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23 March 1899: The first paper presented to the Institution...

Building and people item

23 March 1899

The first paper presented to the Institution of Electrical Engineers (IEE) by a woman was read by Hertha Ayrton , who was later admitted as the Institution's first female member.
Jones, Claire. “Women’s History Month: Hertha Ayrton (1854-1923): scientist yet ’in every way a woman’”. Women’s History Network Blog, 23 Mar. 2010.

November 1970: Protests were mounted by women's liberation...

Building and people item

November 1970

Protests were mounted by women's liberation activists against the beauty contest for the title of Miss World, held this year at the Albert Hall in London.
Ross, Elizabeth Arledge, and Miriam L. Bearse. A Chronology of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Britain. Editors Boyle, Karen E. and The Oral History Project Advisory Group, The Feminist Archive, 1996, http://Bodleian.
7

11 November 1911: The Society of Women Musicians held its first...

Writer or writing item

11 November 1911

The Society of Women Musicians held its first meeting at the headquarters of the Women's Institute in London.
Seddon, Laura. “Patronage and the Development of Women’s Music in the Early Twentieth Century”. Women’s History Magazine, No. 68, Women’s History Network, 2012, pp. 28-32.
Seddon 28-30

9 December 1655: Cromwell issued an edict legally permitting...

National or international item

9 December 1655

Cromwell issued an edict legally permitting Jewish resettlement in England. The Jews had been expelled in 1290, though individuals had now been living in England unofficially for more than a century.
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Oxford University Press, 1959.
365
Worden, Blair. “Cromwellian England 1649-1660”. Stuart England, edited by Blair Worden, Phaidon, 1986, pp. 123-47.
137
Kunze, Bonnelyn Young. Margaret Fell and the Rise of Quakerism. Macmillan, 1994.
212
Alderman, Geoffrey. “Face to Faith”. The Guardian, 31 Dec. 2005, p. 29.
29

Una Troubridge

Twentieth-century translator and biographer UT is best remembered for her numerous translations from the French and Italian, and for her biography of her lover of twenty-eight years, the writer Radclyffe Hall . UT also published...
Una Troubridge Colour photo of Una Troubridge from the waist up, wearing a black suit-jacket, white high-necked shirt, cravat, and red lipstick. Her brown hair is cropped, but her fringe is quite long. She has a monocle in one eye.

By 2000: The number of liberal democracies in the...

National or international item

By 2000

The number of liberal democracies in the world had almost doubled since 1972, from forty-four to eighty-five.
Anderson, Perry. “Confronting Defeat”. London Review of Books, 17 Oct. 2002, pp. 10-17.
14

16 October 1774: The Scottish poet Robert Fergusson, in his...

Building and people item

16 October 1774

The Scottish poet Robert Fergusson , in his earlies twenties, died at Edinburgh, in the city's Bedlam .
Houston, Rab. “Madness, morality, and creativity: Robert Fergusson and the social context of insanity in eighteenth-century Scotland”. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol.
22
, No. 1, 1999, pp. 133-54.
133-5

February 1942: Soap rationing (3 ozs per month) began, and...

Building and people item

February 1942

Soap rationing (3 ozs per month) began, and the clothing ration was reduced to 48 coupons per year.
Minns, Raynes. Bombers and Mash: The Domestic Front 1939-45. Virago, 1980.
chronology, 153

Anne Enright

AE is a contemporary Irish writer, appointed in 2015 inaugural Laureate for Irish Fiction. She is best known for her novels, but she began by writing monologues and other material for the theatre, and has...
Anne Enright Photo of Anne Enright sitting at what appears to be a signing with a marker in her right hand. Her hair is cut short and is auburn, and she is wearing a green and dark green floral patterned top. In the background, there is a mirror on the wall.

1 August 1894: As of this date, every kind of property passing...

Building and people item

1 August 1894

As of this date, every kind of property passing by death in Britain was subject to an estate duty.
“Estate Duty”. Love To Know Classic Encyclopaedia.

1815: District officials in India, after consulting...

National or international item

1815

District officials in India, after consulting with the Nizamat Adalat, decreed that widows with children below three years of age had to arrange for the children's welfare before committing sati or suttee.
Mani, Lata. Contentious Traditions: The Debate on Sati in Colonial India. University of California Press, 1998.
110-11

Wilkie Collins

Best remembered for his sensational fiction of the 1860s, WC was, in the course of his forty-year writing career, the author of many ingeniously-plotted novels, as well as a writer of plays (some in collaboration...
Wilkie Collins Caricature of Wilkie Collins, with oversized head and hat and skinny legs. He is putting up a poster for The Woman in White and his jacket pocket is stuffed with posters.

Late October 1862: John William Colenso, Bishop of Natal, published...

Building and people item

Late October 1862

John William Colenso , Bishop of Natal, published the first volume of his controversial The Pentateuch and the Book of Joshua Critically Examined, challenging the literal truth of the Bible on scientific grounds.
British Library Catalogue. http://explore.bl.uk/primo_library/libweb/action/search.do?dscnt=0&tab=local_tab&dstmp=1489778087340&vid=BLVU1&mode=Basic&fromLo.
Mitchell, Sally. Frances Power Cobbe: Victorian Feminist, Journalist, Reformer. University of Virginia Press, 2004.
131

1798: What is called the first Sunday school for...

Building and people item

1798

What is called the first Sunday school for adults was established in Nottingham by William Singleton , a Methodist, helped by Samuel Fox , a Quaker tradesman.
Purvis, June. A History of Women’s Education in England. Open University Press, 1991.
17
Laqueur, Thomas. Religion and Respectability. Yale University Press, 1976.
34-5
Curtis, Stanley James. History of Education in Great Britain. Seventh, University Tutorial Press, 1967.
468

1757: The Wide Street Commission began its task...

Building and people item

1757

The Wide Street Commission began its task of laying out the handsome Georgian centre of Dublin.
Butler, Marilyn. Maria Edgeworth: A Literary Biography. Clarendon, 1972.
79-81

18 May 1953: American pilot Jacqueline Cochran became...

National or international item

18 May 1953

American pilot Jacqueline Cochran became the first woman to exceed the speed of sound; she thus set the world speed record for a woman pilot.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
264
Trager, James. The Women’s Chronology: A Year-by-Year Record, from Prehistory to the Present. Henry Holt, 1994.
549

24 August 1941: Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a broadcast...

National or international item

24 August 1941

Prime Minister Winston Churchill made a broadcast speech containing the first public reference to the ongoing holocaust in German-held territories.
Guardian Weekly.
(7 February 1999): 28

1788-1867: During this period, more than 150,000 convicts...

National or international item

1788-1867

During this period, more than 150,000 convicts were transported from Britain, mostly destined for Australia; at the practice's peak in the early 1830s, 5,000 convicts were transported every year.
Briggs, John et al. Crime and Punishment in England: An Introductory History. St Martin’s, 1996.
162, 166
Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England 1750-1900. 2nd ed., Longman, 1996.
271

1763-4: Francis Fawkes and William Woty published...

Writer or writing item

1763-4

Francis Fawkes and William Woty published a successor to Dodsley 's famous poetry anthology: The Poetical Calendar. Containing a collection of scarce and valuable pieces of poetry.
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.

1913: The Paris newspaper Le Matin installed the...

Writer or writing item

1913

The Paris newspaper Le Matin installed the first British-built Unit-type press made by R. Hoe and Company in London.
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
173

1948: The introduction in England of the Jaguar...

Building and people item

1948

The introduction in England of the Jaguar XK 120 sports car caused a sensation.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
251

Maya Angelou

MA overcame the unpromising circumstances of her birth and upbringing to become an African-American poet, song-writer, autobiographer, and political activist, a talented Renaissance woman of the twentieth-century United States.
Younge, Gary. “Maya Angelou: a titan who lived as though there were no tomorrow”. The Guardian, 29 May 2014.
Maya Angelou Colour photo of Maya Angelou speaking at Wake Forest University in Winston-Salem, North Carolina. She is sitting, talking away from the microphone on her right, wearing a black dress with gold chain and disc earrings, hands clasped in her lap.

5 August 1971: The Finance Act for the first time made provision...

Building and people item

5 August 1971

The Finance Act for the first time made provision for a British husband and wife to apply to have their earnings taxed separately.
Law Reports: Statutes. Eyre and Spottiswoode, 1866–2026.
(1971): 1195
Butler, David E., and Jennie Freeman. British Political Facts, 1900-1960. Macmillan, 1963.
338

1875: Charles Reade dedicated his novel The Wandering...

Writer or writing item

1875

Charles Reade dedicated his novel The Wandering Heir to Mary Elizabeth Braddonas a slight mark of respect for her private virtues and public talents.
Wolff, Robert Lee. Sensational Victorian. Garland, 1979.
250
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Wolff, Robert Lee. Sensational Victorian. Garland, 1979.
250

1974: The Women's Liberation Review ended publication;...

Writer or writing item

1974

The Women's Liberation Review ended publication; it had published poems, articles, and photographs since October 1972.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
88