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1826: April - increasing use of power looms provokes riots by starving workless. Looms wrecked all over Lancashire. At Chatterton, near Ramsbottom, troops shoot six rioters. Liverpool-Manchester railway bill passed. Work begins on draining Chat Moss for the line.

1827: Benoit Fourneyron develops the water turbine. Samuel Crompton, inventor of the spinning mule, dies at the age of 74. Beethoven dies at the age of 57.

1828: Aug 1 - opening of the eight-mile Bolton and Leigh Railway - soon to connect to the Liverpol-Manchester line - built by George Stephenson, for which he constructed the steam locomotive Lancashire Witch.


GEORGE Stephenson's Lancashire Witch, built for the Bolton-Leigh line

1829: May - rioting in Manchester, Blackburn, Rochdale and other Northern towns by loom breakers. Ten people killed as troops open fire on a mob outside the New Bailey prison in Salford. In London, Home Secretary Sir Robert Peel's first police force is deployed.

1830: Sept 15 - George Stephenson's Rocket opens Liverpool-Manchester Railway, the world's first passenger line, giving Manchester exporters a fast and direct route to a seaport. William IV crowned King of England. Cotton industry now employs 800,000. In America, industrialist Peter Cooper designs and builds first U.S. locomotive, Tom Thumb, in Baltimore. In Manchester, Roberts finally perfects the

winding quadrant, making possible the "self-acting" mule - a triumph of mechanics which would make many highly-skilled spinners redundant. Sales of cotton and cotton goods now account for half of Britain's exports. National Association for the Protection of Labour formed in Manchester.

1831: November - boards of health set up in Manchester and district as cholera advances. Riots in Bristol follow rejection of 1st Reform Bill by the Lords - town hall and Bishop's Palace burned down. Slavery abolished. Electric induction motor invented. Population of England and Wales estimated at 14 million.

1832: First case of cholera in Manchester recorded on May 17th. Hippolyte Pixii generates electricity mechanically for the first time.

1833: Government sets up inspectorate to ensure the Factory Acts are being adhered to.

1834: Poor Law Amendment Act, masterminded by Edwin Chadwick. Houses of Parliament destroyed by fire. Slavery abolished throughout the British Empire.

1836: In Texas, Battle of the Alamo.

1837: Victoria crowned Queen of England. Death of English landscape painter John Constable.

1838: Grace Darling, daughter of Farne Islands lighthouse keeeper, rescues survivors of the ship Forfarshire.

1839: Newport rising. Formation of Anti-Corn Law League. Opening of the Manchester and Salford Junction Canal. George Bradshaw publishes his first railway guide.