In northern England, a morning collision on the London and Northwestern Railway killed five people and injured a considerable number more.  A passenger train heading south from Liverpool hit a coal train at Walton Junction near Warrington in Lancashire and several of its leading cars were severely damaged. (By John Osborne)

Rugby School in the central England county of Warwickshire had been founded in 1567 with a behest from local businessman William Sheriff for the education of boys in the towns of Rugby and Brownsover.  The institution rose in prominence through the years to become one of the seven "official" public schools, inventing the sport of Rugby Football along the way, according to legend.  Rugby celebrated its three hundredth anniversary with an impressive ceremony on this day.  (By John Osborne)

In the industrial city of Birmingham in central England, a series of lectures denouncing Roman Catholicism from the well-known anti-Catholic lecturer William Murphy was disrupted when Catholics gathered and rioted in the surrounding streets.  The disturbances continued into the evening when a large force of police, armed with cutlasses, dispersed the mob.  There were injuries on both sides and twenty-six people were arrested.  Fears that a counter riot would attack Catholic buildings in the city were not realized, though the city passed several more tension-filled days.  (By John Osborne)

On a dreary and cold day at Epsom, the eighty-eighth running of the Derby took place with thirty runners over a mile and a half.  After a start delayed by rain and sleet, the favorite Vauban, with odds of 6-4 to win, was outclassed by the rank outsider Hermit who won the race by a neck from Marksman in two minutes and fifty-three seconds. Hermit had stood at 100-1 and at the foot of the betting board when the race started. (By John Osborne)  

Britain's Reform League held a massive evening demonstration in London's Hyde Park in support of legislation to extend the nation's franchise.  Grouped around ten impromtu platforms from which prominent figures, including members of Parliament, spoke, the eventual crowd at around eight in the evening reached by some estimates around 200,000.  The authorities had fearfully allowed the  gathering but the assembled police, special constables, with military forces in reserve, were not needed as the event passed off without a single incident.  (By John Osborne)

In a year that had already seen labor disputes, notably on the railways, as the British economy continued to contract, London's journeymen tailors began a two month complete work stoppage over the method of calculating their wages. Despite support and assistance from other working men's groups, including the tailors of Paris across the English Channel, the strikers were forced eventually to concede to their employers' demands.  (By John Osborne)

In southeast England, an explosion in a gunpowder works killed four workers and seriously injured a fourth.  In the town of Faversham, in Kent the building housing the final mixing of powder for the Hall and Son Company collapsed in ruins after a dull explosion in the middle of the afternoon.  Reasons for the conflagration were a mystery and a coroner's enquiry could determine no other cause that "accidental death" in a dangerous profession.  (By John Osborne)

An annular eclipse of the Sun was visible across most of Europe, North Africa, the MIddle East, and South Asia, with those in an 118 mile band that included Rome and Moscow experiencing a 98% obscuring of light of just under two minutes.  In London and other parts of western Europe the activity began just after eight on a morning beset with poor weather that cleared just in time for Londoners to see the moon passing over the Sun at around nine thirty.  (By John Osborne) 

A large fire devastated a second story school room in northern England and killed nine young children.  In Accrington in Lancashire a fire broke out on the floor below in a textile cord manufacturers located there, trapping the children.  Thanks to the efforts of an off-duty policeman and several passersby, most of the children were located in the smoke and dropped to the crowds below but nine, including a child of the cord manufacturer, were not as fortunate and perished in the smoke and flame.  (By John Osborne)

Near midnight in northwest England, near Clifton in present-day Cumbria, a northbound goods train derailed and two carriages blocked the southbound track as another freight train approached from that direction.  Unfortunately, one of the derailed cars happened to be carrying four tons of gunpowder and when the southbound locomotive struck it there was a massive and instant explosion that killed the crew of the colliding engine and was heard twenty miles away.  The contents of both trains were largely destroyed but since the incident occured in open country there was no further loss of life. (By John Osborne)