Events from the year 1810 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – George III Prime Minister – Spencer Perceval (Tory) Foreign Secretary – Richard Wellesley, 1st Marquess Wellesley Parliament – 4th Events 19 February – radical John Gale Jones is called before the House of Commons for a breach of privilege, for which he is committed to Newgate Prison until 21 June. April – rioting in London after the imprisonment in the Tower of London of Sir Francis Burdett, MP, charged with libel against Parliament after calling for reform of the House of Commons; he is released in June. 3 May – Lord Byron swims across the Hellespont in Turkey. 10 May – Rev. Henry Duncan opens the world's first commercial savings bank in Ruthwell, Dumfriesshire. 15 June – radical journalist William Cobbett is found guilty of treasonous libel for an article in his Political Register critical of the flogging of militiamen and sentenced to two years' in Newgate Prison. 8 July – Vere Street Coterie: Police raid a "molly house" in London and arrest 27 men for sodomy or attempted sodomy; a man and a boy are eventually hanged on conviction. 20–27 August – Battle of Grand Port: The French force the Royal Navy fleet attempting to blockade a harbour on Isle de France (Mauritius) to surrender. October – King George III recognised as insane. 10 November – Paisley canal disaster in Scotland: A pleasure craft capsizes with the loss of 84 lives. 23 November – actress Sarah Booth makes her first appearance at the Theatre Royal, Covent Garden in London. 26 November – radical John Gale Jones is sentenced to twelve months' imprisonment for a libel on Lord Castlereagh. 29 November–3 December – Invasion of Isle de France: British forces oblige the French to surrender Isle de France (Mauritius). 14 December – the UK's strongest ever recorded tornado strikes Portsmouth with a top wind speed of (T8 (F4) rating). 19 December – frigates and are wrecked near Dunbar. 22 December – eight crew of the Hoylake life-boat in the Mersey estuary are drowned on service; is wrecked on Texel in the West Frisian Islands with the loss of 500 lives. 27 December – Chartered East Indiaman Elizabeth is wrecked off Dunkirk with the loss of more than 360 lives. Undated General Union of Spinners organises strike action to raise wages in the smaller cotton centres to the Manchester