Events from the year 1891 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – Victoria Prime Minister – Robert Gascoyne-Cecil, 3rd Marquess of Salisbury (Conservative) Parliament – 24th Events 14 February – in the FA Cup quarter final in English Association football, a goal is deliberately stopped by handball on the goal line. An indirect free kick is awarded, since the penalty kick, proposed the previous year by William McCrum, has not yet been implemented. This event probably changes public opinion on the penalty kick, seen previously as 'an Irishman's motion'. 1 to 28 February – the driest month in the EWP series with an average of only . 9–12 March – the Great Blizzard of 1891 in the south and west of England leads to extensive snow drifts and powerful storms off the south coast, with 14 ships sunk and approximately 220 deaths attributed to the weather conditions. 17 March – the British steamship sinks in the inner harbour of Gibraltar after collision with the battleship HMS Anson, killing 564. 18 March – official opening of the London-Paris telephone system. 1 April – the London-Paris telephone system is opened to the general public. 5 April – census in the United Kingdom: 15.6 million people live in cities of 20,000 or more in England and Wales and cities of 20,000 or more account for 54% of the total English population. The number of Welsh speakers in Wales is recorded for the first time and constitutes 54.4% of the population. 25 June – Arthur Conan Doyle's detective Sherlock Holmes appears in The Strand Magazine for the first time. c. August – Deptford Power Station (designed by Sebastian Z. de Ferranti for the London Electric Supply Corporation) is fully commissioned, pioneering the use of high voltage (10 kV) alternating current, generating 800 kW for public supply. 5 August – Elementary Education Act abolishes fees for primary schooling. 10 October – First street charity collection in the UK is held in Manchester in aid of the Royal National Lifeboat Institution. Undated Baptist Union of Great Britain established by merger of the General and Particular Baptists. Rachel Beer takes over editorship of The Observer, the first woman to edit a national newspaper. Publications J. M. Barrie's novel The Little Minister. George Gissing's novel New Grub Street. Thomas Hardy's novel Tess of the d'Urbervilles. William Morris' novel News from Nowhere (book publication). Oscar Wilde's novel The Picture