (“Rebecca”). The severed ear was subsequently exhibited before the British Parliament.

After 1742, the war was subsumed by the wider War of the Austrian Succession, which involved most of the powers of Europe. Peace arrived with the Treaty of Aix-la-Chapelle in 1748. George II commanded his troops at the Battle of Dettingen (1743). It was the last time that a British monarch personally led his troops into battle.

Jacobite Rebellion (1745 – 1746) (“The Forty-Five”) - In July 1745, the Old Pretender's son, Charles Edward Stuart, popularly known as Bonnie Prince Charlie or the Young Pretender, landed in Scotland. The Jacobites defeated an inexperienced government army led by General Cope at the Battle of Prestonpans (September 1745) in a battle which lasted less than 10 minutes. The Jacobites moved south into England and reached Derby in December before losing morale and retreating back into Scotland. The Battle of Falkirk (Muir) (January 1746) was the last noteworthy Jacobite success.

Battle of Culloden (April 1746) – the Jacobite troops were routed by the government army led by George's son Prince William, Duke of Cumberland. It was the last pitched battle fought on British soil and no further serious attempt was made at restoring the House of Stuart.

Bonnie Prince Charlie was assisted by loyal supporters such as Flora Macdonald who helped him escape pursuers on the Isle of Skye by taking him in a small boat disguised as her Irish Maid Betty Burke. He secretly returned to London in 1750, unsuccessfully trying to raise support for further rebellions.

The peace at the end of the War of the Austrian Succession was celebrated by a fête in Green Park, London, for which Handel composed Music for the Royal Fireworks.

Dress Act was part of the Act of Proscription which came into force in 1746 and made wearing ‘the Highland Dress’ including tartan or a kilt illegal in Scotland.

Hellfire Club met from 1746 to 1760 (Order of the Knights of St Francis of Wycombe) and was formed by Francis Dashwood, 15th Baron le Despencer.

Simon Fraser, 11th Lord Lovat, was among the Highlanders defeated at the Battle of Culloden and convicted of treason against the Crown. He was the last man in Britain to be beheaded on Tower Hill in 1747.

Seven Years’ War (1756 - 1763) – was a global conflict which actually began with dispute in North America between Britain and France.

Belligerents: Prussia, Great Britain, Hanover, Iroquois Confederacy and Portugal v France, Austria, Russia (until 1762), Spain (from 1762), Sweden (1757–62), Saxony and Mughal Empire (from 1757).

British attempt at relief of Minorca in 1756 was foiled and the island was captured by the French. Admiral Byng was court-martialed and executed - satirized by Voltaire in his novel “Candide”. In Portsmouth, Candide witnesses the execution of an officer by firing squad; and is told that "in this country, it is good to kill an admiral from time to time, in order to encourage the others" (Dans ce pays-ci, il est bon de tuer de temps en temps un amiral pour encourager les autres).

1759 became known as “Annus Mirabilis”, the Year of Victories - In North America, the British captured Fort Ticonderoga, drove the French out of the Ohio Country, conquered Quebec as a result of the Battle of the Plains of Abraham, and captured Guadeloupe in the West Indies. In India, they repulsed the French Siege of Madras. In Europe, British troops took part in a major Allied victory at the Battle of Minden. The victory of the Royal Navy in the sea battles of Lagos and Quiberon Bay ended any real prospect of a French invasion. Britain gained almost total supremacy of the seas and would retain it for more than a century and a half.

The Battle of the Plains of Abraham (aka Battle of Quebec) was a pivotal battle in the Seven Years' War (13 September 1759) - was fought between the British Army and Navy, and the French Army, on a plateau just outside the walls of Quebec City, on land that was originally owned by a farmer named Abraham Martin, hence the name of the battle. The battle proved to be a deciding moment in the conflict between France and Britain over the fate of New France, influencing the later creation of Canada. The culmination of a three-month siege by the British, the battle lasted about 15 minutes. British troops commanded by General James Wolfe successfully resisted the column advance of French troops and Canadien militia under General Louis-Joseph, Marquis de Montcalm, using new tactics that proved extremely effective against standard military formations used in most large European conflicts. Both generals were mortally wounded during the battle.

In India British forces under Robert Clive recaptured Calcutta from the Nawab Siraj ud-Daulah, a French ally, and ousted him from his throne at the Battle of Plassey in 1757. French power in India was eliminated.

The Seven Years’ War was also known as: the French and Indian War (in North America); Pomeranian War (with Sweden and Prussia, 1757–1762), Third Carnatic War (on the Indian subcontinent, 1757–1763), and Third Silesian War (with Prussia and Austria, 1756–1763).

The Anglo-French hostilities were ended in 1763 by the Treaty of Paris, which involved a complex series of land exchanges: Territorial changes: transfer of colonial possessions between Great Britain, France, and Spain. France cedes all of its North American possessions east of the Mississippi River (except Saint-Pierre and Miquelon, which are returned to France) and the island of Grenada to Great Britain. France loses the Northern Circars in India. Spain cedes Florida to Great Britain. France cedes Louisiana west of the Mississippi River to Spain. Four "neutral" Caribbean islands divided between Britain (St. Vincent, Tobago, Dominica) and France (St. Lucia).

After Prince Frederick died unexpectedly in 1751, George's grandson, George, became heir apparent and ultimately king in 1760.

George II died on 25 October 1760 and was buried on 11 November in Westminster Abbey. He left instructions for the sides of his and his wife's coffins to be removed so that their remains could mingle.

George donated the royal library to the British Museum in 1757, four years after the museum's foundation. He had no interest in reading or in the arts and sciences.

George III (1760 – 1820)

George III was King of Great Britain and Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of the two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death. Unlike his two predecessors he was born in Britain, spoke English as his first language and never visited Hanover.

He married Princess Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz on 8 September 1761. He met her for the first time on their wedding day. The couple enjoyed a genuinely happy marriage and had 15 children—nine sons and six daughters.

William Pitt, 1st Earl of Chatham (1708 – 1778) led the government of Great Britain twice in the middle of the 18th century. He is known as Pitt or Chatham, or William Pitt the Elder to distinguish from his son, William Pitt the Younger, who also was a prime minister. Pitt was also known as The Great Commoner. Pitt is best known as the wartime political leader of Britain during the Seven Years' War.

The Stamp Act was introduced by the British Prime Minister George Grenville and passed by the British Parliament in 1765 as a means of raising revenue in the American colonies. The Stamp Act required all legal documents, licenses, commercial contracts, newspapers, pamphlets, and playing cards to carry a tax stamp. It caused consternation in the American colonies – with the slogan "No taxation without representation”. The act was repealed in early 1766 but Parliament affirmed its power to legislate for the colonies “in all cases whatsoever” by also passing the Declaratory Act. There followed a series of new taxes and regulations, likewise opposed by the colonists.

The Boston Tea Party was a political protest by the Sons of Liberty in Boston, on 16 December 1773. The demonstrators, some disguised as Mohawk Indians, destroyed an entire shipment of tea sent by the East India Company, in defiance of the Tea Act of 10 May 1773.

American War of Independence (1775 – 1783) (aka the American Revolutionary War) - was the rebellion of 13 of the North American colonies who declared themselves independent in 1776 as the United States of America. France signed an alliance with the new nation in 1778, which escalated the conflict into a world war between Britain and France, Spain, and the Netherlands.

The conflict started with the Battles of Lexington and Concord (April 1775) and the colonial militia surrounded the city of Boston, beginning the Siege of Boston. The main action during the siege was the Battle of Bunker Hill (June 1775). In July 1776, the Continental Congress formally declared independence.

Sir William Howe outmaneuvered and defeated Washington, capturing New York City and New Jersey, but Washington captured a Hessian detachment at Trenton and drove the British out of most of New Jersey. In 1777 Howe's army launched a campaign against Philadelphia instead of aiding Burgoyne's separate invasion force from Canada. Unsupported by Howe, Burgoyne's outnumbered army was forced to surrender after the Battles of Saratoga (October 1777). This event caused France to enter the war in 1778, followed by their ally Spain in 1779. The participation of France, Spain and the Netherlands was decisive as they contributed crucial land and sea power to the war and forced the British to divert a large portion of their resources away from North America.

After 1778 the British shifted their attention to the southern colonies, which brought them initial success when they recaptured Georgia and South Carolina for the Crown in 1779 and 1780. In 1781 British forces attempted to subjugate Virginia, but a French naval victory just outside Chesapeake Bay led to a Franco-American siege at Yorktown and the capture of over 7,000 British soldiers (and the band played “The World Turned Upside Down”). The defeat at Yorktown, as well as reverses elsewhere, finally turned opinion in the British Parliament against the war. In 1783, the Treaty of Paris ended the war and recognized the sovereignty of the United States over the territory bounded roughly by what is now Canada to the north, Florida to the south, and the Mississippi River to the west.

James Aitken (aka John the Painter) was a Scot who committed acts of terror in British dockyards in 1776 and 1777. He was hanged on 10 March 1777 from the mizzenmast of “HMS Arethusa”. Set up on dry land, it was the highest gallows ever to be used in an execution in England.

Battle of Flamborough Head was a small naval battle that took place in 1779, in the North Sea off the coast of Yorkshire between an American Continental Navy squadron led by John Paul Jones (known as the ‘father of the American navy’) and the two British escort vessels protecting a large merchant convoy.

Gordon riots – a number of events in a predominantly Protestant religious uprising in London in 1780, aimed against the Roman Catholic Relief Act, 1778, ‘relieving his Majesty's subjects, of the Catholic Religion, from certain penalties and disabilities imposed upon them during the reign of William III’. The Protestant Association was an organisation set up by Lord George Gordon.

Ban on kilts lifted in 1782.

Horatio Nelson was born at Burnham Thorpe, in Norfolk. Married Fanny Nisbet in 1787.

First convicts sent to Australia in 1787 – known as “First Fleeters”. Following the American Revolution, the USA could no longer be used as a penal colony, so convicts were sent to Australia. The largest penal colony, New South Wales, was established in 1788.

Henry Benedict Stuart was a Roman Catholic Cardinal, as well as the fourth and final Jacobite heir to claim the thrones of England and Scotland. Upon the death of his brother (Bonnie Prince Charlie) in 1788 Henry became known by Jacobites as Henry IX of England.

Catherine Murphy was the last person to be burned at the stake in Britain, in 1789.

King’s illness - George suffered from a mental illness, which was possibly a symptom of the genetic disease porphyria, although this has been questioned. He may have suffered a brief episode of disease in 1765, but a longer episode began in the summer of 1788. At the end of the parliamentary session, he went to Cheltenham Spa to recuperate. In February 1789, the Regency Bill, authorising the Prince of Wales to act as regent, was introduced and passed in the House of Commons, but before the House of Lords could pass the bill, George III recovered.

French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars – Revolutionary France declared war on Great Britain in 1793. Great Britain joined the First Coalition against France which was ended by the Treaty of Campo Formio in October 1797, although Great Britain and France remained at war. The Second Coalition was formed in 1798 led by Britain, Austria and Russia, and including the Ottoman Empire, Portugal and Naples. Russia pulled out in 1799. Britain and France signed the Treaty of Amiens in March 1802, bringing an interval of peace in Europe that lasted for 14 months. By May 1803 Britain and France were again at war and in 1805 Britain assembled the Third Coalition (1803 – 1805) to resume the war against France. From 1803–05, Britain stood under constant threat of a French invasion. The Royal Navy, however, secured mastery of the seas and decisively destroyed a Franco-Spanish fleet at the Battle of Trafalgar in October 1805. The Fourth Coalition (1806 – 1807) partners included Prussia, Russia, Saxony, Sweden, and Great Britain. With Britain still retaining its dominance of the seas, Napoleon looked to break this dominance with his issuance of the Berlin Decree and the beginnings of his Continental System. Britain retaliated with its Orders in Council several months later. The Fifth Coalition (1809) was formed by the Austrian Empire and the United Kingdom. The war of the Sixth Coalition (1812–1814) saw a coalition of Austria, Prussia, Russia, the United Kingdom, Portugal, Sweden, Spain and a number of German States finally defeat France and drive Napoleon into exile on Elba. After his escape in February 1815 Austria, Prussia, Russia and the United Kingdom formed the Seventh Coalition and bound themselves to put 150,000 men each into the field to end his rule. The war culminated in the Battle of Waterloo.

British military activity during the Napoleonic Wars:

Third and Fourth Anglo-Mysore Wars – fought between Kingdom of Mysore supported by France and led by Tipu Sultan, and the British East India Company supported by its local allies. British captured the Mysorean capital city of Seringapatam (1792). In 1799 British forces defeated Mysore for the final time, capturing Seringapatam again and killing Tipu Sultan.

Siege of Toulon - in 1793, French Royalists in Toulon surrendered their port and city to a British fleet under Vice Admiral Samuel Hood. A land force of 18,000 of mixed nationalities, including 2,000 British gathered to protect Toulon against a French Republican counter-attack. Inspired by Captain Napoleon Bonaparte, the French captured vital forts which commanded the town and harbour. The British and their allies evacuated the port.

Corsica - British troops and ships seized the island of Corsica, turning it temporarily into the Anglo-Corsican Kingdom (1794 – 1796). Relations between the British and Corsicans soured and the island was evacuated after Spain declared war on Britain.

Flanders - a British army under the command of the Duke of York formed part of an Allied army with Hanoverian, Dutch, Hessian, Austrian and Prussian contingents, which faced the French Republican Armée du Nord, the Armée des Ardennes and the Armée de la Moselle. The Allies were unable to advance beyond the French border fortresses and were eventually forced to withdraw by a series of victorious French counter-offensives. The Allies then established a new front in southern Holland and Germany but by spring 1795 the British force had left Dutch territory entirely and was evacuated via Bremen. The campaign exposed many shortcomings in the British army.

West Indies (1793 – 1798) - the islands of Martinique, Guadeloupe and ports in Haiti were captured in 1794 and 1795 but the British units were almost exterminated by disease. Black and mulatto insurgent armies in Haiti which had first welcomed the British as allies turned against them. The decimated British troops evacuated Haiti and Guadeloupe, which was never recaptured.

There were naval mutinies at Spithead and Nore (led by Richard Parker) in 1797.

Battle of Fishguard was a military invasion by Revolutionary France during the War of the First Coalition. A force of 1,400 French soldiers landed near Fishguard but surrendered two days later (22 and 24 February 1797). This was the most recent effort by a foreign force that was able to land on Britain, and thus is often referred to as the ‘last invasion of Britain’.

The Irish Rebellion of 1798 was an uprising lasting several months led by the Society of United Irishmen, a republican revolutionary group influenced by the ideas of the American and French Revolutions. There was a French led invasion attempt in 1796 which was thwarted by storms in Bantry Bay. The main areas involved in the fighting were County Kildare and County Wicklow. Battle of Vinegar Hill – was an engagement in 1798 between forces of the British Crown and Irish rebels when over 10,000 British soldiers launched an attack on the main rebel HQ on Vinegar Hill outside Enniscorthy, County Wexford.

On 22 August 1798, nearly two months after the main uprisings had been defeated, about 1,000 French soldiers under General Humbert landed in County Mayo. Joined by up to 5,000 local rebels, they had some initial success, inflicting a humiliating defeat on the British at the Castlebar (also known as the Castlebar races to commemorate the speed of the retreat) and setting up a short-lived "Republic of Connacht". This sparked some supportive risings in Longford and Westmeath which were quickly defeated, and the main force was defeated at the Battle of Ballinamuck, in County Longford, on 8 September 1798. The French troops who surrendered were repatriated to France in exchange for British prisoners of war, but hundreds of the captured Irish rebels were executed. This episode became commonly known as "The Year of the French". On 12 October 1798, a larger French force consisting of 3,000 men, and including Wolfe Tone himself, attempted to land in County Donegal near Lough Swilly. They were intercepted by a larger Royal Navy squadron, and finally surrendered after a three hour battle without ever landing in Ireland. Wolfe Tone was a Protestant and leading figure in the United Irishmen Irish independence movement and is regarded as the father of Irish republicanism. Wolfe Tone was tried by court-martial in Dublin and found guilty. He asked for death by firing squad, but when this was refused, Tone cheated the hangman by slitting his own throat in prison on 12 November, and died a week later.

Egypt - in 1798, Napoleon Bonaparte invaded Egypt, as a stepping stone to India. He was stranded there when Vice Admiral Nelson destroyed the French fleet at the Battle of the Nile (Aboukir Bay). In alliance with the Ottoman Empire, Britain mounted an expedition to expel the French from Egypt. A British force under Sir Ralph Abercromby made a successful but was mortally wounded at the victorious Battle of Alexandria. The French capitulated and were evacuated from Egypt in British ships.

Denmark - the Battle of Copenhagen (1801) was an engagement which saw a British fleet under the command of Admiral Sir Hyde Parker strategically defeat a Danish-Norwegian fleet anchored just off Copenhagen on 2 April 1801. Probably most famous as the occasion where Vice Admiral Horatio Nelson is reputed to have disobeyed Sir Hyde Parker's order to withdraw by holding the telescope to his blind eye.

Maratha (1803 – 1805) - the East India Company became involved in war with the Maratha Empire, supported by France. Under the command of British generals Gerrard Lake and Arthur Wellesley, Maratha forces were defeated decisively at the Battle of Assaye and Delhi and further losses eventually compelled them to make peace.

West Indies (1804–1810) - in 1805, as part of the manoeuvres which ultimately led to the Battle of Trafalgar, a French fleet carrying 6,500 troops briefly captured Dominica and other islands but subsequently withdrew. Once the British were allied to Portugal and Spain, they were able to concentrate their forces and capture the French possessions one by one; Cayenne and Martinique in 1809, and Guadeloupe in 1810. Haiti was left to the insurgent armies.

Naples (1805) - in 1805 British forces were part of an Anglo-Russian force intended to secure the Kingdom of Naples. However, after a brief occupation the allied position became untenable with the news of the disastrous Austrian defeat at the Battle of Ulm.

Sicily and the Mediterranean - in 1806, French troops invaded southern Italy, and British troops again went to aid the defenders. A British army under the command of General John Stuart won a victory at the Battle of Maida (after which Maida Vale gets its name).

Denmark - the Battle of Copenhagen (1807) - in August 1807, an expedition was mounted to Copenhagen, to seize the Danish fleet to prevent it falling into French hands. A British land force under the command of Arthur Wellesley routed a Danish militia force. After the city was bombarded for several days, the Danes surrendered their fleet.

The Peninsula War

In 1808, after Bonaparte overthrew the monarchs of Spain and Portugal, an expedition under Sir Arthur Wellesley landed in Portugal. Wellesley won the Battle of Vimeiro. Wellesley’s superiors, Sir Harry Burrard and Sir Hew Dalrymple, signed the Convention of Sintra, by which the French evacuated Portugal (with all their loot) in British ships. This resulted in the three generals' recall to England, and command of the British troops devolved on Sir John Moore who led the army into Spain, reaching as far as Salamanca. Moore's advance was cut short by the news that Napoleon had defeated the Spanish and captured Madrid and was approaching with an army of 200,000. He retreated to Corunna over mountain roads and through bitter winter weather pursued by the French who caught up with the main army at Corunna, and in the ensuing Battle of Corunna in January 1809, Moore was killed; the remnant of the army was evacuated to England.

In 1809, Wellesley returned to Portugal with fresh forces, and defeated the French at the Second Battle of Porto, driving them from the country. He again advanced into Spain and fought the Battle of Talavera but he had retreat into Portugal, where he constructed the defensive Lines of Torres Vedras which protected Lisbon. The next year, when a large French army under Marshal André Masséna invaded Portugal, Wellesley fought a delaying action at the Battle of Bussaco, before withdrawing behind the impregnable Lines, leaving Massena's army to starve in front of them. After Massena withdrew, a British and Spanish force under Beresford fought the very bloody Battle of Albuera, while Wellesley himself won the Battle of Sabugal in April 1811 and the Battle of Fuentes de Onoro in May.

In January 1812, Wellesley captured Ciudad Rodrigo after a surprise move and in April, he then stormed Badajoz, another strong fortress, which the British had failed to carry on an earlier occasion. The fortress was taken, at great cost (over 5000 British casualties), and for three days the army sacked and pillaged the town in undisciplined revenge. Wellesley was raised to the peerage as Marquess Wellington and marched into northern Spain. On 22 July, Wellington took advantage of a momentary French dispersion and gained a complete victory at the Battle of Salamanca. After occupying Madrid, Wellington unsuccessfully besieged Burgos and the army to retreated Portugal.

In spring 1813, Wellington resumed the offensive, leaving Portugal and marching northwards through Spain, dropping the lines of communication to Lisbon and establishing new ones to the Spanish ports on the Bay of Biscay. At the Battle of Vitoria the French armies were routed although the British troops abandoned the pursuit to plunder the French loot. During the autumn and winter, they forced the French defensive lines in the Pyrenees and crossed into France. On 31 March 1814, allied armies entered Paris, and Napoleon abdicated on 6 April. The news was slow to reach Wellington, who fought the indecisive Battle of Toulouse on 10 April.

War of 1812 (1812 – 1815) – fought between the USA and the Britain, its North American colonies and its American Indian allies. Campaigns in three main theatres: at sea, the British blockaded the Atlantic coast and mounted large raids in the later stages of the war; the American–Canadian frontier, which ran along the Great Lakes, the Saint Lawrence River and the northern end of Lake Champlain; the American South and Gulf Coast saw big land battles, in which the American forces defeated Britain's Indian allies and a British invasion force at New Orleans. The British victory at the Battle of Bladensburg in August 1814 allowed them to capture and burn Washington D.C, but they were repulsed in an attempt to take Baltimore. The Battle of New Orleans was a series of engagements fought between 24 December 1814 and 8 January 1815 and was the final major battle of the war. The war ended with the Treaty of Ghent and both parties returned occupied land to its pre-war owner and resumed friendly trade relations.

The lyrics of "The Star-Spangled Banner" come from "Defence of Fort M'Henry", a poem written in 1814 by Francis Scott Key after witnessing the bombardment of Fort McHenry by British ships of the Royal Navy in the Chesapeake Bay.

The Hundred Days (February – June 1815) - Napoleon escaped from Elba on 26 February 1815 and returned to France, where he raised an army. By 20 March he had reached Paris. Basing themselves in Belgium, the Allies formed two armies, with the Duke of Wellington commanding the Anglo-Allies, and Gebhard Leberecht von Blücher commanding the Prussians. Napoleon split his army to launch a two-pronged attack with himself commanding against Blücher at Ligny, while Marshall Ney fought against Wellington's at the Battle of Quatre Bras. Wellington successfully held Quatre Bras, but the Prussians were not so successful at Ligny, and were forced to retreat to Wavre. Hearing of Blücher's defeat Wellington ordered his army to withdraw to Waterloo.

Battle of Waterloo (18 June 1815) - the British, Dutch, Belgian, Nassau and German troops were posted on higher ground south of Waterloo. Having sent Grouchy to pursue the Prussians, Napoleon chose not to attack until almost midday because of heavy overnight rain. The French started their attack with an artillery bombardment. The first French attacks were then directed against the Chateau of Hougemont which were stubbornly defended all day; the action eventually engaging a whole French Corps which failed to capture the Chateau. At half past one, the Anglo-Allied Army was assaulted by d'Erlon's infantry attack on the British left wing but the French were forced back with heavy losses. Later in the afternoon, British troops saw waves of unsupported cavalry approaching and, as per standard drill, formed infantry squares (hollow box-formations four ranks deep) and drove them off. As the Prussian advance guard began to arrive from the east at around seven o'clock, Napoleon ordered his Old and Middle Guard to make a final assault on the by now fragile Allied line. The attack was repulsed. At that point Wellington stood up and waved his hat in the air to signal a general advance. His army rushed forward from the lines in a full assault on the retreating French. Napoleon fled the scene.

Waterloo cost Wellington around 15,000 dead or wounded and Blücher some 7,000. Napoleon's losses were 24,000 to 26,000 killed or wounded and included 6,000 to 7,000 captured.

Napoleon eventually surrendered to Captain Frederick Maitland of “HMS Bellerophon” on 15 July. The Treaty of Paris was signed on 20 November 1815. Louis XVIII was restored to the throne of France and Napoleon was exiled to Saint Helena, where he died in 1821.

Income Tax was first introduced in 1798.

Combination Acts – laws passed in Britain in 1799 and 1800 making trade unionism illegal. The Acts were repealed in 1824.

James Hadfield attempted to shoot George III in the Drury Lane Theatre on 15 May 1800.

Act of Union between Britain and Ireland was enacted in 1801.

William Pitt the Younger (1759 – 1806) became the youngest Prime Minister in 1783 at the age of 24. He left office in 1801 but was Prime Minister again from 1804 until his death. He was also the Chancellor of the Exchequer throughout his premiership. He is best known for leading Britain in the great wars against France and Napoleon. On Pitt’s death Lord Grenville became Prime Minister, and his "Ministry of All the Talents" included Charles James Fox, who died within a few months.

Prime Minister Spencer Perceval was assassinated in 1812 (the only British Prime Minister to have suffered such a fate).

Poor Law – the Speenhamland system was a form of outdoor relief intended to mitigate rural poverty in England at the end of the 18th century and during the early 19th century. The law was an amendment to the Elizabethan Poor Law. The system was named after a 1795 meeting at the Pelican Inn in Speenhamland, Berkshire.

Highland Clearances – forced displacements of the population of the Scottish Highlands between the 18th and 19th centuries. They led to mass emigration to the coast, the Scottish Lowlands and abroad.

Anti-slavery bill passed in 1807, but slavery did not end until 1838.

Luddites - the main areas of Luddite disturbances were Nottinghamshire in November 1811, followed by the West Riding of Yorkshire in early 1812 and Lancashire from March 1813. They were named after Ned Ludd. The government responded with the 1812 Frame Breaking Act, which made Luddite sabotage a capital crime.

The titles of Duke of Wellington and Marquess Douro were bestowed upon Arthur Wellesley, 1st Marquess of Wellington, in 1814.

Peterloo Massacre – took place at St Peter’s Fields, Manchester on 16 August 1819. Henry Hunt, a radical orator, was arrested before he could address the crowd of 60,000. When the demonstrators intervened, the soldiers attacked. The name Peterloo derisively contrasted the massacre to Wellington’s victory. The government responded with the Six Acts, which restricted radical activity.

In late 1810 George III became dangerously ill and he accepted the need for the Regency Act of 1811. The Prince of Wales acted as Regent for the remainder of George III's life. Despite signs of a recovery in May 1811, by the end of the year George had become permanently insane and lived in seclusion at Windsor Castle until his death.

He died at Windsor Castle 29 January 1820 and was buried on 16 February in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle.

George III lived for 81 years and 239 days and reigned for 59 years and 96 days: both his life and his reign were longer than those of any of his predecessors. Only Victoria and Elizabeth II have since lived and reigned longer.

George IV (1820 – 1830)

Prince George he married his cousin Princess Caroline of Brunswick in 1795, at the Chapel Royal, St James's Palace. The marriage was disastrous and they formally separated after the birth of their only child, Princess Charlotte, in 1796, and remained separated thereafter. The Prince of Wales remained attached to Maria Fitzherbert for the rest of his life, despite several periods of estrangement. His other mistresses included Mary Robinson, an actress; Grace Elliott, the divorced wife of a physician; Frances Villiers, Countess of Jersey; Marchioness of Hertford; and the Marchioness Conyngham. He fathered several illegitimate children.

George IV led an extravagant lifestyle that contributed to the fashions of the Regency era. He was a patron of new forms of leisure, style and taste. He commissioned John Nash to build the Royal Pavilion in Brighton and remodel Buckingham Palace, and Sir Jeffry Wyattville to rebuild Windsor Castle. He was instrumental in the foundation of the National Gallery and King's College London.

He refused to let his estranged wife attend his coronation (although she tried to attend and died just a month later).

In 1821 the King became the first monarch to pay a state visit to Ireland since Richard II. The following year he visited Edinburgh for "one and twenty daft days”. His visit to Scotland, organised by Sir Walter Scott, was the first by a reigning British monarch since the mid-17th century.

Cato Street conspiracy – was an attempt to murder all the British cabinet ministers and Prime Minister Lord Liverpool in 1820. The name comes from the plotters’ meeting place near Edgware Road in London. The police had an informer and the plotters fell into a police trap and 13 were arrested, while one policeman was killed. Five conspirators were executed, including Arthur Thistlewood who killed the policeman, and five others were transported to Australia.

There was a famine in Ireland from 1821 to 1823.

Initially barred by his religion from entering Parliament, the election of Daniel O’Connell as Member of Parliament for Clare forced the British government to concede Catholic emancipation, in 1829.

In 1829 Robert Peel, as Home Secretary, established the Metropolitan Police Force for London based at Scotland Yard.

The Rainhill Trials - an important competition in the early days of steam locomotive railways, run in October 1829 for the nearly completed Liverpool and Manchester Railway. Five engines (Cycloped, Novelty, Perseverance, Rocket, and Sans Pareil) competed, running back and forth along a mile length of level track at Rainhill, in Lancashire (now Merseyside). Rocket was the only locomotive to complete the trials.

William Huskisson, MP – the first railway fatality. At the opening of the Liverpool and Manchester Railway in 1830 he fell under a train.

George IV died on 26 June 1830 at Windsor Castle and was buried in St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. His only legitimate child, Princess Charlotte of Wales, had died in 1817 and his brother Prince Frederick, Duke of York and Albany, had died in 1827.

George IV was therefore succeeded by another brother, the third son of George III, Prince William, Duke of Clarence, who reigned as William IV.

William IV (1830 – 1837)

He served in the Royal Navy in his youth and was, both during his reign and afterwards, nicknamed the "Sailor King". He served in North America and the Caribbean, but saw little actual fighting.

His reign saw several reforms: the poor law was updated, child labour restricted, slavery abolished in nearly all the British Empire, and the British electoral system refashioned by the Reform Act 1832. He was the last monarch to appoint a Prime Minister contrary to the will of Parliament.

From 1791 William lived for 20 years with an Irish actress, Dorothea Bland, better known by her stage name, Mrs. Jordan. The couple had ten illegitimate children—five sons and five daughters—nine of whom were named after William's siblings; each was given the surname "FitzClarence". The affair ended in 1811 and Mrs Jordan died, impoverished, near Paris in 1816.

William married Princess Adelaide of Saxe-Meiningen at Kew on 11 July 1818. At 25, Adelaide was half William's age. Their marriage, which lasted almost twenty years until William's death, was a happy one.

Swing Riots - a widespread uprising by agricultural workers; it began with the destruction of threshing machines in Kent in the summer of 1830.

Merthyr Rising (1831) - was the violent climax to many years of simmering unrest among the large working class population of Merthyr Tydfil and the surrounding area.

The Representation of the People Act 1832 (aka Great Reform Act) - introduced wide-ranging changes to the electoral system of England and Wales. The Reform Act's chief objective was the reduction of the number of nomination boroughs. The 56 smallest boroughs were completely abolished and the next 30 smallest boroughs each lost one of their two MPs. In total the Act abolished 143 borough seats in England. 65 new county seats and 65 new borough seats were created. The Act did very little to appease the working class by enfranchising them, since voters were required to possess property worth £10, a substantial sum at the time. This split the alliance between the working class and the middle class, giving rise to the Chartist Movement.

In 1834 King William IV dismissed Melbourne as Premier, but was forced to recall him when Robert Peel, the King's choice, could not form a working majority. Since then, no Sovereign has tried to impose a Prime Minister on Parliament.

Tolpuddle Martyrs - a group of 19th century Dorset agricultural labourers who were arrested for and convicted of swearing a secret oath in Tolpuddle, Dorest as members of the Friendly Society of Agricultural Labourers. In 1834 James Frampton, a local landowner, wrote to the Prime Minister, Lord Melbourne, to complain about the union, invoking an obscure law from 1797 prohibiting people from swearing oaths to each other. James Brine, James Hammett, George Loveless (the leader), James Loveless, Thomas Standfield and Thomas's son John Standfield were arrested, found guilty, and transported to Australia.

A sycamore tree in Tolpuddle marks the site of the landmark trade union meeting that became a historic symbol of the struggles for the emerging labour movement.

The Palace of Westminster burned in 1834. The fire was caused by tally sticks (pieces of wood used to record and document numbers and quantities). Turner painted the burning of the Palace of Westminster from memory, having witnessed it firsthand.

Bear baiting was abolished in England in 1835.

William IV died on 20 June 1837 at Windsor Castle, where he was buried. As he had no living legitimate issue, the Crown of the United Kingdom passed to Princess Victoria of Kent. Under Salic Law, a woman could not rule Hanover, and so the Hanoverian Crown went to George III's fifth son, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, thus ending the personal union of Britain and Hanover (1714 - 1837).

The main beneficiaries of his will were his eight surviving children by Mrs. Jordan.