Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
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Writer or writing
Author profile
Phebe Gibbes
PG
was an eighteenth-century novelist (of great gifts but extreme obscurity), who also wrote (from financial need) drama and periodical essays, and projected a sociological study of the lower classes. Her canon is, like most...
1930: A human egg cell was seen for the first time...
Building and people item
1930
A human egg cell was seen for the first time through a microscope.
By 18 September 1820: A nationwide campaign of women petitioning...
National or international item
By 18 September 1820
A nationwide campaign of women petitioning on behalf of Queen Caroline was one factor in the abandoning of her trial for adultery.
1876: Elizabeth Blackwell found a publisher for...
Building and people item
1876
Elizabeth Blackwell
found a publisher for her recently completed manuscript, but only after altering the title to emphasize her authority as a doctor.
January 1915: A Russian victory over an Ottoman army hastened...
National or international item
January 1915
A Russian victory over an Ottoman army hastened the collapse of the Ottoman Empire ruled by Turkey; the need for a scapegoat precipitated massacres of Armenians, which were worse than those of 1894-6.
1745: The Rotunda or Lying-In Hospital, Dublin,...
Summer 1874: Watercolourist Helen (Paterson) Allingham...
Building and people item
Summer 1874
Watercolourist Helen (Paterson) Allingham
gained the recognition of the London artistic establishment after two of her paintings were selected for the Royal Academy
Summer Exhibition.
1753: The History of the Female Shipwright purported...
Building and people item
1753
The History of the Female Shipwright purported to be the autobiography of Mary Lacy
, the facts of whose life are borne out by Admiralty
records.
1785: Dialogues Concerning the Ladies, a celebration...
Women writers item
1785
Dialogues Concerning the Ladies, a celebration of famous women, was anonymously published; it borrows from Ballard
's Memoirs of Eminent Ladies.
1914: Nearly a century after the battle, artist...
Building and people item
1914
Nearly a century after the battle, artist Elizabeth, Lady Butler
, painted On the Morning of Waterloo: her military subjects gained her a substantial following.
29 May 1926: Dr Ethel Williams set out from Aberdeen to...
National or international item
29 May 1926
Dr Ethel Williams
set out from Aberdeen to walk the more than two hundred miles to London on the Peacemakers' Pilgrimage.
By April 2004: The City of London (which till the 1960s...
Building and people item
By April 2004
The City of London (which till the 1960s banned buildings taller than St Paul's Cathedral) acquired a new giant: the Swiss Re
Tower at 10 St Mary Axe, designed by Norman Foster
of...
July-August 1839: The Rural Police Act was debated and passed...
National or international item
July-August 1839
The Rural Police Act was debated and passed on 17 August 1839.
January 1768: The radical Political Register celebrated...
Building and people item
January 1768
The radical Political Register celebrated the learning and political acumen of the chevalier d'Éon, publishing long extracts from his works.
August 1850: Mrs Bell's World of Fashion, published in...
Building and people item
August 1850
Mrs Bell
's World of Fashion, published in London, became the first magazine to print paper patterns for clothes.
13 March 1848: A revolution took place in Vienna, where...
National or international item
13 March 1848
A revolution took place in Vienna, where protesters—both students and urban working-class people—successfully urged the Emperor Ferdinand
to dismiss Clemens Von Metternich
.
November 1983: Mary, Lady Donaldson, the first woman Lord...
Building and people item
November 1983
Mary, Lady Donaldson
, the first woman Lord Mayor of London, took up her office.
1980: Ted Hughes published Crow, a poetry volume...
Writer or writing item
1980
Ted Hughes
published Crow, a poetry volume which became, by poetry standards, a bestseller.
1867: A new Vaccination Act brought in one of the...
National or international item
1867
A new Vaccination Act brought in one of the most coercive public health laws to date. It was followed by further, similar legislation in 1871.
1868: Frederick Startridge Ellis began his publishing...
Writer or writing item
1868
Frederick Startridge Ellis
began his publishing career by issuing (in a single volume) parts one and two of William Morris
's poem or series of poems The Earthly Paradise.
22 April 1809: A second British expeditionary force landed...
National or international item
22 April 1809
A second British expeditionary force landed at Lisbon, to replace those who had retreated from Corunna in Spain.
28 February 1860: Nathaniel Hawthorne published Transformation:...
Writer or writing item
28 February 1860
Nathaniel Hawthorne
published Transformation: Or, The Romance of Monte Beni in three volumes.
1895: Amelia Garland Mears published her feminist...
Women writers item
1895
Amelia Garland Mears
published her feministutopian, science-fictionnovelMercia, the Astronomer Royal; a Romance.
June 1976: Demonstrations in the Black township of Soweto,...
National or international item
June 1976
Demonstrations in the Black township of Soweto, near Johannesburg, were met with police brutality.
