1800s Timeline of Reading, Berkshire

castle street, photographed (or for) henry fox talbot (c. 1845)



1800 – streets of reading first lit (with oil lamps) , piped water supply first provided (by private company).
1802

blake s lock on river kennet converted flash lock pound lock.
dispensary opened.


1804 – summer: simeon monument erected in market place design of john soane.
1806 – suttons seeds established corn merchants.
1810 – end: completion of kennet , avon canal provides through water communication bath , bristol.
1813 – first recorded steamboat on river thames @ reading.
1814 – simonds bank established.
1815 – first gasworks opens in reading, in bridge street.
1819 – streets first lit gas.
1822 – joseph huntley begins biscuitmaking in london street.
1825 – reading mechanics’ institution first established.
1830 – c. autumn: caversham bridge rebuilt reading spans in wood , iron , caversham spans in stone.
1831 – james dymore brown sets royal albert brewery.
1835

9 september: municipal corporations act makes reading municipal borough effect 1 january 1836.
friends meeting house built.


1836

reading borough police formed.
barrett, exall , andrews set agricultural implement manufactory known 1864 reading iron works.


1837 – december: first foundation stone laid church designed augustus pugin, st james s (roman catholic) on site of reading abbey (opens 5 august 1840).
1839 – 27 may: royal berkshire hospital opens on land donated henry addington, 1st viscount sidmouth.
1840 – 30 march: great western railway opens reading railway station london paddington , twyford through sonning cutting , on kennet mouth, engineered isambard kingdom brunel; extended 1 june steventon; 30 june 1841 throughout bristol.
1841 – cousins thomas huntley , george palmer form biscuitmaking partnership of huntley & palmers.
1843 – 1 may: first interment @ reading old cemetery, established reading cemetery company in 1842.
1844

early: henry fox talbot establishes pioneering commercial photographic establishment in reading.
hm prison reading built berkshire county gaol design of george gilbert scott william bonython moffatt.


1847 – 21 december: great western railway opens newbury , hungerford.
1848 – 1 november: great western railway opens basingstoke.
1849 – 4 july: south eastern railway opens own terminus in reading.
1850 – board of health established , reading union water company begins construction of water supply system…
1852 – reading union water company completes construction of underground bath road reservoir, fed pumping station on kennet @ southcote lock , filtered on site.
1853 – theatre royal established in former mechanics institution in london street.
1854

corn exchange , market house built.
john heelas opens drapery stores becomes john lewis reading.


1856

23 march: forbury gardens, laid out botanical character , opened public corporation.
9 july: london , south western railway begins services reading.


1860 – art school opens.
1861 – assize courts , police station built.
1862 – reading gas company formed merger.
1863 – greyfriars church restored place of worship.
1866 – saints church opened worship.
1868

july: summer assize berkshire moved abingdon reading, making latter county town (officially confirmed 1869).
bath road reservoir acquired borough council reading union water company.


1869 – 24 july: caversham bridge, rebuilt in metal, reopens.
c. 1870–1873 – water turbine powered sewage pumping station installed @ blake s lock part of sewerage , sewage treatment scheme.
1871 – 25 december: reading f.c. founded association football club.
1872 – huntley, boorne & stevens absorbs biscuit tin manufacturing business established in 1832 joseph huntley. in 1918 bought huntley & palmers.
1875

caversham lock rebuilt.
free library opens.
17 december: edward jackson establishes gentleman’s outfitters, moving jackson’s corner in 1885.


1877 – kendrick school established girls in watlington house.
1879 – january–may: reading tramways company horse-drawn network constructed.
1880 – reading gas company bridge on river kennet constructed.
1881 – brock barracks completed.
1882 – october: new free library opens in town hall.
1884 – maiwand lion, sculpted george blackall simonds, erected in forbury gardens war memorial men of 66th (berkshire) regiment of foot killed @ battle of maiwand , elsewhere in second anglo-afghan war.
1885 – reading uk parliament constituency reduced 1 member.
1887 – 20 june: queen victoria’s golden jubilee: commemorative statue of erected in town.
1889 – 1 april: reading becomes county borough under local government act 1888 , boundaries enlarged.
1892

c. march: horseshoe bridge thames towing horses erected @ kennet mouth great western railway company replace ferry.
29 september: reading university extension college, predecessor of university of reading, established; halford mackinder first president.


1895 – 20 november: oscar wilde transferred reading gaol held until 18 may 1897.
1896

4 april: amelia dyer arrested, , subsequently hanged, murder of baby placed in care, 1 of between 7 , twenty killed since moving reading area previous year.
7 july: charles thomas wooldridge hanged @ reading gaol uxoricide, inspiring fellow-prisoner c.3.3. oscar wilde s ballad of reading gaol.
5 september: reading f.c. play first match @ elm park.
new water pumping station town @ fobney lock begins operation.


1897 – reading museum opens (on site of reading school house). houses 1885-6 replica of bayeux tapestry purchased arthur hill town in 1895.
1898 – june: reading r.f.c. founded berkshire wanderers, playing first match in september.




^ cite error: named reference lambert invoked never defined (see page).
^ cite error: named reference thr invoked never defined (see page).
^ cite error: named reference pevsner invoked never defined (see page).
^ cite error: named reference th2 invoked never defined (see page).
^ hilton, stuart (2016). reading in 50 buildings. stroud: amberley publishing. isbn 978-1-4456-5934-3. 
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^ reading establishment . new york: metropolitan museum of art. retrieved 2017-01-19. 
^ basingstoke railway history in maps . christopher tolley. 2001. archived original on 2008-12-06. retrieved 2017-01-16. 
^ quick, michael (2009). railway passenger stations in great britain (4th ed.). oxford: railway , canal historical society. isbn 978-0-901461-57-5. 
^ berkshire quarter sessions . jackson s oxford journal. 1868-07-04. 
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^ berkshire chronicle (reading) 1892-10-01.