The European stock-market crash of 1847 was the Panic of 1847.
The crisis followed a large speculative expansion in British railway shares. Railway construction promised rapid economic growth, and investors committed capital to new companies and projects. When confidence weakened, railway securities fell sharply, undermining banks and other financial institutions that had financed the boom.
The panic was intensified by wider economic problems, including poor harvests and pressure on the banking system. In Britain, the Bank Charter Act of 1844 restricted the issue of banknotes, limiting flexibility during a liquidity crisis. The government temporarily suspended the act in October 1847, allowing the Bank of England to provide more support.
The disturbance spread beyond Britain and affected financial markets in continental Europe. It is sometimes described as a railway crash, but the wider event was a banking and credit panic as well as a securities collapse. The episode illustrates how infrastructure booms can create systemic risk when asset prices, bank lending and economic expectations become tightly linked.