Events from the year 1799 in Great Britain. Incumbents Monarch – George III Prime Minister – William Pitt the Younger (Tory) Foreign Secretary – Lord Grenville Parliament – 18th Events 9 January – Prime Minister William Pitt the Younger introduces an income tax of two shillings to the pound to raise funds for Great Britain's war effort in the French Revolutionary Wars. 20 March–21 May – British troops lend aid to the Ottoman defenders against the French Siege of Acre. 4 May – Battle of Seringapatam: British forces defeat the Sultan of Mysore; his kingdom is divided between the Honourable East India Company and Hyderabad. 1 July – Britain allies with Russia, Austria, Portugal, Naples, and the Ottoman Empire against France. 12 July – The Combination Act is passed by Parliament to outlaw trade unions. 15–19 August – A combined French and Spanish fleet stands off the south west coast of England. 27 August – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Britain and Russia send an expedition to the Batavian Republic. 30 August – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Vlieter Incident – A squadron of the Batavian Republic's navy, commanded by Rear-Admiral Samuel Story, surrenders to the British Royal Navy under Sir Ralph Abercromby and Admiral Sir Charles Mitchell near Wieringen without joining action. 6 October – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Battle of Castricum – Franco-Dutch forces defeat the Russo-British expedition force. 9 October – Sinking of , a famous treasure wreck, in the West Frisian Islands. 16 October – Action of 16 October 1799: A Spanish treasure convoy worth more than £600,000 is captured by the Royal Navy off Vigo. 18 October – Anglo-Russian invasion of Holland: Capitulation of Anglo-Russian expedition forces in North Holland. 23 October – The River Severn ferry at The Tuckies, Jackfield, Shropshire capsizes and 28 workers from Coalport China Works are drowned. 5 November – HMS Sceptre is wrecked in a storm in Table Bay, South Africa, with the loss of 349 and 41 survivors. The Religious Tract Society is established as an evangelical publisher in Paternoster Row, London; as The Lutterworth Press the imprint continues into the 21st century. Ongoing Anglo-Spanish War, 1796–1808 French Revolutionary Wars, War of the Second Coalition Births January – James Meadows Rendel, civil engineer (died 1856) 12 January – Priscilla Susan Bury, botanist (died 1872) 8 February – John Lindley, botanist (died 1865) 16 March – Anna Atkins, botanist and photographer