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1896: Thomas Fisher Unwin began issuing Cosmopolis,...

Writer or writing item

1896

Thomas Fisher Unwin began issuing Cosmopolis, an International Monthly Review; published also in New York, it contained fiction as well as literary criticism, and ran until 1898.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
151

22 August 1837: The British government was the first to contract...

Building and people item

22 August 1837

The British government was the first to contract for the carrying of mail by steamship.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
89

January 1863: Thomas Henry Huxley, scientist, educator,...

National or international item

January 1863

Thomas Henry Huxley , scientist, educator, and public administrator, published Evidence as to Man's Place in Nature.
Huxley, Thomas Henry. Man’s Place in Nature. University of Michigan Press, 1959.
1
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.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.

December 2006: The island of Lohachara, off the coast of...

National or international item

December 2006

The island of Lohachara, off the coast of Bangladesh, became the world's first island with human inhabitants to be obliterated by rising sea levels.
Vidal, John. “Bay of Bengal’s Sea Change”. Guardian Weekly, 15 Feb. 2013, p. 29.

28 March 1745: Sir Robert Walpole, the first minister of...

National or international item

28 March 1745

Sir Robert Walpole , the first minister of state to be called Prime Minister, died, leaving a large fortune.
Walpole, Horace. The Letters of Horace Walpole. Editor Toynbee, Mrs Paget, Clarendon, 1903–1925, 16 vols.
1: xxxvii

Eleanor Rathbone

Feminist politician ER is called by a recent biographer the most significant woman in British politics in the first half of the 20th century.
Johnson, Richard William. “Associated Prigs”. London Review of Books, 8 July 2004, pp. 19-21.
19
She wrote books, pamphlets, and essays on the various social...
Eleanor Rathbone Sepia photograph of Eleanor Rathbone campaigning outdoors. She leans forward as she speaks, her hands on a table bearing a vase of white flowers, There are trees and a banner behind her. She is wearing, apparently, a loose-fitting white summer suit, and a black hat, elaborate but compact.

7 August 1866: The Sanitary Act was passed....

National or international item

7 August 1866

The Sanitary Act was passed.
Smith, Francis Barrymore. The People’s Health, 1830-1910. Croom Helm, 1979.
199, 201
Wohl, Anthony S. Endangered Lives: Public Health in Victorian Britain. Harvard University Press, 1983.
113
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

July 1874: The Women's Advocate, considered Ireland's...

Building and people item

July 1874

The Women's Advocate, considered Ireland's first feminist paper, ceased publication in Dublin.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
6

1 March 1794: The Biographical Magazine began publication;...

Writer or writing item

1 March 1794

The Biographical Magazine began publication; it ran till 2 May 1796.
Watson, George, and Ian Roy Wilson, editors. The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Cambridge University Press, 1969, 5 vols., http://U of A, HSS Ruth N Flr 1 Ref.

1775: The London Review of English and Foreign...

Writer or writing item

1775

The London Review of English and Foreign Literature began publication.
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.

October 1865: Elizabeth Garrett obtained an apothecary's...

Building and people item

October 1865

Elizabeth Garrett obtained an apothecary's licence through the Society of Apothecaries : this began her medical career, after her rejection by the Universities of London , Edinburgh , St Andrews , Oxford , and Cambridge .
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
156
Alic, Margaret. Hypatia’s Heritage: A History of Women in Science. Women’s Press, 1985.
106
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
66

Marguerite de Navarre

Marguerite de Navarre , a French Renaissance writer of the sixteenth century, is best known for her cycle of tales, L'heptameron. She also wrote important devotional work, poetry and plays based on the bible.
Marguerite de Navarre Painting of Marguerite de Navarre by Jean Clouet, probably done for her marriage in 1527. She sits at a green-covered table with a green parrot on her hand and flame-coloured hangings behind. She has a patterned head-dress (perhaps evoking the daisies signified by her name) and a slanted flat hat with Cupid brooch. Her shoulders are bare, her bodice dark, and her huge dark sleeves have slashes showing white below. She is wearing a jewelled pendant, and displays a ring on each little finger.

18 June 1984: Ninety-five people picketing in support of...

National or international item

18 June 1984

Ninety-five people picketing in support of the miners' strike (by members of the National Union of Mineworkers ) clashed with police at Orgreave near Sheffield, in one of the worst outbreaks of violence in...

September 2000: Heads of state from 147 nations agreed on...

National or international item

September 2000

Heads of state from 147 nations agreed on Millennium Development Goals or MDGs.
Perkins, Joe. “Searchers, not Planners”. London Review of Books, 7 June 2007, pp. 37-9.
37-8

By 21 April 1855: James Dawson Burn published The Language...

Building and people item

By 21 April 1855

James Dawson Burn published The Language of the Walls, one of only a handful of books describing the contemporary advertising business.
Fenstermaker, John J. “Thomas Carlyle, Popular Advertising, and the Commerical Spirit in Victorian England”. Studies in Popular Culture, Vol.
15
, No. 1, 1992, pp. 25-36.
29
Richards, Thomas. The Commodity Culture of Victorian England: Advertising and Spectacle, 1851-1914. Stanford University Press, 1990.
47
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1434: 457-8

Jane Sharp

JS , who published in 1671, stands in a line of militant midwife-writers, close to Elizabeth Cellier before her and followed after a longer lapse of time by Elizabeth Nihell . Like theirs, her text is proto-feminist.
Jane Sharp Photograph of the title-page of "The Midwives Book, or the Whole Art of Midwifery Discovered", 1671, by Jane Sharp (in its slightly differently titled third edition, 1674).

1795: The (male) offspring of racially mixed marriages...

Building and people item

1795

The (male) offspring of racially mixed marriages were disqualified from all military service in the British Army except in non-combatant positions.
Neff, David Sprague. “Hostages to Empire: The Anglo-Indian Problem in Frankenstein, The Curse of Kehama, and The Missionary”. European Romantic Review, Vol.
8
, No. 4, 1 Sept.–30 Nov. 1997, pp. 386-08.
389

1867: The British Government decided to end the...

National or international item

1867

The British Government decided to end the transportation of convicts to Australia.
Clark, Charles Manning Hope. A History of Australia. Melbourne University Press, 1981.
III: 425; IV: 5, 8, 195
Clark, Charles Manning Hope. A Short History of Australia. Revised Illustrated, Penguin, 1986.
109
Smith, Babette. A Cargo of Women: Susannah Watson and the Convicts of the Princess Royal. New South Wales University Press, 1988.
145
Briggs, John et al. Crime and Punishment in England: An Introductory History. St Martin’s, 1996.
167
Tobias, John Jacob. Urban Crime in Victorian England. Shocken Books, 1972.
213

1704: A Penal Law enacted in England barred Roman...

National or international item

1704

A Penal Law enacted in England barred Roman Catholic estates in Ireland from descending by primogeniture to the eldest son; unless that eldest converted to Protestantism, the estate was to be shared equally among all...

By December 1773: Henry Brooke published his sentimental novel...

Writer or writing item

By December 1773

Henry Brooke published his sentimental novel Juliet Grenville.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
36 (1773): 443-53
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.

20 March 1916: The Viceroy of India announced the Government's...

National or international item

20 March 1916

The Viceroy of India announced the Government's intention to abolish the system of Indian indentured labour in Jamaica, Trinidad, British Guiana, Fiji, and Dutch Surinam.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 837
Wallace, Elisabeth. The British Caribbean: From the Decline of Colonialism to the End of Federation. University of Toronto Press, 1977.
5
Gott, Richard. “Shoot them to be sure”. London Review of Books, 25 Apr. 2002, pp. 26-9.
28

19 March 1872: The American theatrical publisher Samuel...

Writer or writing item

19 March 1872

The American theatrical publisher Samuel French took over T. H. Lacy 's publishing firm, for £5,000.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 139-40

Elizabeth Cellier

The small but significant literary output of seventeenth-century midwife EC amounts to three pamphlets on topical religious, medical, and gender issues, notably including the attempt to establish midwifery as a profession parallel to the male...

c.1590-1601: John Donne composed the famous lyrics which...

Writer or writing item

c.1590-1601

John Donne composed the famous lyrics which were posthumously published and later known as Songs and Sonnets.
Donne, John. “Chronological Table”. Complete Poetry and Selected Prose, edited by John Davy Hayward, Nonesuch Library, 1955, p. xi - xii.

1895: F. F. Montrésor began her publishing career...

Women writers item

1895

F. F. Montrésor began her publishing career this year with two novels, of which The One Who Looked On went through six editions in three years.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.