Events Timeline

Orlando includes short event entries, freestanding and embedded in author profiles, about moments and processes relevant to literary history and organized into four categories: Women writers, Writing Climate, Political Climate, and Social Climate. Explore the timelines by searching for date(s) and/or words or phrases associated with them.

6276 - 6300 of 43197

Search by

-
Event origin
Event type

Hannah Cowley: 22 February 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Hannah Cowley

22 February 1780

HC had her first great hit when her comedy The Belle's Stratagem opened at Covent Garden .
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
5: 319

26 February 1780: La Belle Assemblée, an all-female debating...

Building item

26 February 1780

La Belle Assemblée , an all-female debating club, opened in London, following the rapid growth of male ones.
Andrew, Donna T. “’The Passion for Public Speaking’: Women’s Debating Societies”. Women and History: Voices of Early Modern England, edited by Valerie Frith, Coach House Press, 1995, pp. 165-88.
167
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
50 (1780): 71
Escott, Angela. “The School of Eloquence and ’Roasted Square Caps’: oratory and pedantry as fair theatrical game?”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
8
, No. 1, 2001, pp. 59-79.
64-5, 67

By 22 March 1780: The British government raised its tax on...

Writing climate item

By 22 March 1780

The British government raised its tax on newspaper advertising by an extra sixpence per notice: this probably deterred many publishers and authors from advertising new books.
Tierney, James E. “Advertisements for Books in London Newspapers, 1760-1785”. Studies in Eighteenth-Century Culture, edited by Timothy Erwin and Ourida Mostefai, Vol.
30
, The Johns Hopkins University Press, 2001, pp. 153-64.
158-9, 163n5

Lady Mary Walker: By April 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Lady Mary Walker

By April 1780

According to the Monthly Review, LMW was the author of a pamphlet, Observations on Mr. Burke 's Bill for the Better Regulation of the Independence of Parliament, addressed from a Lady to Lord North .
Griffiths, Ralph, 1720 - 1803, and George Edward Griffiths, editors. Monthly Review. R. Griffiths.
62 (1780): 318
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.

April 1780: The radical John Cartwright founded the Society...

National or international item

April 1780

The radical John Cartwright founded the Society for Constitutional Information , an activist group which worked to promote parliamentary reform.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Hannah Cowley: 4 April 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Hannah Cowley

4 April 1780

HC 's unpublished interlude The School of Eloquence (a satire on the currently fashionable debating clubs) was performed at Drury Lane .
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
5: 328

6 April 1780: The Radical cause in Britain was advanced...

National or international item

6 April 1780

The Radical cause in Britain was advanced when the House of Commons passed a motion by John Dunning (later Baron Ashburton) , that the influence of the crown has increased, is increasing, and ought to...

Hannah Cowley: 11 April 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Hannah Cowley

11 April 1780

HC published, with her name, a blank-verse narrative poem entitled The Maid of Arragon; A Tale, and dedicated to her father, Philip Parkhouse .
Norton, J. E. “Some Uncollected Authors XVI: Hannah Cowley 1743-1809”. The Book Collector, Vol.
7
, 1958, pp. 68-76.
74

19 April 1780: Henry Grattan made an impassioned declaration...

National or international item

19 April 1780

Henry Grattan made an impassioned declaration to the Irish parliament of the legislative independence of Ireland from England.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.

Anne Steele: Later 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Anne Steele

Later 1780

AS 's second collection, Miscellaneous Pieces in Verse and Prose, appeared posthumously under the name of Theodosia, edited by Caleb Evans and printed at Bristol.
Solo: Search Oxford University Libraries Online. 18 July 2011, http://solo.bodleian.ox.ac.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?vid=OXVU1&fromLogin=true&reset_config=true.

12 May 1780: Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered after...

National or international item

12 May 1780

Charleston, South Carolina, surrendered after a six-week siege to British forces, who then overran most of South Carolina.
Coakley, Robert, and Stetson Conn. The War of the American Revolution. Center of Military History, 1975.
120

Elizabeth, Margravine of Anspach: 24 May 1780

Women writers item

24 May 1780

Elizabeth (Berkeley), Lady Craven (later Margravine of Anspach), defied social convention by having her comedyThe Miniature Picture (Larpent MS 525) acted at Drury Lane , with a prologue by Richard Brinsley Sheridan , and...

Anna Seward: By June 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Anna Seward

By June 1780

AS published an Elegy on Captain Cook (who was killed in February 1779).
Ashmun is incorrect regarding the month of Cook's death date.
Ashmun, Margaret. The Singing Swan. Yale University Press; H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1931.
74n4

June 1780: Angelica Kauffman was commissioned to create four ceiling paintings at Somerset House in London

Building item

June 1780

Angelica Kauffman was commissioned to create four ceiling paintings at Somerset House in London for which she received one hundred guineas.
Lyons, Hannah. “Angelica Kauffman”. Women’s Studies Group 1558 – 1837, 16 Sept. 2020, https://womensstudiesgroup.org/2020/09/16/angelica-kauffman/.
 
Lyons, Hannah. “Angelica Kauffman”. Women’s Studies Group 1558 – 1837, 16 Sept. 2020, https://womensstudiesgroup.org/2020/09/16/angelica-kauffman/.
 

2 June 1780: The Gordon Riots began in London: anti-Catholic...

National or international item

2 June 1780

The Gordon Riots began in London: anti-Catholic mobs encouraged by Lord George Gordon (leader of the Protestant Association ) attacked and burned churches and other buildings and terrorised the populace.
Newman, Gerald, editor. Britain in the Hanoverian Age, 1714-1837: An Encyclopedia. Garland, 1997.
296
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Mary Bryan: 15 June 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Mary Bryan

15 June 1780

Mary Langdon (later MB ) was born (according to anthologist Andrew Ashfield ) the eldest of three sisters and a brother, at North Petherton in the Sedgemoor area of Somerset, where she grew up.
Ashfield, Andrew, editor. Romantic Women Poets. Manchester University Press, 1997–1998, 2 vols.
2: 288

Elizabeth Gilding: July 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Elizabeth Gilding

July 1780

The Westminster Magazine carried the first of its poems by Elizabeth Turner (formerly EG ) as Eliza: On the Death of Mrs. Sarah Bates.
Pitcher, Edward W. Signatures and Pseudonyms of the Eighteenth-Century British Magazines: An Annotated Index in Three Volumes. 2004.

July 1780: Robert Raikes opened his first Sunday sc...

National or international item

July 1780

Robert Raikes opened his first Sunday school.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.
Laqueur, Thomas. Religion and Respectability. Yale University Press, 1976.
21-6
This inaccuracy persists although the Dictionary of National Biography specifically says Raikes's school was not the first.

Summer 1780: The Royal Academy's first annual exhibition...

Building item

Summer 1780

The Royal Academy 's first annual exhibition to be held in the new Somerset House (built by Sir William Chambers ) topped all records, with attendance of 61,381 and receipts of £3,074.6s.
Brewer, John. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997.
239-41

Anna Seward: 31 July 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Anna Seward

31 July 1780

AS 's mother died; from this time Anna ran the household at the Bishop's Palace for her father , who had independent means, increasingly poor health, and before long senility.
Ashmun, Margaret. The Singing Swan. Yale University Press; H. Milford, Oxford University Press, 1931.
83, 88

Mary Hays: August 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Mary Hays

August 1780

The premature death of her mentor and fiancé John Eccles plunged MH into widowhood.
Kelly, Gary. Women, Writing, and Revolution 1790-1827. Clarendon, 1993.
81
Luria, Gina M. “Mary Hays’s Letters and Manuscripts”. Signs: Journal of Women in Culture and Society, Vol.
3
, No. 21, 1977, pp. 524-30.
525

Sophia Lee: 5 August 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Sophia Lee

5 August 1780

SL 's first play, The Chapter of Accidents, a comedy, opened at the Haymarket .
The London Stage 1660-1800. Southern Illinois University Press, 1960–1968, 5 vols.
5: 355

Elizabeth Inchbald: 7 August 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Elizabeth Inchbald

7 August 1780

Alexander Geddes , a Scottish Catholic theologian of liberal views, replied tactfully to a social acquaintance of EI 's who took it upon herself to profess concern and anxiety about the Catholic actress's soul.
Manvell, Roger. Elizabeth Inchbald: England’s Principal Woman Dramatist and Independent Woman of Letters in 18th Century London. University Press of America, 1987.
24
Geddes, Alexander, and Anonymous. Letter to an anonymous woman, a social acquaintance of Elizabeth Inchbald. 7 Aug. 1780, http://British Library MS BL Add. MS 28,558 f 83-4.
Feminist Companion Archive.

16 August 1780: Lord Cornwallis inflicted the most crushing...

National or international item

16 August 1780

Lord Cornwallis inflicted the most crushing defeat suffered by the Americans in a major battle of the Revolutionary war.
Coakley, Robert, and Stetson Conn. The War of the American Revolution. Center of Military History, 1975.
123

Alison Cockburn: 22 August 1780

Women writers item
Author event in Alison Cockburn

22 August 1780

Adam Cockburn , only child of AC , died before reaching the age of fifty.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.