German physicist Georg Simon Ohm formulates his law about the proportionality of current flowing in an electric conductor

English artist Samuel Palmer moves to Shoreham, in Kent, for the most inspired years of his career

The Duke of Wellington becomes British prime minister, heading the Tory government at a time when reform is urgently needed

Dom Miguel swears allegiance to his brother, the Portuguese king Pedro IV, and becomes regent

Dom Miguel betrays his allegiance to his brother Pedro IV and usurps the Portuguese throne in a bloodless coup

Irish nationalist Daniel O'Connell wins a sensational by-election victory to join the Westminster parliament

William Burke and William Hare murder 16 victims and sell their bodies to the Edinburgh Medical School for anatomical study

After a century of neglect, the 20-year-old Felix Mendelssohn conducts an influential revival in Berlin of J.S. Bach's St Matthew Passion

The Metropolitan Police, set up in London by Robert Peel, become known as 'bobbies' from his first name

The Emancipation Act, enabling Daniel O'Connell to take his seat at Westminster, at last removes the restrictions on Catholics in UK public life

Gioacchino Rossini's opera William Tell has its premiere in Paris

German composer Felix Mendelssohn visits the Hebrides and see's Fingal's Cave, later the theme of his Hebrides Overture

Oxford and Cambridge compete against each other in the first university boat race, held at Henley

The locomotive Rocket, built by George and Robert Stephenson, defeats two rivals in the Rainhill trials, near Liverpool

Victor Hugo's romantic drama Hernani provokes a riot in the Paris audience on the first night

The death of the last infant cousin senior to her in the royal succession makes Victoria heir to the British throne

Earl Grey becomes British prime minister at the head of a Whig government committed to reform

A revolution erupts in Paris in July and sweeps Charles X from the throne

Louis-Philippe, the Citizen King, is welcomed in Paris in a new role – as 'king of the French, by the will of the people'

Milosh Obrenovich wins recognition for an autonomous Serbia, with himself as prince

French author Stendhal publishes his novel Le Rouge et Le Noir ('The Red and the Black')

George Stephenson's railway between Liverpool and Manchester opens, with passengers pulled by eight locomotives based on Rocket

The Symphonie fantastique by French composer Hector Berlioz has its premiere in Paris

Italian nationalist Giuseppe Mazzini founds Young Italy, an organization to promote insurrection

The first Whig Reform Bill is carried in the British House of Commons by a single vote