Back to the Nineteenth Century Quiz

Answer: George III

With so much focus on the length of Victoria's reign it is sometimes easy to forget that George III was king for nearly sixty years. He ascended the throne in 1760 at the age of twenty-two and his reign saw numerous cataclysmic changes in Britain and around the world.

The fight for independence by the USA (1776), the French Revolution (1789), the Act of Union (1801) which united Great Britain and Ireland and the first moves to abolish slavery were among them. The reign was lengthy but punctuated by bouts of ill health, including insanity, and the final years of George's life needed a Regency Act, passed in 1811, to enable his son to act on his behalf.

Answer: Michel Ney

Napoleon's bid for total domination of Europe was stopped by two famous battles with Britain. The first was the naval battle of Trafalgar, in 1805, which cost Horatio Nelson his life, while Waterloo was a land battle in Belgium which brought Napoleon's supremacy to an end. Against the French forces was an alliance of armies from several countries, under the overall leadership of the Duke of Wellington with the Prussian Count von Blucher being his main deputy. Michel Ney was one of the leading officers on the French side but was court martialled after the battle by his own side and executed in December 1815. Napoleon himself was, of course, exiled to Saint Helena.

Answer: Difference engine

Babbage was a talented mathematician and inventor and is venerated by many as the 'father of modern computing'. He was among the founders of the Analytic Society in 1812, the Royal Astronomical Society in 1820 and the Statistical Society in 1834. The difference engine was able to carry out calculations automatically and is often described as being an early version of the modern computer. Babbage also left detailed notes for the Analytical Engine which would have been akin to the computers we use now had the technology needed to build it existed at the time.

Answer: Grand National

There is a question mark over the first Grand National as there are records of races in 1836, 1837 and 1838 but these are regarded as unofficial as they may not have been held at the racecourse in Aintree. History records the first winner as a horse called Lottery in 1839 and the race has been run most years apart from during the World Wars. There was a void race in 1993, due to a mix-up at the start, when several horses completed the course but others did not compete as their jockeys were aware of the false start. The 2020 pandemic also meant the race could not be held. Aintree is near Liverpool.

Of the other options, the Derby and St. Leger are not steeplechases and the Cheltenham Gold Cup dates from 1924 as a race for jumpers. In addition, only the St. Leger, held in Doncaster, could be considered a northern race.

Answer: Treaty of Nanking/Nanjing

This was the treaty under which Hong Kong was ceded to British rule, which only ended in 1997. This was just one of several treaties imposed by foreign powers on China and which are known by the Chinese as the 'unequal treaties'. As well as the British, treaties were signed with France, Russia and Japan, to name just some of the imperialistic powers of the time.

They entailed China having to pay money, hand over land, give privileges to foreigners and allow free trade. China refers to the period between 1839 and 1949 as the 'century of humiliation'.

Answer: Crystal Palace

The Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of All Nations, to give it its full title, was dreamed up by Queen Victoria's husband as a showcase for the latest advances of the time. The work of bringing the idea to fruition fell to Henry Cole, who carried out the organisation of the exhibits from around the world and made a profit for the country out of the exhibition.

The Crystal Palace was designed by Joseph Paxton, consisting of glass in a steel framework akin to the greenhouses used for plants, and was erected in Hyde Park.

The building was moved to Sydenham and was destroyed by a fire in 1936 and was not rebuilt.

Answer: William Gladstone

Gladstone was born in Liverpool in 1809 and became leader of the Liberal Party in 1867. He was Prime Minister of the UK on four separate occasions, succeeding the Conservative's Benjamin Disraeli in 1868 for his first spell as the country's leader. This term lasted until 1874 when he lost to Disraeli and resigned as his party's leader.

In 1880 he became Prime Minister again, for five years this time, with a third stint in 1886 for just under six months. Gladstone's final term was from August 1892 until March 1894 when he was well into his eighties.

He resigned his position, citing his poor health, but still lived until 1898. Gladstone is generally regarded as an effective, and reforming, leader of the UK.

Answer: Tay

The Tay Bridge Disaster took place on 28 December 1879 when strong winds caused the collapse of the bridge, taking the train, carriages and everyone on board to the estuary below. The death toll is given as 75. Blame was allocated to the civil engineer who designed the bridge, Sir Thomas Bouch, for failing to allow for the gale force winds which caused the tragedy.

The bridge itself was relatively new, having been opened only in June 1878. Bouch died in October 1880, his reputation and health ruined by the disaster.

Answer: Architecture

Scott lived until 1960, within living memory for some of us. His father was a renowned architect himself - he designed the Albert Memorial - and Giles followed in his footsteps. When only twenty-two, he entered a competition for the design of Liverpool's Anglican cathedral, which was chosen as the winner.

Some concern was raised at his youth and that he was a Roman Catholic - in Liverpool it is often quoted that the Anglican cathedral was designed by a Catholic and the Catholic cathedral by an Anglican. Among Scott's other designs are Cambridge's University Library and Oxford's Lady Margaret Hall.

His main legacy may well be his design of the original red telephone boxes, once found everywhere in the UK but not much in evidence now mobile (cell) phones are so common.

Answer: Blackpool

Britain's version of the Eiffel Tower is located in Blackpool, a seaside resort on the coast of Lancashire in the north west of England. Its design was based on the tower in Paris, and it proved a popular attraction to tourists from its opening on 14th May. As well as the tower itself, the site has other attractions including a ballroom and circus.

The other places listed do have towers - Portsmouth has the Spinnaker Tower, but that opened only in 2005. Glastonbury Tor has the ruins of St Michael's Tower and Stirling is home to the Wallace Monument, dating from 1869, but that is in Scotland, not England.