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1926: Les Cents Unes, a women's book club (whose...

National or international item

1926

Les Cents Unes , a women's book club (whose name means literally the hundred female ones), was founded in France.
Gentry, Helen, and David Greenhood. Chronology of Books and Printing. Rev. ed., Macmillan, 1936.
138

31 May 1844: Natal was annexed to the Cape Colony....

National or international item

31 May 1844

Natal was annexed to the Cape Colony.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 681
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
885

Elizabeth Singer Rowe

ESR wrote witty, topical, satirical poetry during the 1690s, followed later in life by letters, essays, fiction (often epistolary), and a wide range of poetic modes, often though not invariably with a moral or religious...
Elizabeth Singer Rowe Transcription by Elizabeth Carter of a poem by Elizabeth Rowe, on paper surrounded by a deep blue background. "To Lady Brooke" reads in part: "your Looks appear / Artless as Virtue undisguised & clear / Bright as your sparkling Wit your lovely Eyes / Like that they please . . . .”

Anne Bradstreet

AB , born and brought up in seventeenth-century England, is known as the earliest poet of North America. She was a skilled and ambitious practitioner of verse history and scholarly adaptation from classical authors...
Anne Bradstreet Frontispiece of "An Account of Anne Bradstreet The Puritan Poetess, and Kindred Topics", ed. Luther Caldwell (Boston, 1898). Bradstreet is seen sitting at a desk, apparently paused in the act of writing for inspiration from above. She wears a black dress with a coif, big-collared shift, cuffs, and apron all in white.

By 8 March 1718: A maypole standing in The Strand in London...

National or international item

By 8 March 1718

A maypole standing in The Strand in London (destroyed by the Puritans in 1644 after such practices were made illegal, and loyally re-erected on 4 April 1661) was after various vicissitudes finally dismantled.
Rogers, Pat. “The Maypole in the Strand”. Journal for Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol.
28
, No. 1, 1 Mar.–31 May 2005, pp. 83-95.
83-6, 88

6 June 1654: Queen Christina abdicated from the throne...

National or international item

6 June 1654

Queen Christina abdicated from the throne of Sweden; crowned queen at the age of five in 1632, she was crowned again in December 1644 on reaching eighteen.
Marks, Tracy. Queen Christina of Sweden. 13 Feb. 2003, http://www.windweaver.com/christina/christina.htm.

1852: In Paris, M. and Mme Bouçicaut opened what...

Building and people item

1852

In Paris, M. and Mme Bouçicaut opened what is generally credited as the first department store; however, stores organized on the same principles had been operating in England since the 1830s.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
137

1920: Ideal Home, a monthly decorating magazine,...

Building and people item

1920

Ideal Home, a monthly decorating magazine, began publishing from King's Reach Tower, Stamford Street, London.
Winship, Janice. Inside Women’s Magazines. Pandora, 1987.
166
Ulrich’s International Periodicals Directory 1999. 37th ed., R. R. Bowker, 1998.
3620

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.

27 July 1777: Indians with General Burgoyne's forces seized...

National or international item

27 July 1777

Indians with General Burgoyne 's forces seized two loyalist women at Fort Edward, New York, and murdered and scalped one of them.
Coakley, Robert, and Stetson Conn. The War of the American Revolution. Center of Military History, 1975.
106-7

1834: The Old Bailey in London was re-organised...

National or international item

1834

The Old Bailey in London was re-organised as the Central Criminal Court.
Davenport-Hines, Richard. “Suffocating Suspense”. London Review of Books, 16 Mar. 2000, pp. 36-37.
37

1958: Elaine Morgan's one-act play The Waiting-Room...

Women writers item

1958

Elaine Morgan 's one-act play The Waiting-Room was published by Samuel French .
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

March 1748: The Poems of Thomas Warton the elder were...

Writer or writing item

March 1748

The Poems of Thomas Warton the elder were published by subscription.
Reid, Hugh. “’Those beck’ning ghost(s)’: The Subscribers to Thomas Warton’s Poems(1748)”. English Studies in Canada, Vol.
25
, Sept.–Dec. 1999, pp. 277-94.
277-8, 283-4

24 April 1786: The auction began of the Portland Museum,...

Building and people item

24 April 1786

The auction began of the Portland Museum, the collection of rarities in natural history collected by the late Duchess of Portland , with help from the botanist Daniel Solander .
Burmester, James et al. English Books. James Burmester Rare Books, 1985–2026, Numbered catalogues.
66

17 March 1677: Nathaniel Lee's tragedy The Rival Queens...

Writer or writing item

17 March 1677

Nathaniel Lee 's tragedy The Rival Queens opened on stage.
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.

Margaret Fuller

An important social and cultural critic in the United States in the mid-nineteenth century, MF published in a variety of forms, including travel literature, translations from German (notably Goethe , about whom she also published...
Margaret Fuller Half-length engraving of Margaret Fuller after a painting by Thomas Hicks. She sits holding a book on her lap, wearing a dress with a bow at its V neck, her hair smooth in front and wavy behind.

1848: An Anglican nursing order, the Community...

Building and people item

1848

An Anglican nursing order, the Community of St Mary the Virgin , was founded.
Poovey, Mary, and Florence Nightingale. “Introduction”. Cassandra and Other Selections from Suggestions for Thought, edited by Mary Poovey and Mary Poovey, New York University Press, 1993.
xix

23 May 1618: Religious conflict began in Germany and central...

National or international item

23 May 1618

Religious conflict began in Germany and central Europe which became known the Thirty Years' War: it originated in acts of violence by Protestants against Catholics.
Sobel, Dava. Galileo’s Daughter. Viking, 1999.
156-7
Cameron, Jennifer. A Dangerous Innovator: Mary Ward (1585-1645). St Pauls Publications, 2000.
238

1850: Charles Kingsley anonymously published Alton...

Writer or writing item

1850

Charles Kingsley anonymously published Alton Locke, A Tailor and Poet: An Autobiography.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

Margaret Laurence

ML was a mid-twentieth-century Canadian who began to publish while resident in Africa, putting her gift at the service of preserving oral folk literature through translation and adaptation. Already a journalist, she next turned...
Margaret Laurence Black-and-white portrait photo of Margaret Laurence. She is wearing thick, dark rimmed glasses and has short hair.

1921: The St Bride Foundation Printing School moved...

Writer or writing item

1921

The St Bride Foundation Printing School moved to Samford Street, London, and was renamed the London School of Printing and Kindred Trades .
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
175
Myers, Robin. The British Book Trade, from Caxton to the Present Day. Andre Deutsch in association with the National Book League, 1973.
310

1874: Sunday Closing activists lobbied strenuously...

Building and people item

1874

Sunday Closing activists lobbied strenuously to have their concerns reflected in a Licensing Amendment bill then under debate.
Shiman, Lilian Lewis. Crusade against Drink in Victorian England. Macmillan, 1988.
89

1798: Richard Polwhele published The Unsex'd Females,...

Building and people item

1798

Richard Polwhele published The Unsex'd Females, his notorious attack on Wollstonecraft and other active radicals.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
2nd ser. 27 (1799): 231-2
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

February 2008: Award-winning British author Zadie Smith...

Writer or writing item

February 2008

Award-winning British author Zadie Smith stirred up controversy by accusing most literary prizes of being only nominally about literature.
Smith, Zadie. “Breaking news: Short story competition result 2008”. The Willesden Herald, 5 Feb. 2008.
Smith, Zadie. “Breaking news: Short story competition result 2008”. The Willesden Herald, 5 Feb. 2008.
Brooks, Richard. “Zadie Smith sinks teeth into book awards”. Times Online: Arts & Entertainment: Books, 10 Feb. 2008.

1 January 1600: Scotland, by decree of its Privy Council...

National or international item

1 January 1600

Scotland, by decree of its Privy Council and a century and half before England, changed the official date of New Year from 25 March to 1 January.
GENUKI: UK & Ireland Genealogy. http://www.genuki.org.uk/.