Queen Victoria's eldest daughter marries the heir to the Prussian throne

Princess Victoria, the oldest child of Queen Victoria marries Prince Frederick-William of Prussia in the Saint James' Palace in London. Mendelsson's Wedding March is played and receives the massive publicity that will make it the most popular wedding music of all time. The couple will have will have six children, including the oldest, Queen Victoria's first grandchild, who will become Kaiser Wilhelm II. (By John Osborne)
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Queen Victoria is proclaimed throughout India as Queen; Lord Canning is to be the first Viceroy of India

Following the end of East India Company rule the previous September, Queen Victoria was proclaimed throughout India as Queen. Lord Canning was named as the the first Viceroy of India, and would now rule directly in the name of the Crown. (By John Osborne)
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Divorce becomes a little easier in the United Kingdom

Newly instituted under an act of Parliament, the Divorce and Matrimonial Causes Court meets for the first time in the United Kingdom. With Lord Campbell presiding with two other High Court judges, the court grants five divorces. Previous to this a divorce could only be obtained through a full individual act of Parliament. Not surprisingly, there had been by 1857 only 317 divorces in England since the reign of Henry VIII. (By John Osborne)
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The Great Reading Room at the British Museum opens to the public

The magnificent new reading room at the center of the main building of the British Museum in London opens to the public. It has cost 150,000 pounds, has a diameter of 140 feet, and incorporates a 106 foot dome that steers noise upwards. Designed by Sydney Smirke and Antonio Panizzi, it can house 300 readers at a time. (By John Osborne)
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Andrew Bonar Law, future British Prime Minister, is born in Canada

Andrew Bonar Law was born to Eliza Anne Kidston Law and her husband Reverend James Law, a Presbyterian minister, in Kingston, New Brunswick, in Canada. He was their fourth son. His mother died before he wass three and he moved to Scotland to live with relatives. There he would rise in politics to become the Prime Minister of Great Britain after the First World War. (By John Osborne)
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Giacomo Puccini born in Tuscany

Giacomo Puccini was born this day in the Tuscan town of Lucca in Italy, the fifth child of Albina Puccini and her husband Michele. His father died when Puccini was six and his mother struggled to bring up the seven children in the family. He grew up to become one the greatest operatic composers of all time, the creator of Madame Butterfly, La Boheme, and Turandot. (By John Osborne)
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