The World in 1856 the year the Crimean guns went quiet

Clothes were about to get louder. William Perkin, a chemistry student of eighteen, was trying to make a malaria drug and made a purple sludge instead. It dyed silk a shade no plant could give, and he called it mauve. Skirts grew wider at the same time, held out by the new cage crinoline, a frame of steel hoops that did the work of six heavy petticoats. Doorways, chairs and open fires all had to cope with women twice their old width.

The year in 8 events

The Melbourne stonemasons wanted the day cut into three: eight hours of work, eight of rest and eight of their own. Most workers put in twelve hours or more, six days a week.

• 🎖️Jan 29 Queen Victoria creates the Victoria Cross, a bravery medal open to any rank.
• 🕊️Mar 30 The Treaty of Paris is signed and the Crimean War ends.
• ⏱️Apr 21 Stonemasons in Melbourne walk off the building sites and win an eight hour day.
• 🔥May 21 Pro slavery raiders wreck the free soil town of Lawrence in Kansas.
• 🪶May 22 Congressman Preston Brooks beats Senator Charles Sumner with a cane on the Senate floor.
• ⚖️Jul 26 A new law in British India gives Hindu widows the right to marry again.
• 🚢Oct 8 Chinese officers board the ship Arrow at Canton. The quarrel starts the Second Opium War.
• 🗳️Nov 4 James Buchanan is elected president of the United States.

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