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23 July 1855: The Friendly Societies Act issued licenses...

National or international item

23 July 1855

The Friendly Societies Act issued licenses and created a system of regulation for these organizations.
Shiman, Lilian Lewis. Crusade against Drink in Victorian England. Macmillan, 1988.
176
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

1860s: During this decade, annuals became associated...

Writer or writing item

1860s

During this decade, annuals became associated with ghost stories, exemplified in works by Amelia B. Edwards and Charlotte Riddell .
Boyle, Andrew. An Index to the Annuals. Andrew Boyle, 1967.
Collins, Arthur Simons. The Profession of Letters: A Study of the Relation of Author to Patron, Publisher, and Public, 1780-1832. George Routledge and Sons, 1928.
Eliot, George, and Felicia Bonaparte. Middlemarch. Editor Carroll, David, Oxford University Press, 1997.
Brown, Susan I. “The Victorian Poetess”. The Cambridge Companion to Victorian Poetry, Cambridge University Press, 2000, pp. 180-02.
Renier, Anne. Friendship’s Offering: An Essay on the Annuals and Gift Books of the Nineteenth Century. Private Libraries Association, 1964, http://University of Toronto (Robarts).
Linley, Margaret. “A Centre That Would Not Hold: Annuals and Cultural Democracy”. Nineteenth-Century Media and the Construction of Identities, St Martin’s Press, 2000, pp. 54-74.

1955: The first Teflon nonstick cookware, manufactured...

Building and people item

1955

The first Teflon nonstick cookware, manufactured in France by Tefal , went on sale.
Harris, Melvin. ITN Book of Firsts. Michael O’Mara Books, 1994.
263

May 1712: The publisher Bernard Lintot edited and published...

Writer or writing item

May 1712

The publisher Bernard Lintot edited and published Miscellaneous Poems and Translations, by several Hands.
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.

1811: The divorce corset, a padded, triangular...

Building and people item

1811

The divorce corset, a padded, triangular piece of metal with curved sides that separated the breasts, appeared on the market in the UK.
Cunnington, C. Willett et al. The History of Underclothes. Revised, Faber and Faber, 1981.
74
Kunzle, David. Fashion and Fetishism: A Social History of the Corset, Tight-Lacing and Other Forms of Body-Sculpture in the West. Rowman and Littlefield, 1982.
113

1 September 1894: Sydney Grundy's satire on intellectual and...

Writer or writing item

1 September 1894

Sydney Grundy 's satire on intellectual and emancipated women, The New Woman, opened at the Comedy Theatre in London; it was published the same year.
Chothia, Jean, editor. The New Woman and Other Emancipated Woman Plays. Oxford University Press, 1998.
2

Lucie Duff Gordon

LDG , mid-Victorian translator, letter-writer, and travel-writer, published ten translations undertaken to help support her family. Her three volumes of travel letters were not originally intended for publication, and perhaps owe their honest style and...
Lucie Duff Gordon Black and white, head-and-shoulders sketch of Lucie Duff Gordon in profile by George Frederic Watts, c. 1848, used as frontispiece to Duff Gordon's "Letters From Egypt", 1865. She sits in an armchair, facing to the left, wearing a loose gown with a high neckline, and her smooth hair is pulled back into a low bun. Below is her signature, "Lucie Duff Gordon".

Hélène Cixous

HC , a French writer and academic, is best known to English-speaking audiences as a literary critic associated with French feminism of the 1970s and 80s, and as proponent of écriture féminine. She herself...
Hélène Cixous Black and white photograph of Hélène Cixous by Claude Truong-Ngoc, September 2011. She is wearing a light jacket over a high necked black sweater, with a piece of black clothing swung over her shoulder. She has short, cropped grey hair and a slight, enigmatic smile.

1915: Principals of the women's colleges of Oxford...

Building and people item

1915

Principals of the women's colleges of Oxford University agreed to allow the formation of mixed societies.
Howarth, Janet. “Women”. The History of the University of Oxford: The Twentieth Century, edited by Brian Harrison, Clarendon, 1994, pp. 345-76.
361

1934: The Incitement to Disaffection Act, designed...

National or international item

1934

The Incitement to Disaffection Act, designed to facilitate the suppression of grassroots political dissent, was passed despite the efforts of the newly-formed National Council for Civil Liberties .
Porter, Bernard. “How the Judges Stood in the Way of Socialism”. London Review of Books, 1 June 2000, pp. 27-8.
27

1 January 1991: The Press Complaints Commission, successor...

Building and people item

1 January 1991

The Press Complaints Commission , successor to the Press Council , was instituted; it proved as ineffective as its predecessor.
Stevens, Ronald. “Bobbing Along”. London Review of Books, 7 Feb. 2002, pp. 17-18.
17

8 January 1642: The scientist Galileo died, blind and still...

Building and people item

8 January 1642

The scientist Galileo died, blind and still under the ban of the Inquisition ; Isaac Newton , who inherited his mantle as leading light in the field of science, was born on Christmas Day of...

1950: Olive Hirst became the first woman on an...

Building and people item

1950

Olive Hirst became the first woman on an advertising board, with her appointment in Sells Ltd . She became managing director before the end of this same year.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

June 12 1859: The Whig Party reformed under the leadership...

National or international item

June 12 1859

The Whig Party reformed under the leadership of Lord Palmerston , as the Liberal Party .
Fryde, Edmund Boleslaw. Handbook of British Chronology. Editors Greenway, D. E. et al., 3rd ed., Offices of the Royal Historical Society, 1986.
115
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
491
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
857

8 August 1880: The ship Jeddah, flying the British flag...

National or international item

8 August 1880

The ship Jeddah, flying the British flag and carrying almost a thousand Malayan Muslims on pilgrimage to Mecca and Medina, was towed into Aden, leaking badly, three weeks after sailing from Singapore.
Gilsenan, Michael. “And you, what are you doing here?”. London Review of Books, 19 Oct. 2006, pp. 3-7.
3

1637: William Austin published a formal defence...

Writer or writing item

1637

William Austin published a formal defence of women, Haec Homo, Wherein the Excellency of the Creation of Woman is Described.
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.

Sophia Woodfall

SW , whose career was in acting, published two interesting novels during the first decade of the nineteenth century. Some lines of poetry in one of them are probably her own.

1886: The year-end accounting of Peter Robinson's...

Building and people item

1886

The year-end accounting of Peter Robinson's department store showed sales of ready-made goods earning far greater business than made-to-order purchases.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
208, 214

1984: With the attainment of suffrage by Liechtensteinian...

National or international item

1984

With the attainment of suffrage by Liechtensteinian women, all countries in Europe now allowed women to vote.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

Violet Trefusis

Though VT is best known to literary history as a lover of English writer and aristocrat Vita Sackville-West , she wrote and published in a range of genres throughout her life, which spanned much of...

By January 1796: Anthony King proposed radically extending...

Building and people item

By January 1796

Anthony King proposed radically extending and improving education in Ireland, in Thoughts on the Expediency of Adopting a System of National Education.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
2d ser. 16 (1796)

1695: As an index of the decline of brewing as...

Building and people item

1695

As an index of the decline of brewing as women's work, historian Deborah Simonton notes that Aberdeen had only ten female brewers this year, compared to 150 in the previous century.
Simonton, Deborah. A History of European Women’s Work, 1700 to the Present. Routledge, 1998.
62

1653: Cromwell's Civil Marriage Act was passed,...

Building and people item

1653

Cromwell 's Civil Marriage Act was passed, which legislated the requirement of wedding banns.
“English Wedding Traditions”. WeddingDetails.com.

18 July 1874: The weekly Ladies' Own Journal and Miscellany...

Writer or writing item

18 July 1874

The weekly Ladies' Own Journal and Miscellany ceased publication.
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
21

1914: Philosopher and sociologist Helen Bosanquet...

Women writers item

1914

Philosopher and sociologist Helen Bosanquet (former Dendy) published Social Work in London: 1869-1912
Waithe, Mary Ellen. “Twentieth Century Women Philosophers”. Contemporary Women Philosophers, 1900-Today, edited by Mary Ellen Waithe, Kluwer, 1995, pp. 299-80.
306-11, 369n54