Lady Beatrice Agar, with her brother Charles, Viscount Somerton and sister, Caroline, Countess of Clarendon.

Events of 1866back to top

Current affairs

After the failure of Lord Russell's premiership due to party disuniity, the Earl of Derby begins his third, brief, term as Prime Minister.
Dr Thomas Barnardo opens the first of his children's homes in the East End of London to care for children left orphaned by the recent cholera outbreak. The charity, now called Barnado's, is still running, although it has changed its focus from the direct care of children to fostering and adoption.

Art and science

Algernon Charles Swinburne causes controversy by publishing his volume of verse, Poems and Ballads, in which he challenges Victorian moral and religious values. The poems were attacked for their anti-Christianity and sensuality.
The botanist Gregor Mendel discovers laws of heredity, after cross-breeding pea-plants, observing how inherited traits are passed on to succeeding generations, laying the foundations for modern genetics.

International

The Peace of Prague is signed following the end of the Austro-Prussian war. Although lenient towards Austria, the loser, Austria's refusal to cede Venetia to Napoleon III, and in turn Italy, resulted in the Hapsburg's permanent exclusion from German affairs. Prussia thus establishes herself as the only major power among the German states.
A Civil Rights Act is passed in the US, guaranteeing the legal rights of freed slaves.

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