The Counting Thread

[moorfield]

1852

[moorfield]

1853

[moorfield]

1854

[Diver]

1855

[moorfield]

1856

[realityhack]

10 May 1857

Members of the Bengal army mutiny in India


Following a series of insensitive British demands, members of the Bengal army mutinied in Meerut and marched towards Delhi, which they took two days later. It was re-taken in September. Lucknow was twice besieged before being finally relieved in November. British authority was not fully restored until July 1858 and the events of the mutiny were characterised by great brutality on both sides. The mutiny led to the end of East India Company rule in India and its replacement by direct British rule.

[BrilloPad]

1858

[realityhack]

2 May 1859

Devon and Cornwall are linked by a revolutionary new bridge


Isambard Kingdom Brunel's Saltash railway bridge across the River Tamar was a suspension bridge comprising two huge wrought iron trusses in the form of a parabola. This bridge afforded much speedier transport to England's most remote western county. An unbroken line from London to Penzance was completed in 1867. Opened only four months before Brunel's death, the Saltash became the only suspension bridge to carry main-line trains.

[KathyWoolfe]

1860

[BrilloPad]

1861