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June 1945: Englishwoman Susan Travers (whose World War...

Building and people item

June 1945

Englishwoman Susan Travers (whose World War Two activity had included working as an army nurse and a chauffeur) became the first woman to join the Foreign Legion .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

Dorothy Leigh

Of the seventeenth-century authors of mothers' legacies for their children, DL was the earliest to reach print, and probably the most morally and theologically focussed. Writing for sons, not daughters, she gives clear and firm...

4 October 1884: American musical comedy star Lillian Russell...

Building and people item

4 October 1884

American musical comedy star Lillian Russell made a hit in London starring as Polly Pluckrose in Polly at the Novelty Theatre .
Who Was Who in the Theatre: 1912-1976. Gale Research, 1978, 4 vols.
2096-7
Fields writes that the play Polly opened on 8 November 1885, while...

15 February 1830: The Lyceum Theatre in London burned to the...

Building and people item

15 February 1830

The Lyceum Theatre in London burned to the ground; Mary Cowden Clarke and her husband had left the theatre a few hours earlier after attending a performance.
Clarke, Mary Cowden. My Long Life. Dodd, Mead, 1896.
91

January 1866: Alexander Strahan began publication of the...

Writer or writing item

January 1866

Alexander Strahan began publication of the Contemporary Review, a monthly journal of scholarly Christianity.
Houghton, Walter E., and Jean Harris Slingerland, editors. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. University of Toronto Press, 1966–1989, 5 vols.
1: 210
Houghton, Walter E., and Jean Harris Slingerland, editors. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. University of Toronto Press, 1966–1989, 5 vols.
1: 210
Houghton, Walter E., and Jean Harris Slingerland, editors. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. University of Toronto Press, 1966–1989, 5 vols.
1: 210, 212, 214

Sarah Fielding

SF , best known as a mid-eighteenth-century novelist, tried a range of other genres as well: history, criticism, a play, a translation, and a landmark children's book which is both a work of pedagogy and...

1377: The first insane patients were held at old...

Building and people item

1377

The first insane patients were held at old Bedlam , which had been established as a hospital after King Henry III confiscated the religious priory of St Mary of Bethlem .
Roberts, Andrew. “Mental Health History Timeline”. Middlesex University: Andrew Roberts Homepage: Mental Health and Learning Disability.

9 January 1873: Napoleon III died at Chislehurst in Engl...

National or international item

9 January 1873

Napoleon III died at Chislehurst in England.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
237
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
295

January 1812: The Theatre Royal first opened in Bridgetown,...

Building and people item

January 1812

The Theatre Royal first opened in Bridgetown, Barbados.
Paul, Lissa. “Eliza Fenwick (1766-1840): Morality, Motherhood and the Colonial Encounter in Early Nineteenth Century Bridgetown”. Journal of the Barbados Museum and Historical Society, Vol.
57
, 2011, pp. 98-112.
103

16 January 1920: Prohibition came into force in the United...

National or international item

16 January 1920

Prohibition came into force in the United States: President Woodrow Wilson had vetoed the Volstead Prohibition Enforcement Bill on 27-8 October 1919, only to be overruled by the House and Senate .
Williams, Neville et al. Chronology of the 20th Century. Helicon, 1996.
88, 156

15 March 1917: Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated the...

National or international item

15 March 1917

Tsar Nicholas II of Russia abdicated the throne, ending 1,000 years of imperial rule.
“Nicholas II, Czar of Russia”. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online: The Columbia Encyclopedia.
“On This Day: 15 March 1917”. BBC History.

April 1853: Stage performer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield,...

Building and people item

April 1853

Stage performer Elizabeth Taylor Greenfield , an ex-slave from Mississippi and the first Black concert singer to win fame in both the US and Britian, arrived in Liverpool.
Sanjek, Russell. American Popular Music and its Business. Oxford University Press, 1988.
219

Christmas Day 1797: The owner of The Press, a radical Dublin...

Writer or writing item

Christmas Day 1797

The owner of The Press, a radical Dublin paper, was sentenced for reporting an execution as murder.
Gentleman’s Magazine. Various publishers.
68 (1798): 69

24 November 2010: The redesigned Royal Shakespeare Theatre...

Building and people item

24 November 2010

The redesigned Royal Shakespeare Theatre at Stratford upon Avon opened to the public with exhibitions, events, and tours. Theatrical productions were to follow in February 2011.
Royal Shakespeare Company,. Email to Friends of the Royal Shakespeare Company. 24 Nov. 2010.

27 May-3 June 1940: About 340,000 retreating British, French...

National or international item

27 May-3 June 1940

About 340,000 retreating British, French and Belgian soldiers were safely evacuated from the beaches of Dunkirk on the French coast.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
34
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
34
Keegan, John. The Second World War. Viking, 1990.
80-1, 83
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
386
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
130

1967: Margaret Thatcher, Conservative Member of...

National or international item

1967

Margaret Thatcher , Conservative Member of Parliament for Finchley, was appointed to the Shadow Cabinet .
Colley, Linda. “Little Havens of Intimacy”. London Review of Books, 7 Sept. 2000, pp. 8-9.
9

2 February 1785: The recently imposed window-tax (not the...

Building and people item

2 February 1785

The recently imposed window-tax (not the first, but the most notorious tax of this kind) provoked the publication of an ironic mock sermon about it.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
59 (1785): 154

1868: The first traffic light (invented by John...

Building and people item

1868

The first traffic light (invented by John Peake Knight ) was installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London.
O’Hagan, Andrew. “At Tottenham Court Road”. London Review of Books, Vol.
37
, No. 18, 24 Sept. 2015, p. 24.

1858: George Washington Wilson produced the first...

Building and people item

1858

George Washington Wilson produced the first snapshot photograph, of Princes Street in Edinburgh.
Hannavy, John. Masters of Victorian Photography. David and Charles, 1976.
76, 78

December 1985: Science writer John Langone argued in Discoverer...

Building and people item

December 1985

Science writer John Langone argued in Discoverer that women were not normally at risk from AIDS, since the vagina is rugged although the anus is fragile.
Koelsch, Patrice Clark. “Mortal Combats”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
xvii
, No. 6, Mar. 2000, pp. 18-20.
18-19

1976: Angela Rippon became the first woman newsreader...

Building and people item

1976

Angela Rippon became the first woman newsreader on British television (BBC ); the job lasted only six years, though she acquired an enthusiastic public.
Steele, Sir Richard, and Joseph Addison, editors. The Guardian. J. Tonson.
(14 August 2000): G2 4

September 1868: Revolution in Spain occurred. Queen Isabella...

National or international item

September 1868

Revolution in Spain occurred. Queen Isabella II was subsequently ousted, and the revolutionary party favoured a constitutional government headed by a new sovereign.
Hobsbawm, Eric John. The Age of Capital 1848-1875. Abacus, 1975.
93
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
252
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.

Mary Elizabeth Braddon

MEB made her name, scandalously, in the early 1860s as a founder of the intricately plotted sensation novel, and was particularly known for her transgressive heroines. Although still most strongly associated with this and the...
Mary Elizabeth Braddon Painting of Mary Elizabeth Braddon by William Powell Frith, exhibited 1865. She stands beside a desk with writing materials and stacks of books, looking at the viewer, in a long dark dress. The wall behind her and the desk chair are red. Her red-brown hair is coiled over her ears, and her clasped hands hold a handkerchief. National Portrait Gallery.

May 1801: Following the increased use in Britain of...

Building and people item

May 1801

Following the increased use in Britain of paper bank notes instead of gold, and therefore of uttering or circulating low-denomination forged notes, a lesser penalty for this crime passed into law: transportation to Australia instead...

18 September 1986: Dedicated to her parents, Trees in Sheep...

Women writers item

18 September 1986

Dedicated to her parents, Trees in Sheep Country by Anna Adams was published through Peterloo Poets .
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Blackwell’s Online Bookshop. http://Bookshop.Blackwell.co.uk.