Events from the year 1844 in the United Kingdom.
Disembarkation of Louis-Phillipe at the Royal Clarence Yard, 8 October 1844, by J. M. W. Turner
The Royal Exchange (London), opened by Queen Victoria on 28 October
- 28 February – the Grand National at Aintree is won by the 5/1 joint favourite Discount.
- 11 April – initiation of the Ragged Schools Union.[1]
- 11 May – major fire at Lyme Regis.[2]
- May – Henry Hardinge, 1st Viscount Hardinge, appointed as Governor-General of India.[3]
- 6 June – George Williams founds the Young Men's Christian Association (YMCA) in London.[4]
- 15 June – Factory Act imposes a maximum 12-hour working day for women, and a maximum 6-hour day for children aged 6 to 13.[5]
- 19 July – Bank Charter Act restricts powers of British banks other than the Bank of England to issue banknotes of the pound sterling.[6][7]
- 21 & 27 August – consecration of two new major urban Roman Catholic churches, both designed by Augustus Pugin, which will in the 1850s be elevated to cathedral status: St Mary's Church, Newcastle upon Tyne and St Barnabas Church, Nottingham. (In October, Pugin occupies The Grange, Ramsgate, a house designed for himself which is influential in the development of domestic Gothic Revival architecture.)[8]
- 28 September – a blackdamp explosion at Haswell Colliery in the Durham Coalfield kills 95, with just four survivors.[9]
- 8 October – Louis-Phillipe, King of the French, arrives in Portsmouth on a visit to Britain.
- 20 October – Counties (Detached Parts) Act 1844 comes into effect, eliminating many outliers or exclaves of counties in England and Wales for civil purposes.
- 28 October – the Royal Exchange in London opened by Queen Victoria.[10]
- 11 December – Health of Towns Association formed to press for public health improvements.[11]
- 21 December – the Rochdale Pioneers, usually considered the first successful cooperative enterprise, open their store in Rochdale, forming the basis for the modern cooperative movement.[4]
- 26 February – Annie Swynnerton, née Robinson, ARA, painter (died 1933)
- 3 May – Richard D'Oyly Carte, theatrical impresario (died 1901)
- 22 July – William Archibald Spooner, scholar and Anglican priest (died 1930)
- 28 July – Gerard Manley Hopkins, English poet (died 1889)
- 6 August – Alfred, Duke of Saxe-Coburg and Gotha, second son of Queen Victoria (died 1900)[15]
- 29 August – Edward Carpenter, socialist poet (died 1929)
- 23 October – Robert Bridges, English poet (died 1930)
- 25 October – Arthur William à Beckett, journalist (died 1909)
Berry, George (1970). Discovering Schools. Tring: Shire Publications. ISBN 0-85263-091-3.
Palmer, Alan; Palmer, Veronica (1992). The Chronology of British History. London: Century Ltd. pp. 266–267. ISBN 0-7126-5616-2.
Hill, Rosemary (2008). God's Architect: Pugin and the Building of Romantic Britain. London: Penguin Books. ISBN 978-0-140-28099-9.
"History". Parish of the Holy Cross. Retrieved 2 June 2014.