1813 in the United Kingdom
Events from the year 1813 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – George III Regent – George, Prince Regent Prime Minister – Robert Jenkinson, 2nd Earl of Liverpool (Tory) Foreign Secretary – Robert Stewart, Viscount Castlereagh Home Secretary - Lord Sidmouth Parliament – 5th Events 16 January – 14 Luddites hanged at York. 24 January – the Philharmonic Society of London is formed, holding its first concert on 8 March. 1 June – War of 1812: Capture of USS Chesapeake in Boston Harbor by British Royal Navy frigate . 6 June – War of 1812: Battle of Stoney Creek – a British force of 700 under John Vincent defeat an American force three times its size under William Winder and John Chandler. 21 June – Peninsular War: Battle of Vitoria – a British, Spanish, and Portuguese force of 78,000 with 96 guns under Wellington defeats a French force of 58,000 with 153 guns under Joseph Bonaparte to end the Peninsular War. 1 July – Indian trade monopoly of the British East India Company abolished. 5 July – War of 1812: three weeks of British raids on Fort Schlosser, Black Rock and Plattsburgh, New York begin. 21 July – Doctrine of the Trinity Act provides toleration for Unitarian worship. September – Robert Southey becomes Poet Laureate. 10 September – War of 1812: Oliver Hazard Perry defeats a British fleet in the Battle of Lake Erie. 5 October – War of 1812: William Henry Harrison defeats the British at the Battle of the Thames in Upper Canada; native leader Tecumseh is killed in battle. 7 October – Peninsular War: British troops enter France. 13 October – Cape of Good Hope becomes a British colony. 21 October – Nelson Monument, Liverpool unveiled. 25 December – William Debenham joins Thomas Clark in a partnership to manage a draper's store in London, origin of the Debenhams business which will run department stores until 2020. 27 December–3 January 1814 – a thick fog blankets London causing the Prince Regent to turn back from a trip to Hatfield House and a mail coach to take 7 hours to reach Uxbridge on its way to Birmingham. 29 December – War of 1812: British soldiers burn Buffalo, New York. 31 December The foreign secretary, Lord Castlereagh, is sent to Germany with full powers to give assistance to the allies. Westminster Bridge in London is illuminated by gas lighting provided by the Gas Light and Coke Company from the world's first public gasworks nearby. Ongoing Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815 Peninsular War, 1808–1814 Undated Last striking of guinea coins, to pay Wellington's army in the Pyrenees. The early steam locomotive Puffing Billy introduced at Wylam colliery, County Durham. Society of Antiquaries of Newcastle upon Tyne established. Charles Waterton begins the process of turning his estate at Walton Hall, West Yorkshire, into what is, in effect, the world's first nature reserve. Publications 28 January – Jane Austen's novel Pride and Prejudice. Percy Bysshe Shelley's poem Queen Mab. Robert Owen's A New View of