29 – The Office of Indian Affairs is organized in the United States. August 1 Slavery is abolished in the British Empire, by the Slavery Abolition Act 1833. Construction work begins on the Wilberforce Monument in Kingston Upon Hull. August 11–12 – Ursuline Convent riots: A convent of Ursuline nuns is burned near Boston. August 12 – In the Empire of Brazil, the Additional Act provides for establishment of the Provincial Legislative Assembly, extinction of the State Council, replacement of the Regency Trina, and introduction of a direct and secret ballot. August 14 – The Poor Law Amendment Act in the United Kingdom states that no able-bodied British man can receive assistance, unless he enters a workhouse (a kind of poorhouse). August 15 – The South Australia Act allows for the creation of a colony there. September 11 – The emigrant ship Sybelle out of Cromarty (Scotland) is wrecked off St. Paul Island (Nova Scotia) with the loss of all 316 passengers and all but six of her crew. September 13 – The Gleaner newspaper is first published in Jamaica. September 18 – Athens becomes Greece's capital city. October–December October 16 – The Palace of Westminster is destroyed by fire, along with both the House of Commons and the House of Lords (which are not in session) of the British Parliament. An investigation later traces the disaster to an order from the Exchequer to the Board of Works to destroy the tally sticks that had been stored as part of record keeping, the use of the furnaces beneath the House of Lords to carry out the task, and the failure of authorities to stop the work or to fight the fire after smoke had first been detected, the conclusion being that the fire was "wholly attributable to carelessness and negligence." November 14 – William Lamb, 2nd Viscount Melbourne becomes the last Prime Minister of the United Kingdom to be dismissed by the British monarch. King William IV temporarily appoints Arthur Wellesley, 1st Duke of Wellington, to form a caretaker government. December 3 – The Zollverein institutes the first regular census in Germany. The population is 23,478,120. December 10 – Sir Robert Peel succeeds The Duke of Wellington as Prime Minister of the United Kingdom. December 11 – The Sixth Xhosa War is characterized by severe clashes between white settlers and Bantu peoples in Cape Colony; Dutch-speaking settlers colonize the area