200 Magazine #7 January 1823 / 2023

In the first edition in 1823, there was news that at least 50 people had died in a series of shipwrecks off the coast of Britain and Ireland. 200 reported that Sir William Hillary, who organised rescue efforts on the Isle of Man, had called for the creation of a national lifeboat service. (He was the inspiration behind the founding of the RNLI in 1824.)

The River Thames had frozen during the winter of 1822/1823, with the worst drifting ice in years, police boats confined to the shore to avoid being trapped in ice, and watermen’s taxis suspended. Hurricane force winds caused deaths in Birmingham, Liverpool and Dublin.

The authorities in Dublin say the ‘bottle riot’ by Protestant loyalists at the Theatre Royal was an attempt to assassinate the head of the British administration, Marquess Wellesley. January’s edition also had news from Birmingham, Brighton, Edinburgh, Leicestershire, London, Manchester, Newcastle, and Norfolk.