Events from the year 1855 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – Victoria Prime Minister – George Hamilton-Gordon, 4th Earl of Aberdeen (Coalition) (until 30 January); Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (Whig) (starting 6 February) Parliament – 16th Events 9 January – the Earl of Aberdeen loses a vote of no confidence against his government over the management of the Crimean War. 22 January – French political exile Emmanuel Barthélemy is hanged after being convicted of murdering a London man. Barthélemy had previously killed a fellow Frenchman in the last fatal duel in England, but has only been convicted of manslaughter on that occasion. 29 January – Aberdeen resigns as Prime Minister. 5 February – Viscount Palmerston becomes Prime Minister. 8 February – the Devil's Footprints, a series of mysteriously hoof-like marks, appear in the snow in Devon and continue throughout the countryside for over . 28 February – Society of the Holy Cross (SSC) established as an association of Anglo-Catholic priests with a mission to the urban poor under the mastership of Charles Lowder. 11 April – the first pillar boxes are installed in London, at the suggestion of Rowland Hill. 18 April – The Bowring Treaty is signed between the UK and the kingdom of Siam, allowing foreigners to trade freely in Bangkok. 15 May – Great Gold Robbery from a train between London Bridge and Folkestone. 15 June – stamp duty is removed from newspapers creating mass market media in the UK. 29 June – The Daily Telegraph newspaper begins publication in London. 16 July – Australian colonies granted self-governing status. 31 July – Limited Liability Act protects investors in the event of corporate collapse. 3 September – last Bartholomew Fair in London. 9 September – Siege of Sevastopol (1854–55) (Crimean War): Sevastopol falls to the British and their allies. 17 October – Henry Bessemer files his patent for the Bessemer process for the production of steel. 17 November – explorer David Livingstone discovers Victoria Falls in Africa. 22 December – Metropolitan Board of Works established in London. Undated James Clerk Maxwell unifies electricity and magnetism into a single theory, classical electromagnetism, thereby showing that light is an electromagnetic wave. The London School of Jewish Studies opens as the Jews' College, a rabbinical seminary, in London. Last minting of the fourpence coin (groat) for use in the U.K. The island of Samson, in the Isles of