1806 in the United Kingdom

Incumbents

• Monarch – George III
• Prime Minister – William Pitt the Younger ; William Grenville, 1st Baron Grenville
• Parliament – 2nd, 3rd

  Events

• 5 January – the body of Horatio Nelson, 1st Viscount Nelson, lies in state in the Painted Hall of Greenwich Hospital, London.
• 8 January – Battle of Blaauwberg: British infantry force troops of the Batavian Republic in the Dutch Cape Colony to withdraw.
• 9 January
• * The Dutch commandant of Cape Town surrenders to British forces. On January 10, formal capitulation is signed under the Treaty Tree in Papendorp.
• * Lord Nelson is given a state funeral and interment at St Paul's Cathedral in London, attended by the Prince of Wales.
• 18 January – the Dutch Cape Colony capitulates to British forces, the origin of its status as a colony within the British Empire.
• 23 January – William Pitt the Younger dies aged 46 at Bowling Green House on Putney Heath of a gastrointestinal tract complaint and is succeeded as wartime Prime Minister by his cousin Lord Grenville.
• 6 February – Battle of San Domingo: The British Royal Navy gains a victory over the French off Santo Domingo.
• 11 February – Ministry of All the Talents formed by Grenville.
• 20 March – construction begins of Dartmoor Prison, to house prisoners of war.
• 8 April – proceedings for the impeachment of Henry Dundas for the misappropriation of public money at the Admiralty begin; he will be acquitted in the last impeachment trial ever held in the House of Lords.
• 4 July – Battle of Maida in Calabria: British forces defeat the French.
• 7 July – start of the first Gentlemen v Players cricket match.
• 10 July – Vellore Mutiny, the first instance of a mutiny by the Indian sepoys against the British East India Company.
• 23 July – British invasions of the River Plate: A British expeditionary force of 1,700 men lands on the left bank of the Río de la Plata and invades Buenos Aires.
• 18 August – English seal hunter Abraham Bristow discovers the Auckland Islands.
• 7 October – carbon paper patented by Ralph Wedgwood.
• 29 October to 17 December – a General election sees Grenville continue as Prime Minister.
• November – Napoleon declares a Continental Blockade against Britain.
• Annual British iron production reaches 260,000 tons.

  Ongoing

• Anglo-Spanish War, 1796–1808
• Napoleonic Wars, 1803–1815

  Publications

• A New System of Domestic Cookery, 1st edition, "by A Lady" published in London by John Murray.
• Rhymes for the Nursery by sisters Jane and Ann Taylor published in London, including Jane's "The Star".

  Births

• 1 February – Jane Williams, writer
• 6 March – Elizabeth Barrett Browning, poet
• 9 April – Isambard Kingdom Brunel, engineer
• 21 April – George Cornewall Lewis, statesman
• 20 May – John Stuart Mill, philosopher

  Deaths

• c. January?? – Mungo Park, Scottish explorer
• 23 January – William Pitt the Younger, Prime Minister
• 19 February – Elizabeth Carter, writer
• 20 February – Lachlan McIntosh, Scottish-born American military and political leader
• 17 March – David Dale, Scottish philanthropist
• 23 March – George Pinto, composer
• 24 May – John Campbell, 5th Duke of Argyll, Scottish field marshal
• 10 July – George Stubbs, painter
• 13 September – Charles James Fox, statesman
• 22 October – Thomas Sheraton, furniture designer
• 23 November – Roger Newdigate, politician
• 29 December – Charles Lennox, 3rd Duke of Richmond, politician