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2 December 1859: White American abolitionist John Brown was...

National or international item

2 December 1859

White American abolitionist John Brown was hanged in Charles Town by the state of Virginia, with the approval of the federal government .
Zinn, Howard. A People’s History of the United States: 1492-Present. 20th Anniversary Edition, HarperCollins, 1999.
184-6
Evans, Richard J. The Penguin Dictionary of Nineteenth Century History. Editors Belchem, John and Richard Price, Penguin, 1996.
85-6
Corey, Melinda, and George Ochoa, editors. The Encyclopedia of the Victorian World. Henry Holt and Company, 1996.
65

July 1981: Race violence erupted in several British...

Building and people item

July 1981

Race violence erupted in several British cities: at Toxteth in Liverpool, in Manchester, and at Southall in London.
“Race riots”. The Independent on Sunday, 1 July 2001, p. 9.
9

22 November 1994: Rosemary West was given ten life sentences...

Building and people item

22 November 1994

Rosemary West was given ten life sentences for the sex murders of ten young women and girls, who were mostly then buried at her house in Gloucester.
Williams, Neville et al. Chronology of the 20th Century. Helicon, 1996.
531

12 December 1963: Kenya became independent within the Commonwealth;...

National or international item

12 December 1963

Kenya became independent within the Commonwealth; its first Prime Minister (following elections in May) was Jomo Kenyatta , who had been released from imprisonment on 14 August 1961.
Reader, John. “Scram from Africa”. London Review of Books, 16 Mar. 2000, pp. 31-4.
34
Maathai, Wangari. Unbowed. A Memoir. Arrow Books, 2007.
91

15 July 1819: Byron began to publish in instalments (opening...

Writer or writing item

15 July 1819

Byron began to publish in instalments (opening with cantos one and two) his satirical mock-epic poem Don Juan; he left it unfinished at his death.
Chandler, James. England in 1819: The Politics of Literary Culture and the Case of Romantic Historicism. University of Chicago Press, 1998.
354
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

October 1925: The Home Secretary publicly referred to people...

Building and people item

October 1925

The Home Secretary publicly referred to people recently arrested as notorious Communists, contrary to the principle of presumed innocence until proved guilty.
Porter, Bernard. “How the Judges Stood in the Way of Socialism”. London Review of Books, 1 June 2000, pp. 27-8.
27-8

Ivy Compton-Burnett

ICB published twenty novels: the first while she was in her twenties, in 1911, but the first one to use her mature and startlingly original style when she was forty, in 1925. From the beginning...

8 June 1814: Novelist and playwright Charles Reade was...

Writer or writing item

8 June 1814

Novelist and playwright Charles Reade was born at Ipsden House, Ipsden, Oxfordshire.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
21

Lucille Iremonger

LI published articles in periodicals, an exotic cookery book, travel and autobiographical works, novels, an anthology, and in particular historical biographies and studies of psychology. Having grown up in Jamaica, she sometimes wrote about...

18 July 1564: The Merchant Adventurers' Company received...

National or international item

18 July 1564

The Merchant Adventurers' Company received a new charter from Elizabeth I that, among other things, incorporated the company in London, extended the geographical range of its dealings, and solified its status as a national...

2 December 1848: Emperor-King Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated...

National or international item

2 December 1848

Emperor-King Ferdinand I of Austria abdicated in favour of his nephew Francis Joseph .
Deák, István. “Lawful Revolutions and the Many Meanings of Freedom in the Habsburg Monarchy”. Revolution and the Meanings of Freedom in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Isser Woloch, Stanford University Press, 1996, pp. 280-14.
301

28 November 1918: Wilhelm II of Germany, the Kaiser, who had...

National or international item

28 November 1918

Wilhelm II of Germany, the Kaiser, who had fled to Holland, abdicated following the Berlin Revolution of 9 November 1918.
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry. Historical Tables: 58 BC-AD 1985. 11th ed., Garland Publishing, 1986.
230

1830s: Women's fashionable dress expanded; sleeves...

Building and people item

1830s

Women's fashionable dress expanded; sleeves puffed outward and upward, and petticoats and bustles increased ladies' diameters considerably.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
52-3

4 March 1974: Labour having come first past the post in...

National or international item

4 March 1974

Labour having come first past the post in the general election of 28 February, Harold Wilson formed his second government (a minority one), replacing ConservativeEdward Heath as Prime Minister.
Young, Toby. “What U.S. needs is a Queen”. Edmonton Journal, 1 Dec. 2000, p. A17.
A17
Spufford, Francis. “Love that Bird”. London Review of Books, 6 June 2002, pp. 28-33.
28

1705: According to Oliver Goldsmith, Beau Nash...

Building and people item

1705

According to Oliver Goldsmith , Beau Nash arrived in Bath, whose social life he was to dominate for so long, the same year that the town began its brilliant architectural redesigning.
Shuttleton, David. “Mary Chandlers Description of Bath (1733): the poetic topographies of an Augustan tradeswoman”. Womens Writing, Vol.
7
, No. 3, 2000, pp. 447-67.
466n40

Sarah Harriet Burney

SHB was an early nineteenth-century novelist and letter-writer (though she began to publish before the end of the eighteenth century). Her achievements in both these genres have been obscured by those of her sister Frances...

October 1932: The New Commonwealth Society was founded...

National or international item

October 1932

The New Commonwealth Society was founded by David, Baron Davies of Llandinam .
Ceadel, Martin. Pacifism in Britain, 1914-1945 : The Defining of a Faith. Clarendon, 1980, http://U of A HSS.
Appendix I

2 April-14 June 1982: Argentina invaded the British-owned Falkland...

National or international item

2 April-14 June 1982

Argentina invaded the British-owned Falkland Islands; the Falklands War with the UK ensued.
Knightley, Phillip. “Fighting Dirty”. Guardian Weekly, 30 Mar. 2000, p. 23.
23

17 November 1858: Robert Owen, socialist, died at Newtown in...

Writer or writing item

17 November 1858

Robert Owen , socialist, died at Newtown in Montgomeryshire.
Stephen, Sir Leslie, and Sidney Lee, editors. The Dictionary of National Biography. Smith, Elder, 1908–2026, 22 vols. plus supplements.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
107

29 May 1913: The London premiere of Igor Stravinsky's...

Building and people item

29 May 1913

The London premiere of Igor Stravinsky 's ballet The Rite of Spring, starring Nijinsky , caused an uproar.
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
29 May 2013

October 1882: The last issue of Fraser's Magazine was ...

Writer or writing item

October 1882

The last issue of Fraser's Magazine was published.
Houghton, Walter E., and Jean Harris Slingerland, editors. The Wellesley Index to Victorian Periodicals 1824-1900. University of Toronto Press, 1966–1989, 5 vols.
2: 315

1924: Leading suffragist Annie Kenney published...

Women writers item

1924

Leading suffragist Annie Kenney published Memoirs of a Militant, a book bound in WSPU colours: purple cloth, with white and green stripes.
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.

John Norris

2 August 1914: The World Alliance for Promoting International...

Building and people item

2 August 1914

The World Alliance for Promoting International Friendship through the Churches was founded at a conference in Constance, Switzerland.
Edwards, David Lawrence. Christian England, from the Eighteenth Century to the First World War. Collins, 1984, 3 vols.
358

1 September 1891: The Elementary Education Act came into effect;...

National or international item

1 September 1891

The Elementary Education Act came into effect; it eliminated all fees for elementary schooling in England and Wales, by providing grants to schools.
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History, 1714-1980. Longman, 1983.
21, 103
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
308, 319
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 23rd ed., Ward, Lock, 1904.
399