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John Millington Synge

JMS began publishing early in the twentieth century under the influence of the Irish revival. During his short life he wrote several plays that have remained in the repertoire, while his study of the Aran...
John Millington Synge Photograph of oil painting of John Millington Synge, with a gold frame. Synge is wearing a black suit and vest, black tie, and white collared shirt, and he is looking directly at the viewer. His hands appear to be adjusting his suit.

Agnes Beaumont

AB left a single text, an autobiographical account of her struggles with her father over her right to choose her own religious sect and of the accusations levelled against her after his sudden death, because...
Agnes Beaumont Illustration to "True Stories of Girl Heroines" by Evelyn Everett-Green, 1901, which includes Agnes Beaumont among its role-model heroines. The picture shows John Bunyan on his horse (which figures largely in Beaumont's "Narrative of the Persecutions"), talking to her and her sister (or sister-in-law), who are on foot.

1786: A committee was formed to provide relief...

Building and people item

1786

A committee was formed to provide relief for London's black poor: 400 were helped in the first few months.
Walvin, James et al. “Ignatius Sancho: The Man and His Times”. Ignatius Sancho: An African Man of Letters, National Portrait Gallery, 1997, pp. 93-113.
108

1769: James Watt received a patent (number 913)...

Building and people item

1769

James Watt received a patent (number 913) for his first condensing steam engine, whose scientific principles he had discovered in 1764.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.

Queen Victoria

From a young age, Queen Victoria wrote extensive journals, two of which were published with great success during her lifetime. Other selections from her journals, collections of her letters, and drawings and watercolours from her...
Queen Victoria Black and white photograph of Queen Victoria, done for her Diamond Jubilee, 1897, by W. and D. Downey. She is seated, face in profile, holding a fan and wearing an elaborately embroidered floor-length dress, a small crown, a veil on the back of her head whose lace matches that of her skirt, a jewelled bracelet and drop earrings. National Archives of Canada.

1973: Julia Phillips became the first woman to...

Building and people item

1973

Julia Phillips became the first woman to win an Oscar for film production: she shared the award, for producing The Sting, with Tony Bill and her husband Michael .
Baxter, Brian. “Julia Phillips”. The Guardian, 4 Jan. 2002, p. 20.
20

1878: By this date, music hall singer Jenny Hill...

Building and people item

1878

By this date, music hall singer Jenny Hill was touring the country and commanding large fees.
Bratton, Jacqueline S., editor. Music Hall: Performance and Style. Open University Press, 1986.
99-100

18 February 1742: Horace Walpole noted at a masquerade the...

Building and people item

18 February 1742

Horace Walpole noted at a masquerade the popularity of Mary Queen of Scots costumes, and those dressed like Van Dyck portraits in vaguely seventeenth-century style.
Walpole, Horace. The Letters of Horace Walpole. Editor Toynbee, Mrs Paget, Clarendon, 1903–1925, 16 vols.
1: 181-2

After 11 May 1622: Abraham Darcie published a formal defence...

Writer or writing item

After 11 May 1622

Abraham Darcie published a formal defence of women: The Honour of Ladies: Or, A True Description of their Noble Perfections.
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.

June 1870: Elizabeth Garrett graduated with a medical...

Building and people item

June 1870

Elizabeth Garrett graduated with a medical degree from the Sorbonne, having been unable to obtain one in England.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
73-4

By 27 September 1905: Scientist Grace Chisholm Young published...

Women writers item

By 27 September 1905

Scientist Grace Chisholm Young published the first of two scientific books co-authored with her husband, William Henry Young : The First Book of Geometry.
Young, Grace Chisholm, and William Henry Young. The First Book of Geometry. J. M. Dent, 1905.

20 February 1913: Lilian Lenton was first arrested, after she...

Building and people item

20 February 1913

Lilian Lenton was first arrested, after she and another suffragist set fire to a tea-house in Kew Gardens. She became notorious first because of damage to her health by force-feeding when she went on...

1969: Sheila Rowbotham published her highly influential...

Building and people item

1969

Sheila Rowbotham published her highly influential Women's Liberation and the New Politics with Spokesman Press of Nottingham.
Ross, Elizabeth Arledge, and Miriam L. Bearse. A Chronology of the Women’s Liberation Movement in Britain. Editors Boyle, Karen E. and The Oral History Project Advisory Group, The Feminist Archive, 1996, http://Bodleian.
48

1969-1970: US feminist Carol Hanisch circulated an article...

Building and people item

1969-1970

US feminist Carol Hanisch circulated an article entitled The Personal is Political.
Siegel, Deborah L. "The Personal is Political": Travels of a Slogan in Second and Third Wave Feminism. University of Wisconsin, 2001.
38-9
Miller, James. "Democracy is in the Streets": From Port Huron to the Siege of Chicago. Simon and Schuster, 1988.
87, 386 n.23

20 November 1803: The Royal Philanthropic Expedition set sail...

National or international item

20 November 1803

The Royal Philanthropic Expedition set sail in three ships from La Coruna, to carry the practice of vaccination against smallpox to Spanish possessions in South America and Spanish outposts in China (Canton) and Macao).
Williams, Gareth. Angel of Death. The Story of Smallpox. Palgrave Macmillan, 2011.
215-17

28 September 1707: The Privy Council turned down a scheme by...

National or international item

28 September 1707

The Privy Council turned down a scheme by entrepreneurs including John Breholt for ending piracy by disaffected and allegedly very wealthy British seamen off the island of Madagascar.
Baer, Joel H. “Penelope Aubin and the Pirates of Madagascar: Biographical Notes and Documents”. Eighteenth- Century Women: Studies in their Lives, Work, and Culture, edited by Linda V. Troost, Vol.
1
, 2001, pp. 49-62.
49-52

: Evangelical William Wilberforce stayed in...

Building and people item

Winter 1814-15

Evangelical William Wilberforce stayed in Brighton during the winter season in order to have access to the Prince Regent and attempt a conversion within the monarchy.
Bradley, Ian. The Call to Seriousness: The Evangelical Impact on the Victorians. Jonathan Cape, 1976.
35-6

August 1959: The first Notting Hill Carnival was held,...

Writer or writing item

August 1959

The first Notting Hill Carnival was held, with the intention of eclipsing the local memory of the riots in this area a year previously.
Travis, Alan. “After 44 years secret papers reveal truth about five nights of violence in Notting Hill”. The Guardian, 24 Aug. 2002, p. 3.
3

1891: In this year, there was only one female candidate...

Building and people item

1891

In this year, there was only one female candidate for the School Board in Manchester and only one for Liverpool.
Stone, James S. Emily Faithfull: Victorian Champion of Women’s Rights. P. D. Meany, 1994.
284

June 1994: The left-wing political monthly Red Pepper:...

Writer or writing item

June 1994

The left-wing political monthly Red Pepper: Green Socialism was launched, with Hilary Wainwright as editor.
Brooks, Libby. “Ruth Rendell: Dark lady of whodunnits”. The Guardian, 3 Aug. 2002, pp. 16-19.
16

1 January 1863: Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation,...

National or international item

1 January 1863

Abraham Lincoln signed the Emancipation Proclamation, by which all those people still enslaved in the rebel states of the USA gained their freedom.
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry. Historical Tables: 58 BC-AD 1985. 11th ed., Garland Publishing, 1986.
204
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
II: 152

1819: Prince Pomare of Tahiti built a massive Christian...

National or international item

1819

Prince Pomare of Tahiti built a massive Christian church with the help of members of the London Missionary Society ; he was baptised there in front of 4,000 citizens, and Christianity spread throughout the island.
Neill, Stephen. A History of Christian Missions. 2nd ed., Penguin, 1990.
252

Emma Marshall

EM 's output as a writer during the latter part of the nineteenth century amounted to almost two hundred volumes: a rate of production necessitated by the bank crash which lost her husband his job...

By February 1957: Lawrence Durrell published his novel Justine,...

Writer or writing item

By February 1957

Lawrence Durrell published his novel Justine, the first volume in The Alexandria Quartet. He wrote in manic bursts,
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
10 October 2013
taking weeks rather than months for each novel (of which the...

Spring 1885: Isla Stewart assumed the post of matron at...

Building and people item

Spring 1885

Isla Stewart assumed the post of matron at the smallpox camps in Darenth near Dartford, Kent.
McGann, Susan. The Battle of the Nurses: A Study of Eight Women who Influenced the Development of Professional Nursing, 1880-1930. Scutari, 1992.
59-60
White, Rosemary. Social Change and the Development of the Nursing Profession: A Study of the Poor Law Nursing Service, 1848-1948. H. Kimpton, 1978.
69-70