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After 18 February 1914: Leonard Woolf published his second novel,...

Writer or writing item

After 18 February 1914

Leonard Woolf published his second novel, The Wise Virgins (which he had begun to write on his honeymoon). Quite different in genre from his first, it is a roman à clef reputedly presenting harsh caricatures...

February 1912: Helen Houston produced the first issue of...

Building and people item

February 1912

Helen Houston produced the first issue of Business Girl, a monthly publication from the Institution of Women Shorthand Typists in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
32
Harrison, Royden et al. The Warwick Guide to British Labour Periodicals, 1790-1970: A Check List. Harvester Press, 1977.
60

1712: A boarding school for girls at the Two Golden...

Building and people item

1712

A boarding school for girls at the Two Golden Bulls on Mile End Green near London offered domestic science in addition to the usual accomplishments.
Hans, Nicholas A. New Trends in Education in the Eighteenth Century. Routledge and Kegan Paul, 1951.
250

By 1821: The number of circulating libraries in Britain...

Writer or writing item

By 1821

The number of circulating libraries in Britain stood at one thousand five hundred: up by half as much again in the previous twenty years.
Benedict, Barbara M. “Jane Austen and the Culture of Circulating Libraries: The Construction of Female Literacy”. Revising Women: Eighteenth-Century "Women’s Fiction" and Social Engagement, edited by Paula R. Backscheider, Johns Hopkins University Press, 2000, pp. 147-00.
164 and n54

1792: Mary Birket or Birkett, an Irish Quaker in...

Women writers item

1792

Mary Birket or Birkett , an Irish Quaker in her late teens who was resident in England, published at Dublin in two parts A Poem on the African Slave Trade. Addressed to her Own Sex.
Basker, James G., editor. Amazing Grace. Yale University Press, 2002.
442

1734: Erasmus Jones, writing as Father Poussin...

Building and people item

1734

Erasmus Jones , writing as Father Poussin (whose name is a dirty joke) published anonymously Pretty Doings in a Protestant Nation.
Grundy, Isobel. Lady Mary Wortley Montagu: Comet of the Enlightenment. Clarendon, 1999.
345-6

1838: Third class rail passengers were first carried...

Building and people item

1838

Third class rail passengers were first carried on British trains.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
90

1891: The Central and East of England Society for...

Building and people item

1891

The Central and East of England Society for Women's Suffrage began to publish an annual paper in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
14

12 July 1690: William III heavily defeated James II at...

National or international item

12 July 1690

William III heavily defeated James II at the battle of the Boyne in Ireland, in which 62,000 men fought.
Defoe, Daniel. Selected Poetry and Prose of Daniel Defoe. Editor Shugrue, Michael F., Holt, Rinehart and Winston, 1968.
324
Kelly, Matthew. “With Bit and Bridle”. London Review of Books, Vol.
32
, No. 15, 5 Aug. 2010, pp. 12-13.
22

October 2000: The Security Council of the United Nations...

National or international item

October 2000

The Security Council of the United Nations passed Resolution 1325, which calls for a greater involvement of women in global affairs, particularly in efforts to promote and maintain peace.
Cohn, Carol. “Feminist peacemaking”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
xxi
, No. 5, Feb. 2004, pp. 8-9.
8

1853: The United Kingdom Alliance, a temperance...

Building and people item

1853

The United Kingdom Alliance , a temperance reform group dedicated to prohibition, formed in Manchester.
Shiman, Lilian Lewis. Crusade against Drink in Victorian England. Macmillan, 1988.
75-6, 78-9

30 March 1638: John Wilkins entered in the Stationers' Register...

Building and people item

30 March 1638

John Wilkins entered in the Stationers' RegisterDiscovery of a World in the Moone, an early fictional response to features of the moon's surface newly made visible by telescopes; it was printed this year.
Cavendish, Margaret. “Introduction”. Paper Bodies: A Margaret Cavendish Reader, edited by Sylvia Bowerbank and Sara Heller Mendelson, Broadview, 2000, pp. 9-37.
29
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

1993: Rebecca Stephens climbed Mount Everest, the...

Building and people item

1993

Rebecca Stephens climbed Mount Everest, the first British woman to do so.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

1991: Rabbi Julia Neuberger published a book entitled...

Building and people item

1991

Rabbi Julia Neuberger published a book entitled Whatever's Happening to Women? Promises, Practices, and Payoffs.
Williams, Neville et al. Chronology of the 20th Century. Helicon, 1996.
503

28 October 1909: Charlotte Despard edited the first issue...

Building and people item

28 October 1909

Charlotte Despard edited the first issue of The Vote: Organ of the Women's Freedom League, a weekly magazine from London covering a range of feminist issues, including suffrage.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
29

1690 or 1691: One of the earliest Societies for the Reformation...

Building and people item

1690 or 1691

One of the earliest Societies for the Reformation of Manners was founded in Tower Hamlets on the outskirts of London, by a group of Anglican gentlemen.
Hunt, Margaret R. The Middling Sort: Commerce, Gender, and the Family in England, 1680-1780. University of California Press, 1996.
114

Katie Arnstein performed her solo show Sexy Lamp at the Edinburgh fringe festival.

Writer or writing item

August 2019

Katie Arnstein performed her solo show Sexy Lamp at the Edinburgh fringe festival. The show features shocking revelations about auditions and casting call notices, and was inspired by the #MeToo movement.
Akbar, Arifa. “Theatre and #MeToo: ’There’s a new anger in women’s stories’”. The Guardian, 27 Aug. 2019, https://www.theguardian.com/stage/2019/aug/27/women-theatre-metoo-movement-sexy-lamp-bitter-wheat-harvey.

15 July 1662: The Royal Society was chartered by the king...

Building and people item

15 July 1662

The Royal Society was chartered by the king from the existing philosophic society centred on Gresham's College .
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Clarendon Press, 1955, 6 vols.
3: 266-7, 267n6
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Oxford University Press, 1959.
443

8 May 1984: Twelve weeks before the opening ceremony...

National or international item

8 May 1984

Twelve weeks before the opening ceremony in Los Angeles, the USSR announced that it was boycotting the Olympic Games .
“Moscow pulls out of US Olympics”. BBC News: On This Day, 8 May 1984.

By 1900: There were only a hundred and fifty grammar...

Building and people item

By 1900

There were only a hundred and fifty grammar (selective secondary) schools in England and Wales, as against more than three thousand non-selective secondary schools.
Simon, Brian. The State and Educational Change: Essays in the History of Education and Pedagogy. Lawrence and Wishart, 1994.
164

Jane Brereton

JB was a poet who began writing in Wales before her marriage in 1711 and remained productive until her death thirty years later. She discusses poetry, too, in personal letters.

6 December 1923: A general election was held in Britain....

National or international item

6 December 1923

A general election was held in Britain.
Spartacus Educational. 28 Feb. 2003, http://www.spartacus.schoolnet.co.uk/.
under UK General Election 1923

Spring 1917: The Ministry of Munitions sponsored an exhibition...

Building and people item

Spring 1917

The Ministry of Munitions sponsored an exhibition of women's work shown in different industrial centres thoughout England.
Andrews, Irene Osgood. Economic Effects of the War Upon Women and Children in Great Britain. Oxford University Press, 1918.
53
Fraser, Helen. Women and War Work. G. A. Shaw, 1918.
116, 117

18 October 1819: The Sans Pareil theatre (which had hitherto...

Building and people item

18 October 1819

The Sans Pareil theatre (which had hitherto performed burlettas and other works by Jane Scott ) changed hands and became The Adelphi .
Mander, Raymond, and Joe Mitchenson. The Theatres of London. Rupert Hart-Davis, 1963.
14, 16-17, 283
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.
under Jane M. Scott

April 1860: A monthly periodical for women entitled Magdalen's...

Building and people item

April 1860

A monthly periodical for women entitled Magdalen's Friend and Female Homes' Intelligencer began publication in London.
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
14