Charles Dickens Timeline: 1858.

An attempt to assassinate the French Emperor Napoleon III in Paris by a group of people led by Felice Orsini fails, but leaves eight people dead and the wounding of another 142. Orsini and his accomplices threw three bombs at the imperial carriage as the Emperor and Empress were on their way to the theatre in Paris. Orsini was sentenced to death and executed by guillotine two months later.

Isambard Kingdom Brunel’s giant iron sailing steamship, SS Great Eastern, is launched at Millwall in London’s Isle of Dogs. At the time she was the largest ship ever built, originally designed with a capacity to carry 4,000 passengers from England to Australia without refuelling.

Palmerston resigns as Prime Minister, following the rejection of a counter-terrorism bill in the wake of the Orsini affair (see 14 January). He is replaced by the Earl of Derby, forming a new Conservative government.

In central London hot weather exacerbates the smell of untreated human waste and industrial effluent in the River Thames. The smell affects work inside the Houses of Parliament who are forced to soak curtains in lime chloride. The event prompts authorities to accept a proposal from civil engineer Joseph Bazalgette to build a sewer system that takes waste beyond the metropolitan area.

The first transatlantic cable is laid between Newfoundland, Canada and County Kerry, Ireland. The project, which began in 1854, was undertaken by the Atlantic Telegraph Company led by American businessman and financier Cyrus West Field. The first message is sent eleven days after completion.