DATE

UNITED KINGDOM

REST OF THE WORLD

DUDLEY

AGE

OF

ST JOHN’S

CHURCH

ST JOHN’S CHURCH

1840

·          Uniform postal rate ‘Penny Post’ introduced

·          Act of Parliament prohibits the employment of climbing boys as chimney sweeps

·          10,000 working windmills in England

·          Anna, Duchess of Bedford introduces afternoon tea

·          Records show 95,820 licensed public houses in England

·          Queen Victoria marries Prince Albert

·          David Livingstone leaves for Africa

·          Stockport viaduct opens

·          Britain declares war on China

·          Wellington, New Zealand founded, named after the Duke of Wellington

·          Justus Liebig discovers artificial fertiliser

·          St James’s Church consecrated by the Right Rev. RobertJames Carr D.D. Bishop of Worcester in the morning of Monday 27th July 1840.

·          St John’s  Church was similarly consecrated in the afternoon of the same day.

·          Birmingham Post ‘The Communion plate was given by Thomas Fletcher Esq. The cushions and linen for the communion table were furnished by the ladies of Dudley, the former being of rich purple cloth trimmed with yellow fringes, the latter of the finest fabric, elegantly worked. A Bible and two prayer books, handsomely bound, were presented by Mr Danks (Mr Danks, of High Street, was the printer of the service paper). The collection in the afternoon amounted to nearly £70. The cost is estimated at £3000 and the church contains about 800 free sittings’

·          A curate of Dudley Parish Church placed in charge, the Rev. John Short M.A. as no separate parish had been created

·          Rev Edward Henry Lane Noott appointed (serves until 1905)

1841

·          Scottish doctor James Baird discovers hypnosis

·          In Liverpool, 20,000 people living in cellars.

·          Central heating (steam) installed in Houses of Parliament

·          Magazine ‘Punch’ first issued

·          New Zealand becomes a British colony

·          Chinese agree to pay compensation to Britain and cede Hong Kong

·          First emmigrant wagon train arrives in Oregon after 3.200 mile trek across hostile Indian territory

1 year old

1842

·          British Government rejects Charles Babbages calculating machine

·          British forces massacred, Khyber Pass, all but 121 of 16,500 killed

·          Law passed to ban women and children working in mines

·          First use of general anaesthetic, USA

·          Fires in Hamburg, Germany burn for 100 hours

·          Volcanoe, Mount St Helens, Washington

·          First law in US regulating child labour hours

 2 years old

1843

·          First edition, Economist

·          Charles Dickens, A Christmas Carol (Scrooge)

·          First Christmas Card, cost one shilling

·          Thames tunnel opened

·          Maoris kill white settlers in New Zealand

·          An alligator falls from the sky during a Charleston, South Carolina, thunderstorm

·          Mormon leader Joseph Smith says God OKs polygamy

3 years old

1844

·          Christmas Trees imported from Germany

·          Young Mens Christian Association ‘YMCA’ founded

·          Fleet prison for debtors is abolished

·          First ever international cricket match played in new York, US v. Canada

·          First white-indian game of lacrosse in Montreal, indians win

·          7th Day Adventists wait for the appearance of Jesus, October 22nd

·          First telegraphed news, US

4 years old

·          May 23rd, 1844 an Order in Council constituted the Parish of St John and the Rev. Edward Henry Lane Noott, M.A. of Corpus Christi College, Cambridge was appointed first Vicar.

·          His stipend was £32 per year, which was considerably augmented by the then Earl of Dudley

·          The Beadle was Mr Cornelius Webb who was also a parish constable. By coincidence, the first Beadle at St James’s, was his brother, James

·          7th August first Baptisms - Benjamin Hurley Piddock and Elizabeth Eliza Watton

·          17th November first wedding - Joseph Johnson and Anna Mullett

·          2nd December first burial - William Roden

1845

·          English engineer William Armstrong invents hydro-electricity

·          Osborne House built, Isle of Wight

·          Stephen Perry patents the rubber band

·          Potato famine throughout Europe, 2 million die

·          Anglo-Sikh war in India as Britain tries to conquer Punjab and Kashmir

5 years old

·          The Churches had not been fully paid for - see 1853

·          Kates Hill has only a few houses where the church was built. The main roads are Dixons Green, Brown Street and the streets nearby. Between these and Cawney Hill is green meadows and cornfields.

·          In the evening there was a fine view of the Tipton furnaces