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1679: The Habeas Corpus Act was passed, making...

National or international item

1679

The Habeas Corpus Act was passed, making it illegal in Britain to hold anybody in prison without trial.
Warren, Michael. “A Chronology of State Medicine, Public Health, Welfare and Related Services in Britain: 1066 - 1999”. Michael Warren’s Chronology, 6 Jan. 2003.

12 August 1822: The new Marquess of Londonderry, better known...

National or international item

12 August 1822

The new Marquess of Londonderry, better known as Viscount Castlereagh , killed himself: he was seen as the political author of Wellington 's victories and of repressive policies at home.
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.
1282

1968: Maggie Ross, the pseudonym of Maurine Jewel...

Women writers item

1968

Maggie Ross , the pseudonym of Maurine Jewel Lufkin (Bright) Bermange , published her disturbing and suspenseful first novel The Gasteropod.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

Elizabeth Avery

Elizabeth Avery (born Elizabeth Parker , daughter of a heterodox clergyman, was a religious polemicist and autobiographer of the mid seventeenth century. She is remarkable for the violently sexist reaction against her first publication, a...
Elizabeth Avery Title-page of "Ohel or Beth-Shemesh", edited by John Rogers, 1653, where "A Fuller Testimony as it was taken from Elizabeth Avery, out of her own mouth" was published.

1955: Rosalind Wade published Come Fill the Cup...

Women writers item

1955

Rosalind Wade published Come Fill the Cup (titled from a hedonistic line in Edward FitzGerald ), a novel dealing with alcoholism.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

20 August 1853: The London Hackney Carriage Act introducted...

National or international item

20 August 1853

The London Hackney Carriage Act introducted restrictions on advertising.
Nevett, Terry R. Advertising in Britain: A History. Heinemann, 1982.
59, 127
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

10 December 1922: Sir Archibald Vivian Hill from Great Britain...

National or international item

10 December 1922

Sir Archibald Vivian Hill from Great Britain and Otto Fritz Meyerhof were jointly awarded the Nobel Prize in Physiology or Medicine for their discovery of the fixed relationship between the consumption of oxygen and muscular...

1745: Surgeons in England broke away from the Barbers'...

Building and people item

1745

Surgeons in England broke away from the Barbers' Company to found their own corporation, the College of Surgeons .
Porter, Roy, editor. The Cambridge Illustrated History of Medicine. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
91

1862: The Peabody Trust was founded by George Peabody,...

Building and people item

1862

The Peabody Trust was founded by George Peabody , with a £150,000 donation, to create affordable urban housing.
Rodger, Richard. Housing in Urban Britain, 1780-1914: Class, Capitalism and Construction. Macmillan, 1989.
46
Owen, David. English Philanthropy, 1660-1960. Belknap Press of Harvard University Press, 1964.
380

January 1888: The Star was launched as a radical evening...

Writer or writing item

January 1888

The Star was launched as a radical evening paper in London.
Briggs, Julia. A Woman of Passion: The Life of E. Nesbit, 1858-1924. Hutchinson, 1987.
138

Ann Oakley

Ann Oakley is one of the most influential feminist voices of twentieth-century English sociology. She has worked primarily on the life-experiences which differentiate women from men, like housework, child-bearing, and the operation of gender in...
Ann Oakley Black-and-white photo of Anne Oakley, 17 November 1992. She is seated with her left hand rested on her books, including The Secret Lives of Eleanor Jenkinson.

October 1892: The Bibliographical Society of London was...

Writer or writing item

October 1892

The Bibliographical Society of London was founded, to promote the modern study of bibliography.
Gentry, Helen, and David Greenhood. Chronology of Books and Printing. Rev. ed., Macmillan, 1936.
118
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
163
Myers, Robin. The British Book Trade, from Caxton to the Present Day. Andre Deutsch in association with the National Book League, 1973.
97
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.
150

December 1975: Dulcie Gray published a suspense novel under...

Women writers item

December 1975

Dulcie Gray published a suspense novel under the title Ride on a Tiger, in which political involvement brings death to an actress.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
British Books in Print. J. Whitaker and Sons, 1874–1987.
1976

17 December 1765: The king's speech in the House of Commons...

National or international item

17 December 1765

The king's speech in the House of Commons mentioned that matters of importance had occurred in America and made anodyne promises of diligence and attention.
Thomas, Peter David Garner. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763-1767. Clarendon, 1975.
156
Thomas, Peter David Garner. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763-1767. Clarendon, 1975.
156
Thomas, Peter David Garner. British Politics and the Stamp Act Crisis: The First Phase of the American Revolution, 1763-1767. Clarendon, 1975.
143, 156

Probably 23 April 1689: Mr and Mrs Priest's girls' school in Chelsea...

Building and people item

Probably 23 April 1689

Mr and Mrs Priest's girls' school in Chelsea put on the first (private) performance of Dido and Aeneas, by Henry Purcell .
Campbell, Margaret. Henry Purcell, Glory of His Age. Oxford University Press, 1995.
130, 137, 146
Wharton, Philip, Duke of. The Poetical Works of Philip, late Duke of Wharton. Edmund Curll, 1731.
311
23 April was William and Mary 's Coronation...

1619: Blacks were sold for the first time as slaves...

National or international item

1619

Blacks were sold for the first time as slaves in Jamestown, Virginia.
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
549
Walvin, James. Black Ivory: A History of British Slavery. Howard University Press, 1994.
xi

1 November 1592: Moderata Fonte (also known as Modesta Pozzo)...

Writer or writing item

1 November 1592

Moderata Fonte (also known as Modesta Pozzo ) did her last work on a treatise in Italian on women, the day before she died in childbirth
Pozzo, Modesta. The Worth of Women. Translator Cox, Victoria, University of Chicago Press, 1997.
2, 38
Cox, Virginia. “The Single Self: Feminist Thought and the Marriage Market in Early Modern Venice”. Renaissance Quarterly, Vol.
48
, No. 3, 1 Sept.–30 Nov. 1995, pp. 513-81.
513n2

December 2009: The closing of the Edinburgh publishing firm...

Writer or writing item

December 2009

The closing of the Edinburgh publishing firm of Chambers was a milestone in the replacement of printed reference books by electronic sources.
Wilcockson, Nigel. “’Tis all in Pieces”. The Author, Vol.
121
, No. 1, 1 Mar.–31 May 2010, pp. 15-16.
15

By June 15 1850: Leigh Hunt's Autobiography was published,...

Writer or writing item

By June 15 1850

Leigh Hunt 's Autobiography was published, edited by his son Thornton Leigh Hunt .
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
1181(1850): 631
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

1704: Joseph Pitts published at Exeter (his home...

Building and people item

1704

Joseph Pitts published at Exeter (his home town) A True and Faithful Account of the Religion and Manners of the Mohammetans, the fruit of years of experience as a Barbary captive and Islamic convert.
Pagden, Anthony. “Oak in a Flowerpot”. London Review of Books, 14 Nov. 2002, pp. 9-10.
9
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.

Isabella Ormston Ford

Isabella Ormston Ford was a dedicated labour activist, suffragette, and anti-war advocate at the turn of the nineteenth century whose writing advocates her socialist-feminist ideals. She wrote newspaper articles, pamphlets, short stories, and novels, all...
Isabella Ormston Ford Black and white photo of Isabella Ford in 1924, sitting reading a book with a telephone beside her. Her body is in profile but she turns her head to face the camera. Her dark hair is parted in the middle and pulled back.

1888: J. A. Froude published his influential and...

Writer or writing item

1888

J. A. Froude published his influential and imperialist The English in the West Indies.
Edwards, Paul. “Black Writers of the Eighteenth and Nineteenth Centuries”. The Black Presence in English Literature, edited by David Dabydeen and David Dabydeen, Manchester University Press, 1985, pp. 50-67.
65
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.
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.

1848: Corset stays were first made with elastic...

Building and people item

1848

Corset stays were first made with elastic thread woven into fabric (instead of whalebone); this new design aided breathing and mobility.
Cunnington, C. Willett et al. The History of Underclothes. Revised, Faber and Faber, 1981.
95

1913: Caroline Spurgeon became the first woman...

Building and people item

1913

Caroline Spurgeon became the first woman professor in Britain when she was named Professor of English Literature at Bedford College .
Harte, Negley. The University of London 1836-1986. Athlone, 1986.
254
Duncan-Jones, Katherine. “Why Have So Few Women Written on Shakespeare?”. Early Modern Lives: Biography and Autobiography, Renaissance and Seventeenth Century Conference, London, 28 June 2002.

26 May 1891: The directors' meeting of the London Missionary...

Building and people item

26 May 1891

The directors' meeting of the London Missionary Society was first attended by women.
Prochaska, F. K. Women and Philanthropy in Nineteenth-Century England. Clarendon, 1980.
31