page_title: 1809 in the United Kingdom
section_title: Events
hierarchical_section_title: 1809 in the United Kingdom / Events
caption_attribution_description: The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden: This engraving was published as Plate 100 of Microcosm of London (1810) (see File:Microcosm of London Plate 100 - New Covent Garden Theatre.jpg). This building opened in 1809 to replace its predecessor, which had burned down in 1808.
context_page_description: Events from the year 1809 in the United Kingdom.
context_section_description: 5 January – the Treaty of the Dardanelles between the United Kingdom and the Ottoman Empire is concluded.
  16 January – Peninsular War: Battle of Corunna in Galicia (Spain): The British (under General Sir John Moore, who is killed) resist an attempt by the French (under Marshal Soult) to prevent them embarking.
  22 January – Royal Navy brig-sloop HMS Primrose (1807) (bound for the Peninsular War) is wrecked in a snowstorm on The Manacles reef off The Lizard peninsula in Cornwall with only a drummer boy surviving and the transport Dispatch is wrecked on Black Head nearby with 104 homeward bound soldiers lost and only seven survivors.
  24 February – The Theatre Royal, Drury Lane in London is destroyed by fire.
  1 March – the literary and political periodical The Quarterly Review is first published by John Murray.
  11–15 April – Napoleonic Wars: Battle of the Basque Roads – Royal Navy victory over the French fleet in the mouth of the Charente, although officers on both sides face subsequent courts-martial.
  18 April – first running of the 2,000 Guineas Stakes horse race at Newmarket, won by Wizard.
  22 April – General Sir Arthur Wellesley arrives at Lisbon on board HMS Surveillante to take command of the British troops in Portugal.
  10–11 May – Peninsular War: Battle of Grijó: the Anglo-Portuguese Army commanded by Sir Arthur Wellesley defeats the French army commanded by Marshal Soult in Portugal.
  12 May – Peninsular War: Second Battle of Porto: the Anglo-Portuguese Army commanded by Wellesley crosses the Douro, drives the French army commanded by Marshal Soult out of Porto and forces them to retreat into Spain.
  24 May – Dartmoor Prison opens, to house French prisoners of war.
  19 June – law passed to prevent blatant sale of seats in the House of Commons to supporters.
  7 June – Shoja Shah of Afghanistan signs a treaty with the British. Only weeks later, he is succeeded by Mahmud Shah.
  27–28 July – Wellesley's British, Portuguese, and Spanish army defeats a much larger French force at the Battle of Talavera in Spain.
  30 July – British invasion army lands in Walcheren.
  30 July–9 December – United Kingdom defeated in the Walcheren Campaign in the Netherlands.
  4 September – Wellesley is appointed Baron Douro and Viscount Wellington in the peerage of the United Kingdom.
  18 September – a new Theatre Royal, Covent Garden (pictured) opens in London to replace the first burnt down in 1808. An increase in ticket prices causes the Old Price Riots which last for 64 days.
  19 September – Cabinet ministers Viscount Castlereagh (Secretary of State for War and the Colonies) and George Canning (Secretary of State for Foreign Affairs) fight a duel with pistols on Putney Heath over policy in the Walcheren Campaign.
  4 October – Portland resigns due to ill health; Spencer Perceval takes over as Prime Minister.
  21 October – Nelson's Pillar in Dublin is completed.
  25 October – statue of Horatio Nelson by Richard Westmacott, erected by public subscription, is unveiled in Birmingham, the first statue of Admiral Lord Nelson in the country.
  10 November – the Berners Street Hoax: Theodore Hook manages to attract dozens of people to 54 Berners Street in London.
  25 November – Benjamin Bathurst, a British diplomat, mysteriously disappears (having possibly been murdered) in Perleberg, west of Berlin.
  26 December – British invasion force leaves Vlissingen.
caption: The Theatre Royal, Covent Garden as drawn by Augustus Pugin. This building opened in 1809 to replace its predecessor, which had burned down in 1808.
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