1837 in the United Kingdom

Events from the year 1837 in the United Kingdom. This marks the beginning of the Victorian era.

• Monarch – William IV (until 20 June), Victoria (starting 20 June)
• Prime Minister – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne (Whig)
• Foreign Secretary – Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston

• January–February – Serious influenza outbreak.^[1]
• 11 January – The Royal Institute of British Architects in London (RIBA) is granted its royal charter.
• 13 February – Rowland Hill's government inquiry into postal reform discusses the idea of carrying letters in a separate sheet which folds to become an envelope and the idea of "a bit of paper" which could be affixed to a letter to flag that postage had been prepaid.
• March – A new city in the Australian colonies is named for Lord Melbourne, the Prime Minister.^[2]
• 1 March–31 May – At only 5.63 °C (42.13 °F) Central England temperature, the coolest English spring on record; this remains the last recorded coolest traditional season in the CET series.^[3]
• c. June – Smallpox epidemic of 1837–40 breaks out.^[1]
• 1 June – The Government-funded Normal School of Design, predecessor of the Royal College of Art, begins classes at Somerset House in London.
• 3 June – The Kensington Hippodrome opens in Notting Hill.
• 12 June – Cooke and Wheatstone file their patent for the electrical telegraph.^[4]
• 20 June – King William IV dies from heart failure at Windsor Castle with Queen Adelaide at his bedside. Due to none of his nine surviving children being legitimate,^[5] his 18-year-old niece, Princess Victoria of Kent, ascends the throne as Queen Victoria.^[6] At 6am, Francis Conyngham, 2nd Marquess Conyngham (Lord Chamberlain) and William Howley (Archbishop of Canterbury) call on her at Kensington Palace to break the news. She will reign for 63 years.^[6] Under Salic law, the Kingdom of Hanover passes to William's brother, Ernest Augustus, Duke of Cumberland, ending the personal union of Britain and Hanover which has persisted since 1714.
• 30 June – The use of the pillory as a punishment is abolished by act of parliament.^[7]
• 1 July – General Register Office begins the practice of registering births, marriages and deaths in England and Wales.^[7]
• 3 July – Wills Act clarifies the procedure for making a valid will with effect from 1 January 1838.
• 13 July – Queen Victoria moves from Kensington Palace into Buckingham Palace, the first reigning British monarch to make this, rather than St James's Palace, their London home.^[7]
• 19 July
  • The Isambard Kingdom Brunel-designed steamship SS Great Western is launched in Bristol.^[7]
  • The first missionaries sent abroad by the Church of Jesus Christ of Latter-day Saints land from the United States at Liverpool. On 30 July, apostle Heber C. Kimball baptises the first English converts (George D. Watt and 8 others) in the River Ribble near Preston, Lancashire.^[8]
• 20 July – Euston Station, London's first mainline railway terminus, is opened.^[7]
• 24 July–18 August – A General election results in a Whig victory.^[2]
• 17 August – John Kent becomes Britain's first black police officer on joining the constabulary in Carlisle.
• 28 August – Lea & Perrins begin making Worcestershire sauce.^[7][9]
• October – Alleged first sighting of a Spring-heeled Jack, in London.
• 9 November – Stockbroker Moses Montefiore becomes the first Jew to receive a knighthood.^[7]
• 15 November – Isaac Pitman publishes Pitman Shorthand.^[7]

• Burglary, arson and "shooting at" cease to be capital crimes.^[10]
• Joseph Paxton designs the Great Conservatory or Stove at Chatsworth House; it is the world's largest glass building at this time.^[11]

• Richard Harris Barham's The Ingoldsby Legends 'by Thomas Ingoldsby' begin to appear in serial form in Bentley's Miscellany.
• Thomas Carlyle's book The French Revolution: A History.
• Charles Dickens' novel Oliver Twist appears in serial form in Bentley's Miscellany (from February).^[6]
• Robert Southey's "The Story of the Three Bears" appears in The Doctor.
• Martin Tupper's book Proverbial Philosophy.
• Andrew Ure's encyclopedia A Dictionary of Arts, Manufactures and Mines.

• 7 January – Thomas Henry Ismay, shipowner (died 1899)
• 30 January – Augusta Webster, born Julia Augusta Davies, poet (died 1894)
• 7 February – James Murray, lexicographer (died 1915)
• 23 March – Charles Wyndham, actor and theatrical manager (died 1919)
• 5 April – Algernon Charles Swinburne, poet (died 1909)
• 7 April – Gilbert Arthur à Beckett, writer (died 1891)
• 28 May – George Ashlin, architect (died 1921)
• 9 June – Anne Isabella Thackeray Ritchie, novelist and essayist (died 1919)
• 14 November – Lucas Barrett, naturalist (died 1862)
• 23 November – Joseph Leycester Lyne, Anglican Benedictine abbot (died 1908)
• 5 December – Richard Thomas, tin plate manufacturer (died 1916)
• 26 December – William Boyd Dawkins, geologist (died 1929)

• 20 January – Sir John Soane, British architect (born 1753)
• 23 January – John Field, Irish composer (born 1782)
• 31 January – John Rolls of The Hendre, judge (born 1776)
• 1 February – Edward Donovan, writer, traveller and amateur zoologist (born 1768)
• 19 February – Thomas Burgess author, philosopher and Bishop (born 1756)
• 31 March – John Constable, painter (born 1776)
• 31 May – Joseph Grimaldi, clown (born 1778)
• 20 June – William IV (born 1765)
• 24 June – Henry Thynne, 3rd Marquess of Bath, naval officer and politician (born 1797)
• 1 August – Walter Geikie, painter (born 1795)
• 22 September – William George Horner, mathematician (born 1786)
• 7 December – Robert Nicoll, poet (born 1814)