Events from the year 1863 in the United Kingdom. Incumbents Monarch – Victoria Prime Minister – Henry John Temple, 3rd Viscount Palmerston (Liberal) Parliament – 18th Events 8 January – Yorkshire County Cricket Club is founded at the Adelphi Hotel in Sheffield. 10 January – the first section of the London Underground Railway opens to the public (Paddington to Farringdon Street). 7 February – HMS Orpheus sinks attempting to enter Manukau Harbour in New Zealand with the loss of 189 lives. 25 February – William Thomson enthroned as Archbishop of York. 2 March – Clapham Junction railway station opens in London. 10 March – marriage of Albert Edward, Prince of Wales (later Edward VII) to Princess Alexandra of Denmark (later Queen Alexandra) at St George's Chapel, Windsor Castle. 27 May – Broadmoor Criminal Lunatic Asylum at Crowthorne receives its first patients. 4 June – the Eton Boating Song is first performed. 15–17 August – Bombardment of Kagoshima: Royal Navy bombards the town of Kagoshima in Japan in retribution after the Namamugi Incident of 1862. 20 August – Ladies' London Emancipation Society established as an abolitionist group in support of the Union (American Civil War) by Clementia Taylor at Aubrey House. 23 October – Ffestiniog Railway in North Wales introduces steam locomotives into general service, the first time this has been done anywhere in the world on a public railway of such a narrow gauge (). 26 October – the Football Association is founded at the Freemasons' Tavern in Long Acre, London. 8 December – the Football Association laws are agreed. 10 December – Tom King, Heavyweight Champion of England, wins the last major bare-knuckle boxing match in England, against the American John C. Heenan at Wadhurst, East Sussex. 19 December linoleum patented. the first game is played under the new Football Association rules at Mortlake between Ebenezer Morley's Barnes Club and Richmond F.C., ending in a goalless draw. Undated Before 30 March – the government rejects the Greek Assembly's choice of The Prince Alfred as the successor to the deposed Otto of Greece. The case of Byrne v Boadle introduces the doctrine of res ipsa loquitur into English tort law. Richard Owen publishes the first description of a fossilised bird, Archaeopteryx. A scarlet fever epidemic causes over 30,000 deaths. The Chōshū Five leave Japan secretly to study at University College London, part of the ending of sakoku. Beginning of Second