some selective dates relating mainly to buildings, roads etc ... 

1801

• Paddington Basin opens

• first Census taken

1802

• West India Docks open

• Ranelagh Gardens close

• new Stock Exchange building opens in Capel Court

• Madame Tussauds waxworks appear at the Lyceum, Wellington Street

1803

• Commercial Road, from Whitechapel to Limehouse, built

• Astley's Amphitheatre burns down

1805

• London Docks at Wapping open

• British Institution founded

• The Royal Circus burns down

1806

• Nelson buried at St Paul's Cathedral

• East India Docks open

• Olympic Theatre, in Wych Street, opens

• Argyll Music Rooms open in Little Argyll Street

• building begins on The Mint

• Sans Pareil Theatre (later Adelphi) opens

1807

• Gas light first publicly demonstrated, in Pall Mall

• Grand Surrey Canal basin opens

• Commercial Docks (later Greenland Docks) opens

• Dr. Johnson's house burns down

1808

• Tottenham Court Fair, held at junction of Euston and Hampstead Roads, abolished

• Covent Garden theatre burns down

1809

• Lyceum Theatre opens

• Drury-lane theatre burns down

• Deptford - Croydon canal opens

1810

• Auction Mart opens

• 'Berners-street Hoax'

• new Royal Mint building opens on Little Tower Hill

• East India Dock Road and West India Dock Road open

1811

• Ratcliff Highway murders

• building on Vauxhall Bridge begins

• assassination of Spencer Perceval

• second Census taken

• first stone of Waterloo Bridge (then Strand Bridge) laid

1812 

• Charles Dickens born

• new Drury Lane Theatre opens

• The Egyptian Hall opens at 170-1 Picadilly

• work on Regent's Canal begins

1813

• Archway Road opens

• Gas lights introduced in the Haymarket Theatre and on Westminster Bridge

• work on Regent's Street begins

1814

• Infirmary for Asthma, Consumption and other Diseases (later Brompton Chest Hospital) opens on Brushfield Street, Spitalfields

• Dulwich Picture Gallery, the first public art gallery in Britain, opens

• Frost-fair on Thames

• work on Southwark Bridge begins

• Custom-house and adjoining houses destroyed by fire (Feb.12); also, oil and mustard mills, Bankside, fire (Aug.28)

1815 

• End of the French Wars and defeat of Napoleon at Waterloo

• Royal Bethlehem Hospital ('Bedlam') relocates to Lambeth Road (now the Imperial War Museum)

1816

• Regent's Canal, from Paddington to Camden Lock, opens

• first steam-packet on the Thames

• Millbank Penitentiary opens (site now occupied by Tate Britain)

• Westminster Ophthalmic Hospital opens near the Strand

• Royal Infirmary for Diseases of the Ear opens

• Universal Dispensary for Sick and Indigent Children (later Royal Waterloo Hospital for Women and Children) opens

• Vauxhall Bridge opens

1817

• Waterloo Bridge opens

• City of London Gas-light and Coke Company instituted

1818

• Royal Opera Arcade, first shopping arcade in London, between Charles II Street and Pall Mall opens

• St James's market (between Haymarket and St James's Square) demolished  

• Royal Coburg Theatre (later the Old Vic) opens at junction of Waterloo Road and New Cut 

• Charing-cross hospital founded

• Furnival's Inn rebuilt

1819

• Piccadilly Circus constructed as part of Regent Street developments

• Burlington Arcade opens

1820 

• death of George III, accession of George IV

• Regent's Canal to Limehouse completed

• Surrey House of Correction opened at Brixton Hill, first English prison to use the treadmill

• capture of Cato-street conspirators

1821

• Haymarket Theatre rebuilt and reopens

• building of Bank of England completed

• third Census taken

1822

• St Pancras New Church on Euston Road opens, designed in Greek Revival style

• St. James's Park lit by gas

1823

• the Diorama opens in Park Square East, Regent's Park

• The Lancet first published

1824 

• Repeal of the Combination Act allows limited unions

• work begins on new London Bridge

• work begins on the new Post Office

• Athenaeum Club founded

• National Gallery first opened

1825 

• work begins on Thames Tunnel

• Grosvenor Canal (running approx from current Chelsea Bridge to current Victoria Station) opens

• work begins on Buckingham Palace

• Zoological Gardens created in Regent's Park

• work begins on Hammersmith Suspension Bridge

1826

• Zoological Society of London founded

• construction of Caledonian Road begins (called Chalk Road originally)

• Farringdon Market opens

• last Lottery

• Carlton House demolished

1827

• Hammersmith Suspension Bridge opens

• Marble Arch erected outside Buckingham Palace

• Crockford's Club opens for gamblers

• Turnpike Act removes twenty-seven turn-pikes in one day

• churchyard of St. Martin's-in-the-Fields removed

1828

• University College opens in Gower Street

• St Katherine's Dock opens

• Brunswick Theatre opens and then collapses

• Corn Exchange opens

1829 

• Metropolitan Police founded by Sir Robert Peel 

• Shillibeer's Omnibus service, from Paddington to Bank, begins

• Colosseum, displaying E.T.Parris' panorama of London, opens at Cambridge Gate, Regent's Park

• Exeter 'Change demolished

• New Fleet Market opens

1830 

• new market hall opens in Covent Garden

• new London Bridge opens

• English Opera House burns down

• George IV. dies

1831 

• King's College, on the Strand, opens

• Royal Beulah Spa, at Norwood, opens

• Lowther Arcade (sited at current 440 Strand) opens

• Garrick Club founded at 35 King Street

• Exeter Hall opens at 372 Strand

• work begins on Hungerford Market

• fourth Census

• new London Bridge opens

1832 

• the Reform Act

• cholera epidemic

• Edward Cross's menagerie relocated to site south of river (currently Penton Place) then sold to Surrey Literary, Scientific and Zoological Institution

• grounds of Cremorne House used as sports stadium

• Bermondsey Leather Market built at junction of Weston Street and Leathermarket Street

• Carlton Club founded

1833 

• first Factory Act passed.

• Madame Tussaud's waxworks exhibited in former Horse Bazaar, Gray's Inn Road

• London Fire Establishment, first professional bridage, formed; paid for by insurance companies

• Kensal Green Cemetery opens

• Hungerford Market re-opens

• riot at Coldbath Fields

1834

• Houses of Parliament destroyed by fire

• protests at deportation of Tolpuddle Martyrs

• Royal Institute of British Architects first meets

• Charing Cross Hospital built

• North London Hospital (later University College Hospital) opens 

• Hansom cab patented

• Duke of York monument in Waterloo Place unveiled

• new Lyceum Theatre opens

• New Poor Law passed

1835

• Tower Menagerie removed

• Madame Tussauds waxworks establish themselves in Baker Street

• St James's Theatre opens

1836

• Deptford - Croydon Canal closes

• London & Greenwich railway opens, between London Bridge and Deptford

• Islington Cattle Market opens off Essex Road

• University of London founded

• Reform Club founded

1837 

• death of William IV., accession of Queen Victoria

• London & Birmingham Railway opens its station at Euston Square

• West Norwood Cemetery opens

• Hippodrome racecourse opens in Ladbroke Grove

1838

• the Chartists present their first petition

• National Gallery opens in Trafalgar Square

• Great Western Railway between Paddington (off Bishop's Bridge Road) and Maidenhead, opens

• London & Southampton Railway between Nine Elms, Vauxhall, and Woking, opens

• London & Birmingham Railway opens

• Greenwich Railway opens

• Royal Exchange burns down (Jan.10)

• experimental wood pavement in Oxford-street

1839

• Highgate Cemetery opens

• London & Croydon Railway, from Corbett's Lane to Croydon, opens

• Eastern Counties Railway, from Mile End to Romford, opens

1840 

• Rowland Hill introduces the penny post

• Abney Park cemetery opens in Stoke Newington

• Brompton Cemetery, on Old Brompton, Road opens

• Nunhead Cemetery opens

• Princess's Theatre, 73 Oxford Street, opens

• London & Blackwall Railway, from The Minories to Brunswick Dock at Blackwall, opens

• building begins of model prison at Pentonville

• full length of London & Southhampton Railway open

1841

• Hippodrome racecourse in Ladbroke Grove closes

• Jay's Mourning Warehouse opens at 247-9 Oxford Street

• first edition of Punch

• Kew Gardens open to the public

• the London Library opens at 49 Pall Mall

• Astley's Amphitheatre burns down

• fire in Tower of London; great storehouse with 280,000 stand of arms, and the Bowyer and Butler Towers burnt (Oct.30)

1842 

• Fleet and Marshalsea prison abolished

• Pentonville Prison opened

• Charles Dickens publishes his American Notes.

• Health reformer Edwin Chadwick publishes his Sanitary Report

• Children's Employment Commission Report published

• first issue of the Illustrated London News

• Primrose Hill opened to the public

• Queen Victoria travels by train, from Windsor to Paddington

• Mudie's Library founded in Red Lion Square

• building begins on new Royal Exchange

• railing on Monument raised to prevent suicides

1843

• Nelson's column erected in Trafalgar Square

• Thames Tunnel opened

• News of the World first published

• great fire at Topping's Wharf, London Bridge; Watson's telegraph tower and St. Olave's burn

1844

• new Royal Exchange building opens

• Association for Promoting Cleanliness Amongst the Poor founded

• Tom Thumb appears at the Egyptian Hall

• YMCA founded

• full length of Dover railway opens

• Fleet Prison demolished

• great fire at New Cross Railway Station

1845

• Cremorne Gardens open

• Hungerford Suspension Bridge opens

• New Oxford Street opens for foot traffic

• Victoria Park opens

• full length of London, Cambridge and Ely Railway opens

• first model lodging houses in Goulston-street, Euston-square

• penny steam-boats from Adelphi to London Bridge

1846 

• Endell Street constructed

• twopenny omnibuses between Paddington and Hungerford Market

1847

• new House of Lords opens

• new portico and hall in British Museum opens

• Clerkenwell House of Detention opens

• New Oxford Street opens for carriages

1848

• W.H.Smith's first bookstall opens

• Chartist demonstration on Kennington Common

• Simpson's Restaurant in the Strand opens

• Waterloo Station opens, replaced Nine Elms as terminus for London & South Western Railway

• Queen's College, first school for higher education of women, opens in Harley Street

1849 

• Cholera epidemic

• Olympic Theatre, in Wych Street, burns down together with nearby buildings (March 29); reopens at end of year

• Coal Exchange, Lower Thames Street, opens

• Great Hall at Euston Station opens

• St. Martins-in-the-Fields Baths open

• large fire causes damage to Carpenters' Hall (Oct.6)

1850

• London Dispensary Society established

• Great Northern Railway opens its line from York Way to Peterborough

• St Martin's Hall opens on 89-91 Long Acre

• North London Line between Camden Town and Bow opens (known as the 'East and West India Docks& Birmingham Junction Railway' until 1853)

• St. Anne's Limehouse destroyed by fire (March 29); large fire in Mark-lane and Seething-lane (Sept.19)

1851 

• The Great Exhibition

• Marble Arch relocated to Hyde Park

• James Wyld's Great Globe opens in Leicester Square

• Museum of Practical Geology opens in Jermyn Street

• Victoria Street opens

• Free Cancer Hospital (later Royal Marsden Hospital) opens in Cannon Row, Westminster

1852

• new market hall at Billingsgate

• City House of Correction, Holloway, opens

• new House of Commons opens

• King's Cross Station opens

• Duke of Wellington's funeral

• Kennington Common opened as park to public

1853

• North and South Western Junction Railway between Willesden and Kew opens

• Islington vestry enforces painting of street signs

1854

• re-erected Crystal Palace opens at Sydenham

• Working Men's College established in Red Lion Square

• Royal Panopticon of Science and Art opens in Leicester Square

• Great Northern Hotel at King's Cross opens

• Paddington Station, and Great Western Hotel , open

1855 

• Metropolitan Board of Works created

• Metropolitan Cattle Market at Copenhagen Fields, Islington, laid out

• first pillar box at corner of Farringdon Street and Fleet Street

• Victoria Dock opens

1856

• Royal Panopticon of Science and Art in Leicester Square closes

• Surrey Music Hall, on the site of Surrey Zoological Gardens, opens

• London General Omnibus Company (LGOC) in business

1857

• opening of the South Kensington Museum

• opening of the British Library Reading Room

1858

• the "great stink"

• postal districts first introduced in central London

• St. James's Hall opens

• Great Eastern launched at Millwall

1859

• National Portrait Gallery opens to public

• Metropolitan Free Drinking Fountain Association founded

• Vauxhall Gardens close

1860 

• Florence Nightingale publishes her Notes on Nursing

• Mudie's Library moves to New Oxford Street 

• Victoria Station opens

• Hampstead Junction Railway, from Kentish Town to Willesden, opens

1861

• Hungerford Suspension Bridge replaced by Charing Cross Railway Bridge

• Surrey Music Hall burns down

• first horse-drawn tram experiments by George Francis Train

• Tooley-street fire (nr. London Bridge); £500,000 worth of property destroyed

1862

• Agricultural Hall, Islington, opens

• Lambeth Bridge opens

• Jermyn Street Turkish Baths open

• new Westminster Bridge opens

• Lyon's Inn demolished

• Hungerford Market demolished

• Peabody Trust established

• International Exhibition held in grounds of Royal Agricultural Society, Kensington

• Collins's Music Hall opens

1863

• Metropolitan Line, first underground railway, opens between Paddington and Farringdon

• Whiteley's Department Store opens

• Art's Club founded at 17 Hanover Square

1864 

• Foundation of the Wholesale Co-operative Society

• Charing Cross Station opens

• Naval and Military Club founded

• Southwark Street opens

1865

• extension of North London Railway from Broad Street to Dalston

• Charing Cross Hotel opens

• Langham Hotel opens

1866

• Metropolitan Fire Brigade begins

1867 

• St George's Hall opens

• Royal Amphitheatre circus opens at Holborn (later Holborn Empire)

• Broadway Theatre, New Cross, opens

1868

• Midland Railway between Bedford and new St Pancras Station opens

• last public execution outside Newgate Prison

• Victoria Embankment opens between Temple and Lambeth Bridge

• Lambeth Embankment between Lambeth and Westminster Bridges opens

• first traffic lights, at Bridge Street and Great George Street junction

• racecourse opens at Alexandra Park, Hornsey

• South Kensington to Westminster District Line opens

1869 

• Holborn Viaduct opens

• Finsbury Park opens

• Southwark Park opens

• East London Railway, between New Cross and Wapping is first under the Thames, using Thames Tunnel

• Columbia Market opens

• Royal Academy moves from Trafalgar Square to Burlington House

• All England Croquet Club founded

1870 

• death of Charles Dickens

• tramways open between Kennington and Brixton, and Whitechapel and Bow, and Blackheath and New Cross

• Tower Subway opens

• Beckton Gas Works built

• London School Board established

• Victoria Embankment opens officially

• White Bear Inn, coaching inn in Piccadilly Circus, demolished

1871

• Hampstead Heath Act, with Metropolitan Board of Works acquiring the land for the public, passed

• Wandsworth Common, Wimbledon Common, Putney Common acquired by Metropolitan Board of Works

• Shepherd's Bush Green falls into public ownership

• Queen Victoria Street opens between Mansion House and Victoria Embankment

• Farringdon Street opens

• Chelsea Embankment begins to be built

• Royal Albert Hall opens

• Battersea Dog's Home opens

• diarrhoea epidemic

• St Thomas's Hospital opens new buildings in Lambeth Palace Road

• 'Grand Cirque' circus opens in Argyll Street

• Albert Bridge opens

• Wandsworth Bridge opens

1872

• Bethnal Green Museum opens

• new Flower Market hall in Covent Garden (now London Transport Museum)

1873

• Alexandra Palace opens and burns down sixteen days later

• Midland Grand Hotel at St Pancras opens

• Four Swans coaching inn, Bishopsgate, demolished

• La Belle Sauvage, coaching inn, Ludgate Hill, demolished

• Criterion Restaurant, Piccadilly, opens

1874 

• Liverpool Street Station opens

• Leicester Square Gardens give to Metropolitan Board of Works for public use

• London School of Medicene for Women founded

• Northumberland House, Strand, demolished

1875

• Talbot coaching inn, Southwark, demolished

• Floating Swimming Bath opens by Hungerford Bridge

• new Alexandra Palace built

• Metropolitan Poultry Market opens in Smithfield

1876

• Albert Memorial unveiled

• Royal Acquarium opens at Storey's Gate, Westminster

1877

• new Billingsgate Market opens

• Temple Bar demolished

1878

• Cleopatra's Needle erected on the Embankment

• Princess Alice steamboat disaster

• Clerkenwell Road opens

• Fulham football team formed

1880

• Royal Arcade, between Old Bond Street and Albemarle Street, opens

• Royal Albert Dock opens

1881

• Leadenhall Market opens

• Natural History Museum opens

• Leyton Orient football team formed

1882

• Royal Courts of Justice in the Strand open

• Alhambra Theatre in Leicester Square burns down

• Tottenham Hotspur football team formed

1883

• small electric power station built at 57 Holborn Viaduct

• Royal College of Music established

1884 

• a de facto underground 'Circle Line' complete (Inner Circle Railway)

• cable-driven trams introduced on Highgate hill

• first public ladies lavatory erected at Oxford Circus

• Fabian Society form

• Madame Tussaud's Waxworks move to present Marylebone Road location

• Theatre Royal, Stratford East, opens

• National Agricultural Hall in Hammersmith Road (later Olympia)

• Machine gun invented by Maxim in London

1885

• Grosvenor Gallery Power Station supplies electricity to area around New Bond Street

• Highbury Fields bought by the Metropolitan Board of Works and Islington for public use

• London Pavilion Music Hall opens in Piccadilly Circus

• Shadwell Fish Market opens

• Queen's Park Rangers football team established

• Millwall football team established

• steam trams now in operation

1886

• National Agricultural Hall in Hammersmith Road becomes 'Olympia'

• City of London buys Highgate Wood for public use

• Woolwich Arsenal football team established

• Putney Bridge opens

• Shaftesbury Avenue opens

1887 

• Queen Victoria's first Jubilee

• 'People's Palace' first stage, the Queen's Hall, opens in East End

• Earls Court opens at entertainments ground

• Charing Cross Road opens

• Ravenscourt Park, Hammersmith, opens after being bought by Metropolitan Board of Works

• Kilburn Park opens after being acquired by the City of London

1888

• Jack the Ripper murders

1889

• Metropolitan Board of Works replaced by London County Council

• Clissold Park, Stoke Newington, opens

• Woolwich Ferry starts

• White Hart Inn, Borough High Street, a coaching inn, demolished

1890

• Horniman Museum opens

• first part of Rosebery Avenue opened

• Dulwich Park, gifted by Dulwich College, opens

• Vauxhall Park opens

• City and South London Railway from Stockwell to William Street, first deep level tube railway

1891

• Waterlow Park, gifted by Sir Sydney Waterlow, opens

• Palace Theatre, Cambridge Circus, opens

• steam trams discontinued

1893

• Imperial Institute opens

1894

• Tower Bridge opens

• first Lyon's tea shop

• big wheel erected at Earl's Court

• St Bride's Institute opens

1895

• London School of Economics and Political Science founded

1896 

• Hotel Cecil, the Strand, built

• National Portrait Gallery moved to present site in Trafalgar Square

1897 

• Queen Victoria's Diamond Jubilee

• Tate Gallery opens

• Northern Polytechnic, Holloway Road, opens

• Blackwall Tunnel opens

1898

• Waterloo and City Line opens

• first escalator at Harrods

1899

• last fishing fleet sails from Barking

• first public motor bus (Kensington to Victoria)

1900

• Wallace collection displayed in current location in Manchester Square

• Mount Pleasant postal sorting office opens

• Passmore Edwards Museum in Stratford opens

• Russell Hotel opens

• Central London Railway (Central Line) opens

1901 

• Death of Queen Victoria and accession of Edward VII

• Wigmore Hall opens

• first electric trams from Shepherds Bush to Acton and Kew Bridge