Women’s Writing in the British Isles from the Beginnings to the Present
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Writer or writing
Author profile
Penelope Fitzgerald
PF
was the author of three biographies, a short-story writer, and much admired novelist of the later twentieth century, who began publishing at almost sixty. Apart from one mystery, her eight novels fall into two...
May 1830: By this date London was packed annually with...
Building and people item
May 1830
By this date London was packed annually with Evangelicals for the month of May, as they crowded in from the provinces to attend various gatherings.
Bradley, Ian. The Call to Seriousness: The Evangelical Impact on the Victorians. Jonathan Cape, 1976.
139
About 1136: The obscure figure known as Geoffrey of Monmouth,...
Writer or writing item
About 1136
The obscure figure known as Geoffrey of Monmouth
, who was probably Bishop of St Asaph (though many other roles have been assigned him), finished writing his History of the Kings of Britain, or...
26 May 1905: The Fabian Society set up a committee under...
Building and people item
26 May 1905
The Fabian Society
set up a committee under Sidney Webb
to investigate the declining birth rate and the level of infant mortality.
McLaren, Angus. Birth Control in Nineteenth Century England. Croom Helm, 1978.
188
Pfeffer, Naomi. The Stork and the Syringe: A Political History of Reproductive Medicine. Polity Press, 1993.
5
21 October 1908: The first suffrage leaflet drop was made...
National or international item
21 October 1908
The first suffrage leaflet drop was made on London, by a suffragette who scattered leaflets demanding Votes For Women! over the House of Commons from a hired civilian dirigible.
Harris, Melvin. ITN Book of Firsts. Michael O’Mara Books, 1994.
37
By autumn 1896: French erotic writer Pierre Louÿs, already...
Writer or writing item
By autumn 1896
French erotic writer Pierre Louÿs
, already notorious for the lesbian Songs of Bilitis, 1895, printed at his own expense his best-known work, Aphrodite, about a courtesan in ancient Alexandria.
Lowndes, Marie Belloc. The Merry Wives of Westminster. Macmillan, 1946.
31-2
23 July 1796: Horrid Mysteries. A Story, translated by...
Writer or writing item
23 July 1796
Horrid Mysteries. A Story, translated by P. Will
from Karl Friedrich August Grosse
(one of the gothic horrid novels of Austen
's Northanger Abbey), was advertised as just out.
Garside, Peter et al., editors. The English Novel 1770-1829. Oxford University Press, 2000, 2 vols.
Garside 1: 675
By June 1762: Arthur Murphy anonymously published An Enquiry...
Writer or writing item
By June 1762
Arthur Murphy
anonymously published An Enquiry into the Nature and Origin of Literary Property.
Gentleman’s Magazine. Various publishers.
32 (1672): 295
1774: Arthur Young published his Political Arithmetic,...
Building and people item
1774
Arthur Young
published his Political Arithmetic, in support of mercantilist economics and maximizing the wealth of the state.
Kelly, Gary, editor. Dictionary of Literary Biography 158. Gale Research, 1996.
388-9
1 February 1893: Thomas Edison opened the world's first film...
Building and people item
1 February 1893
Thomas Edison
opened the world's first film studio in West Orange, New Jersey; the film strips were not designed for projection onto a screen but for individual viewers to watch, "peep-show" style, through a...
November 1762: At the annual Lord Mayor's Banquet in London,...
National or international item
November 1762
At the annual Lord Mayor's Banquet in London, Pitt
was vociferously welcomed, while Bute
, who was thought to be too soft in the peace negotiations, was nearly mauled by the crowd.
Furneaux, Rupert. The Seven Years War. Hart-Davis MacGibbon, 1973.
200
January 1821: Jane Carlile, wife of publisher Richard Carlile...
Thomas, Donald. A Long Time Burning: The History of Literary Censorship in England. Frederick A. Praeger, 1969.
203
Writer or writing
Author profile
Jane Ellen Harrison
Classics scholar JEH
devoted much of her career to radically unorthodox studies of the development of ritual and religion in early Greek culture. Her findings, issuing in both monographs and articles, were highly publicized and...
February 1920: A report on reorganising the British Civil...
Building and people item
February 1920
A report on reorganising the BritishCivil Service
(particularly with regard to the gendering of employment and salary scales) was signed by members of the National Whitley Council
. It was published the same year.
“Civil Service National Whitley Council Reorganisation Committee: final report”. BOPCRIS (British Official Publications Collaborative Reader Information): Unlocking Key British Government Publications.
May 1649: Alexander Ross anonymously produced the earliest...
Writer or writing item
May 1649
Alexander Ross
anonymously produced the earliest English version of the Koran, from the French translation which had appeared the same year.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.
1793: Alexander Mackenzie made the first recorded...
National or international item
1793
Alexander Mackenzie
made the first recorded crossing of the North American continent (first overland reaching of the Pacific), travelling in what is now Canada.
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
February 1780: Pennsylvania became, in the words of historian...
National or international item
February 1780
Pennsylvania became, in the words of historian Margaret Jacob
, the first place in the Western world to abolish slavery.
Jullian, Philippe. “Spinoza got it”. London Review of Books, Vol.
34
, No. 21, 8 Nov. 2012, pp. 26-7.
26-7
“Slavery in Pennsylvania”. Slavery in the North, 2003.
1913: The Irish Women's Franchise League helped...
National or international item
1913
The Irish Women's Franchise League
helped at the soup kitchens during a general strike and lockout; the relief effort brought together women's suffrage, nationalist, and labour organisations.
McKillen, Beth. “Irish Feminism and Nationalist Separatism, 1914-23”. Éire-Ireland, Vol.
17
, No. 3, 4, 1982, pp. 52 - 67, 72.
61
21 August 2006: Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie, not yet in her...
Writer or writing item
21 August 2006
Chimamanda Ngozi Adichie
, not yet in her thirties, had her first big success with her novel Half of a Yellow Sun, set during the civil war in Nigeria which lasted from 1967 to 1970.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.
1769: The Town and Country Magazine; or Universal...
Building and people item
1769
The Town and Country Magazine; or Universal Repository of Knowledge, Instruction, and Entertainment began publication; it ran until 1795.
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.
1860: The first international meeting of scientists...
Hellemans, Alexander, and Bryan Bunch. The Timetables of Science: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in the History of Science. Simon and Shuster, 1988.
330
Knight, David. The Age of Science: The Scientific World-View in the Nineteenth Century. Basil Blackwell, 1986.
157
2 April 1792: William Wilberforce moved once again in the...
National or international item
2 April 1792
William Wilberforce moved once again in the House of Commons
for complete abolition of the slave trade. The ensuing all-night debate ended in a victory, 230 votes to 85.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
1460: Those London barbers who also practised as...
Building and people item
1460
Those London barbers who also practised as surgeons incorporated a company to protect their interests.
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
10: 693
Writer or writing
Author profile
Grace Elliott
GE
is not a courtesan memoirist in the usual sense, since her one surviving work, her published journal, is silent on the topic of her love-affairs. It covers exclusively her experience, mostly in Paris...
