Significant Dates

Burton History (from 1760)
1770 – Grand Trunk Canal reached Burton
1777 – William Bass bought brewery (High Street)
1778 – Robert Peel opened his first Burton Mill in Winshill
1819 – First salaried police officer (Richard ‘Dick’ Roe)
1834 – John Marston founded brewery
1834 – Burton Grammar School moved to Friars Walk
1839 – First Railway Station opened (Station Street)
1842 – First Burton Police Station (Station Street/Guild Street corner)
1864 – Present (half current width) Trent Bridge opened
1869 – First Burton Hospital opened in Duke Street
1875 – Burton Baths donated by Richard & Robert Ratcliff (sons of Samuel)
1877 – Burton Grammar School moved to new Bond Street school
1878 – Bass House opened in High Street (Bass, Ratcliff and Gretton Brewery Head Offices)
1878 – Burton upon Trent Municipal Borough formed
1878 – First Town Mayor, W.H. Worthington
1883 – ‘New’ Railway Station opened (Borough Road)
1883 – Old Town Hall (Market Place) demolished
1883 – Market Hall opened
1884 – Andresey Bridge built
1884 – Belvedere Workhouse opened
1889 – Ferry Bridge opened
1891 – St Paul’s Institute and Liberal Club gifted as new Town Hall
1896 – Burton Institute (Union Street) became first Free Library
1898 – Ferry Bridge Causeway opened
1901 – Burton granted County Borough status
1903 – Fire Station opened in New Street (from Union Street)
1903 – Tramway System opened
1905 – General Post Office opened in New Street (from Station Street)
1905 – Waterloo Tower opened
1907 – Magistrates Court opened in Horninglow Road
1910 – Police Station moved to Magistrates Court in Horninglow Road
1926 – Trent Bridge widening completed
1929 – Tramway System closed (31st December)


English History (from 1760)
1770 – Captain James Cook discovered Australia
1776 – Declaration of American Independence
1779 – World’s first iron bridge
1787 – First convict ship sent to Australia
1792 – Gas light invented
1796 – First smallpox vaccination
1806 – Isambard Kingdom Brunel born
1807 – British Slave trade abolished
1809 – Charles Darwin born
1815 – Duke of Wellington victory at Waterloo
1825 – World’s first public passenger train
1840 – Penny Black postage stamp introduced
1851 – Great Exhibition; window tax abolished
1859 – ‘Origin of Species’ published
1863 – First (steam) underground train in London


Monarch Reigns (from 1760)
1760…1820 – George III
1820…1830 – George IV
1830…1837 – William IV
1837…1901 – Victoria
1901…1910 – Edward VII
1910…1936 – George V
1936…1936 – Edward VIII (abdicated)
1936…1952 – George VI
1952………. – Elizabeth II


Wars (from 1760)
1775…1782 – American Independence
1799…1815 – Napoleonic
1854…1856 – Crimean
1899…1902 – Boer
1914…1918 – World War I


Food for thought
Queen Victoria reigned for more than 10 years after the Ferry Bridge was built… but when she was born, Napolean was still alive.

When William Bass started brewing (in the little changed property in High Street), he would be reading news reports about the War of American Independence, French Revolution, Discovery of Australia; Public hangings were common, the British slave trade was thriving, gas lighting hadn’t been invented.

… maybe history is not as old as you think!


 

Website by Kevin Gallagher