Year
Month
1830
June
End of reign of George IV and start of reign of William IV
Sept
Liverpool to Manchester railway opens
June
Cholera epidemic strikes Britain
1832
Event (Luton Events in Bold Type)
Great Reform Act extends franchise in Britain
New Bedford Road opens
1833
July
Slavery abolished throughout British Empire
Gas company founded in Luton; gas begins to replace oil
or candles
Luton’s first National School built in Church Street with
203 boys & 190 infants
1834
1835
1836
Charles Darwin returns from South America
Oct
Frank Chapman Scargill born in London
Elizabeth Park born in Hincaster, Westmorland
Workhouse opens at the corner of Dallow and Dunstable
Roads
1837
June
End of reign of William IV and start of reign of Queen Victoria
School in Langley Street opens at a cost of £400, each
pupil pays 2d weekly
1840
Introduction of the Penny Post
Robert How builds a farmhouse on his estate at
Bramingham Shott, the house is called Bramingham Villa
1843
Dec
Charles Dickens publishes ‘A Christmas Carol’
Disastrous fire at Luton Hoo
1844
1845-49
May
George Stephenson meets representatives of town at
George Hotel to discuss opening a Luton railway line but
meeting goes badly
Great Irish Famine - 2 million die or emigrate
1847
Luton’s first Town Hall is built
1848
2nd French Revolution in Europe & publication of the
Communist manifesto by Karl Marx
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1850
Invention of the refrigerator
1851
Population of Luton is 10,648
May
Great Exhibition opens in Hyde Park
1852
Blundell’s drapery business is launched in Luton
1852
Establishment of French 2nd Empire under Napoleon 3rd
1853
Smallpox vaccination becomes compulsory
School opens in High Town with 54 boys and 56 girls
1854
May
Start of Crimean War
Cemeteries at Crawley Green Road and Rothesay Road
are opened
A clock (paid for by public subscription) is put on the
Town Hall to commemorate the end of the Crimean War
1856
Court House in Stuart Street is erected
1856
David Livingstone completes crossing of Africa
1857
Thomas Lye sets up a dye works in Luton
1857
Indian Army mutiny
1858
May
The Railway through Luton opens; A seat on the first
train journey from Luton to Dunstable costs 6d (2½p)
return
1859
Nov
Charles Darwin publishes ‘The Origin of Species”
1860
Christ Church, Luton is built
1861-65
Outbreak of American Civil War
1863
Jan
London Underground opens
1864
Luton Fire Brigade is formed
1865
Luton Water Company is formed
1865
1867
Assassination of Abraham Lincoln
Alfred Nobel invents dynamite
Invention of the typewriter
Joseph Lister pioneers antiseptic techniques
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Luton’s Second, and only remaining, railway station
opens on the Midland Railway’s extension to London St
Pancras; connecting Luton with the Midlands and the
North
1868
1869
Feb
Disraeli becomes Prime Minister
Frank Scargill buys Bramingham Shott from Robert How
and marries Elizabeth Kennedy
Corn Exchange is erected on Market Hill. Plait Halls are
built in Cheapside & Waller Street to take away the open
air plait market from George Street
1869
Opening of the Suez Canal
1870
Luton gets a piped water supply
1870
Franco-Prussian War
1871
Jan
At Bramingham Villa Lilian Frances Scargill born
Dec
Lionel Walter Kennedy Scargill born
Hayward Tyler open their factory in Luton
1872
May
Gladstone becomes Prime Minister
Dec
Theodore Frank Chapman Scargill born
Public Baths open in Waller Street
Building work starts at Bramingham to demolish old
house Bramingham Villa and build new one Bramingham Shott - plus 4 lodges and to lay out the park
1875
Oct
Alfred Harold Scargill baptised at Christ Church, Luton
Dec
Alfred Harold Scargill dies aged 2 months, buried at
Crawley Green
1876
Invention of the telephone by Alexander Graham Bell
Luton becomes a municipal borough
1877
Invention of reinforced concrete by J. Monier
Building of Bramingham Shott completed
Scargill pet dog Sandy dies and is buried in the garden
1878
Dec
Constance Mary Landey born, Frank Scargill’s second
wife
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Prince and Princess of Wales visit Luton Hoo and tour Luton
hat factories
1884
Fountain pen invented by L E Waterman
1885
Luton Town Football Club is formed
Luton Town Cricket Club is formed
1885
Foundation of Indian National Congress
1887
Sherlock Holmes created by Arthur Conan Doyle
1888
Oct
1891
Jack the Ripper terrorises London’s East End
Invention of the zip fastener by W L Judson
Engagement announced of the Duke of Clarence to Princess
Mary of Teck, engagement photo taken at Luton Hoo. (The
Duke dies the following January and Princess Mary marries
his brother the future George V.)
1891
Surrey Street Infants School opens
The ‘Luton News’ is founded
1894
Tower Bridge opens in London
Frank & Elizabeth Scargill move to Brighton
London Road Children’s Hospital opens largely due to
the generosity of retired Luton hat manufacturer Mr
Alfred Phippen Welch
Discovery of Xrays by W K Roentgen and wireless telegraphy
by Marconi
1895
1897
1898
June
Victoria celebrates her Diamond Jubilee
Luton Town FC move to their second ground - Dunstable
Rd/Hazelbury Crescent House and estate let to B.J.H.
Forder
Name of house changed from Bramingham Shott to
Wardown House
Grand Theatre in Waller St. is opened by Lily Langtry,
one of the leading actresses of the day. The theatre seats
nearly 1,000 people.
Laporte Chemicals transfers its works to Luton.
1898
Outbreak of Boer War (- 1902)
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1899
Introduction of aspirin by Felix Hoffman
Oct
Dec
1899
1900
Start of Boer War
Elizabeth Scargill dies aged 63 and is buried at Holy Trinity
Church,
Asher Hucklesby elected Mayor of Luton for the 4th time - he
was the richest hat manufacturer in Luton & lived at the
Leaside, New Bedford Road.
Invention of agricultural tractor by B Holt
Wardown House and estate let to Halley Stewart
1901
Jan
End of reign of Queen Victoria and beginning of reign of
Edward VII
First successful safety razor sold by K. Gillette
1902
June
1903
Aug
1903
1905
End of Boer War
Frank Scargill aged 66 marries Constance Landey aged 24 in
Ireland
Wardown House, lodges and park bought by Asher
Hucklesby and the Oakley Brothers for £16,250
Wealthy diamond merchant Sir Julius Werner buys Luton
Hoo
First ever airplane flight by Wright Brothers at Kitty Hawk,
North Carolina
Hucklesby and the Oakley Brothers sell Wardown to
Luton Corporation for £16,250
Vauxhall opens its factory in Kimpton Road
Luton Town Football Club moves to its present ground
1906
Official opening of Wardown Park
1909
Luton’s first cinema opens - the Anglo-American
Electric Theatre in Gordon Street
1910
May
End of Edward VII and start of reign of George V
July
Radio used to arrest Dr Crippen fleeing to Quebec
Luton’s second public library, the Carnegie is opened by
the American Ambassador SKF Ballbearing Co. opens
its factory in Leagrave
1912
Apr
SS Titanic sinks with the loss of 1513 lives
Palace Theatre opens in Mill Street
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1913
June
Suffragette dies under King’s horse at Epsom
Luton’s 2nd public baths open in Waller Street
1914
Jul
Start of World War 1
Opening of Panama Canal
Oct
First bombs fall on London
The 5th Bedfordshire Territorials leave for Gallipoli
1915
Tennyson Road School opens
YMCA Hut opens at Biscot where a huge army camp has
sprung up in the vicinity of Argyll Avenue
John Scargill born, the last child of Frank Scargill now aged
81 Frank had 3 stepchildren, 4 children by his first marriage
and 9 by his second
1916
1917
King George V visits various Luton factories
Girls at munitions factories go on strike
Wardown House used as a hospital during the War
1918
1919
Apr
Royal Air Force created
Nov
End of World War 1
Dec
Women over 30 allowed to vote for the first time
Mar
Spanish flu kills 150,000 throughout Britain
Sept
Frank Scargill dies in Ireland aged nearly 83
Dec
Lloyd George becomes Prime Minister
Luton Town Hall gutted by fire during the Peace Day Riot
1919
Treaty of Versailles agrees post-war settlement and
establishes League of Nations.
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