Events from the year 1868 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – Victoria Prime Minister – Edward Smith-Stanley, 14th Earl of Derby (Conservative) (until 27 February); Benjamin Disraeli (Conservative) (starting 27 February, until 1 December); William Ewart Gladstone (Liberal) (starting 3 December) Parliament – 19th (until 11 November), 20th (starting 10 December) Events 2 January – British Expedition to Abyssinia: Robert Napier leads an expedition to free captive British officials and missionaries. 9 January – penal transportation from Britain to Australia ends with arrival of the convict ship Hougoumont in Western Australia after an 89-day voyage from England. 13 February – the War Office sanctions the formation of what will become the Army Post Office Corps. 27 February – Benjamin Disraeli succeeds the Earl of Derby as Prime Minister following Derby's resignation due to ill-health. 12 March – Britain annexes Basutoland and it becomes a protectorate. 14 March – Eliza Lynn Linton's article "The Girl of the Period" is published in the Saturday Review. 2 April – last public hanging of a woman in Britain – Frances Kidder outside Maidstone Prison by William Calcraft for drowning her stepdaughter. 9–13 April – expedition to Abyssinia: At the Battle of Magdala, Robert Napier decisively defeats the emperor Tewodros II. 25 April – HMS Repulse, the last wooden battleship constructed for the Royal Navy, is launched as an ironclad (with auxiliary steam propulsion) at Woolwich Dockyard. 10–11 May – "Murphy riots" against Irish people in Ashton-under-Lyne. 26 May – last public hanging in Britain – Fenian bomber Michael Barrett outside Newgate Prison in London by William Calcraft for his part in the Clerkenwell explosion of 1867. 29 May – Capital Punishment Amendment Act abolishes public hanging in Britain. 2 June – the first Trades Union Congress is held in Manchester. 29 June – the Press Association founded in London. July – the Summer assize for Berkshire is moved from Abingdon to Reading, effectively making the latter the county town. 17 July – judicial decision of the House of Lords in Rylands v Fletcher, a leading case in English tort law, establishing a standard of strict liability in negligence actions. 13 August – first non-public hanging in Britain – Thomas Wells inside Maidstone Prison by William Calcraft. 20 August – Abergele train disaster kills 32 passengers and a fireman. 20 October – astronomer Norman Lockyer observes and names the D3 Fraunhofer line in the