1886 in The United Kingdom - Events

Events

• January — Ulster Protestant Unionists begin to lobby against the Irish Home Rule Bill, establishing the Ulster Loyal Anti-Repeal Union in Belfast.
• 13 January — After six years of campaigning, the atheist Charles Bradlaugh is permitted to affirm rather than take the traditional oath, allowing him to take his seat as a Member of Parliament.
• 18 January — The Hockey Association is founded, largely on the initiative of sports clubs in the London area, and codifies the rules for hockey.
• 27 January — Salisbury loses supports of the Irish Party, and resigns as Prime Minister.
• 1 February
  • William Ewart Gladstone becomes Prime Minister for the third time.
  • Mersey Railway opens, linking Birkenhead and Liverpool.
• 7–8 February — Two days of rioting in the West End of London by the unemployed, coinciding with the coldest winter in thirty years.
• March
  • Gladstone announces his support for Irish Home Rule.
  • Linfield F.C. is formed in Belfast.
• 10 March — First Crufts dog show held in London.
• April — New English Art Club mounts its first exhibition.
• 8 April — Gladstone introduces the Government of Ireland Bill (the first Irish Home Rule Bill) in the House of Commons. During the debates on the Bill
  • Financial Secretary to the Treasury H.H. Fowler states his support for the Bill which in his words would bring about a "real Union—not an act of Parliament Union—but a moral Union, a Union of heart and soul between two Sister Nations".
  • Lord Randolph Churchill voices his opposition with the slogan "Ulster will fight, Ulster will be right".
• 11 May — The International Exhibition of Navigation, Commerce and Industry in Liverpool is opened by Queen Victoria.
• 8 June — The Irish Home Rule Bill fails to pass in Parliament on a vote of 343-313. Ulster Protestants celebrate its defeat, leading to renewed rioting on the streets of Belfast and the deaths of seven people, with many more injured.
• 12 June — Gladstone calls for a dissolution of Parliament.
• 25 June
  • Crofters' Holdings (Scotland) Act grants security of tenure to crofters.
  • Riot (Damages) Act provides for property owners to recover compensation from local police forces in the event of damage due to riot.
• 30 June — Royal Holloway College opened by Queen Victoria in Surrey.
• 12 July–mid-September — Belfast riots: Beginning with the Orange Institution parades and continuing sporadically throughout the summer, clashes take place between Catholics and Protestants, and also between Loyalists and police. Thirteen people are killed in a weekend of serious rioting, with an official death toll of 31 people over the period.
• 23 July — The inaugural Eclipse Stakes, run at Sandown Park in Surrey with a prize fund of £10,000 donated by Leopold de Rothschild, making it at this time the richest British horse race, is won by the stallion Bendigo.
• 27 July — General election won by the Conservative Party under Salisbury.
• 1 September — The Severn Tunnel opens.
• 11 October — Memorial statue to Sister Dora unveiled in Walsall.
• 9 December
  • Southport and St Anne's lifeboats disaster.
  • Beatification of Edmund Campion by Pope Leo XIII.
• 25 December — Great snow storm in London.