Historical timeline: 1801 - 1850

Date	Coutts event	World event
1801		The 1801 Act of Union unites Britain and Ireland to form a single kingdom
1804		Spain declares war on Britain
1805	Thomas Coutts meets Harriot Mellon, who later becomes his second wife. Harriot was a successful and well respected actress, known for her role as Volante in the romantic comedy ‘The Honeymoon’	The Battle of Trafalgar is fought between the British Royal Navy and the combined Navies of France and Spain
1806		The Holy Roman Emperor Francis II abdicates, marking the end of the Holy Roman Empire
1807		The Slave Trade Abolition Act of 1807 abolishes the slave trade in the British Empire, but not slavery itself
1808		The Peninsular War begins between France and the allied powers of Spain, Britain and Portugal
1810	Accused of writing a ‘scandalous and libellous’ paper and breaching his Parliamentary privilege, Thomas Coutts’ son-in-law Sir Francis Burdett is arrested and held in the Tower
1812		The United States declare war on the British Empire
1813		The Charter Act of 1813 continues the East India Company’s rule in India, but ends its monopoly
1814	Angela Burdett, the youngest child of Sir Francis Burdett and Thomas Coutts’ daughter Sophia, is born	George Stephenson builds the first efficient steam engine
1815		At the Battle of Waterloo Napoleon’s army is defeated by the allied Prussian, British, Dutch, Belgian and German armies
1816	The HCS Thomas Coutts, an East India Company trading vessel, is launched. Between 1826 and 1827 it made a record-breaking run from England to China, via India, and back, taking 11 months and 21 days Coutts take accounts from Davison’s private bank in Pall Mall, which closed due to financial difficulties	The Elgin Marbles are purchased by the British Government and put on display in the British Museum
1817		Sovereigns are first issued
1819		Modern Singapore is founded by Sir Stamford Raffles
1820		The accession of George IV
1821		Napoleon Bonaparte dies in exile on St Helena
1822	Thomas Coutts dies at the age of 86, and leaves everything – including his personal fortune and 50% share in the bank – to his widow, Harriot
1823		The Royal Suspension Chain Pier is built in Brighton
1824		The National Gallery opens to the public at 100 Pall Mall in London
1825		The world’s first publicly subscribed railway opens between Stockton and Darlington
1826	Sir Edmund Antrobus senior, a partner of Coutts, dies at home in Cheam
1827	Harriot Coutts becomes a Duchess when she marries the Duke of St Albans Andrew Dickie becomes the first clerk to be made a partner at Coutts
1830		The accession of William IV
1831		The French Foreign Legion is founded
1832		The Great Reform Act of 1832 changes the electoral system in England and Wales by addressing the unequal distribution of seats, extending the franchise and removing ‘rotten boroughs’
1833	Andrew Dickie, the first clerk to be made a partner at Coutts, dies	The Slavery Abolition Act is passed in parliament abolishing slavery in the British Empire
1834		A fire breaks out at the Palace of Westminster, destroying the Houses of Parliament
1836		The Battle of the Alamo is fought between the Republic of Texas and Mexico
1837	Harriot, the Duchess of St Albans, dies. Her will names Angela Burdett as her successor	The accession of Queen Victoria
1838	Edward Marjoribanks becomes a junior partner at Coutts	Grace Darling and her father rescue thirteen survivors from the SS Forfarshire off the Farne Islands
1840	Coutts absorb the business of Hammersley’s Bank in Pall Mall – a small private bank which had been founded in 1780 by Thomas Hammersley	The Penny Post is introduced in Britain
1841		British ships occupy the island of Hong Kong
1842		Lord Shaftesbury’s Mines Act prohibits the employment of women and children underground
1844	Sir Francis and Lady Burdett die eleven days apart	The Bank Charter Act restricts the powers of British banks and regulates the issue of bank notes
1846		An American dentist, William T. G. Morton, first publically demonstrates the use of ether as a surgical anaesthetic
1848		Karl Marx and Friedrich Engels publish The Communist Manifesto
1849		Britain annexes Punjab
1850		The British parliament passes the Australian Colonies Act, giving the colonies self-government