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Probably 1507: William Dunbar published The Tretis of the...

Writer or writing item

Probably 1507

William Dunbar published The Tretis of the Twa Mariit Wemen and the Wedo (that is, the two married women and the widow), a satirical dialogue in Scots verse.
Cox, Michael, editor. The Oxford Chronology of English Literature. Oxford University Press, 2002, 2 vols.

1779: For the first time cast iron was used to...

Building and people item

1779

For the first time cast iron was used to build a bridge: over the Severn a kilometre from the iron-smelting village of Coalbrookdale at what became known as Ironbridge.
“The Iron Bridge”. Ironbridge: Birthplace of Industry.

1899: Jesse Boot of Boots the Chemists founded...

Writer or writing item

1899

Jesse Boot of Boots the Chemists founded the Boots Booklovers Library , hoping to attract customers by adding a lending library to Boots shops.
McAleer, Joseph. Popular Reading and Publishing in Britain 1914-1950. Clarendon Press, 1992.
49
Beauman, Nicola. A Very Great Profession: The Woman’s Novel 1914-39. Virago, 1983.
10

1881: Sins of the Cities of the Plains, a pornographic...

Writer or writing item

1881

Sins of the Cities of the Plains, a pornographic novel, was privately published by William Lazenby ; it may have been the collaborative effort of James Campbell Reddie and Simeon Solomon .
Cook, Matt. London and the Culture of Homosexuality, 1885-1914. Cambridge University Press, 2003.
18-19

31 January 1707: Matthew Prior's Poems on Several Occasions...

Writer or writing item

31 January 1707

Matthew Prior 's Poems on Several Occasions were published illicitly, through Edmund Curll .
Bracken, James K., and Joel Silver, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 154. Gale Research, 1995.
154: 82
Baines, Paul, and Pat Rogers. Edmund Curll, Bookseller. Clarendon Press, 2007.
27

1881: The Young Women's Christian Association in...

Building and people item

1881

The Young Women's Christian Association in the United States first began classes to train women as typists.
Beeching, Wilfred A. Century of the Typewriter. Heinemann, 1974.
35

Pam Gems

PG launched her playwrighting career in 1972 at the age of forty-seven. She went on to create a number of strong female roles, often recasting historical figures in unromanticized terms. In addition to her own...
Pam Gems Black-and-white photo of Pam Gems, December 1979. She looks caught in a candid laugh, as if mid-sentence. She holds a cigarette in her right hand and is leaning forward behind the back of a chair.

4 August 1845: The Lunatics Act was passed, making county...

National or international item

4 August 1845

The Lunatics Act was passed, making county administrations throughout England and Wales responsible for the management of lunatics.
Showalter, Elaine. The Female Malady: Women, Madness, and English Culture, 1830-1980. Pantheon Books, 1985.
17, 54
McCandless, Peter. “Liberty and Lunacy: The Victorians and Wrongful Confinement”. Madhouses, Mad-Doctors, and Madmen: The Social History of Psychiatry in the Victorian Era, edited by Andrew Scull, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981, pp. 339-62.
340
Scull, Andrew. The Most Solitary of Afflictions: Madness and Society in Britain, 1700-1900. Yale University Press, 1993.
165
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

18 January 1788: After sailing for eight months from England,...

National or international item

18 January 1788

After sailing for eight months from England, the first convicts landed at Botany Bay in Australia. A European settlement was founded at nearby Sydney Cove on 26 January, which was later commemorated in Australia...

From about 1730s: The fashionable rococo style encouraged women...

Building and people item

From about 1730s

The fashionable rococo style encouraged women to use profuse trimmings and accessories in their dress.
Campbell, Kimberly Chrisman. “Milliners in Eighteenth-Century Visual Culture”. Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol.
25
, No. 2, 1 Sept.–30 Nov. 2002, pp. 157-71.
159

1887: Sir Henry Morton Stanley began his final...

National or international item

1887

Sir Henry Morton Stanley began his final expedition, a journey to find and relieve the governor of Equatoria, Emin Pasha .
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
755
“Stanley, Sir Henry Morton”. Bartleby.com: Great Books Online: The Columbia Encyclopedia.

early June 1890: Philippa Fawcett of Newnham College, Cambridge,...

Building and people item

early June 1890

Philippa Fawcett of Newnham College, Cambridge , was placed above the Senior Wrangler in the university's mathematics results.
McWilliams-Tullberg, Rita. Women at Cambridge. Gollancz, 1975.
57-9, 102
The World of Learning. 45th ed., Allen and Unwin, 1995.
1593
Oakley, Ann. Telling the Truth about Jerusalem. Basil Blackwell, 1986.
22 and n20
Kazantzis, Judith, editor. Women in Revolt: the fight for emancipation: a collection of contemporary documents. Cape, 1968.

25 February 1914: Ethel Moorhead, a Dundee suffragist renowned...

National or international item

25 February 1914

Ethel Moorhead , a Dundee suffragist renowned for daring acts of militancy, was released from Calton Gaol in Edinburgh after forcible feeding (the first of suffragists in Scotland) gave her double pneumonia.
Crawford, Elizabeth. The Women’s Suffrage Movement: A Reference Guide, 1866-1928. Routledge, 2001.
425-6

5 May 1640: The Short Parliament was unhappily disso...

National or international item

5 May 1640

The Short Parliament was unhappily dissolved.
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Oxford University Press, 1959.
15

1859: A monthly periodical for women entitled the...

Writer or writing item

1859

A monthly periodical for women entitled the What-Not, or Ladies' Handy-Book began publication in London.
Palmegiano, Eugenia M. Women and British Periodicals, 1832-1867: A Bibliography. Garland, 1976.
19

1889: Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett published the...

Women writers item

1889

Elizabeth Burgoyne Corbett published the feminist utopian fantasy New Amazonia: A Forecast of the Future (which reflects the influence of the eugenics movement).
Jay, Martin. “The Trouble with Nowhere”. London Review of Books, 1 June 2000, pp. 23-4.
24
Blain, Virginia et al., editors. The Feminist Companion to Literature in English: Women Writers from the Middle Ages to the Present. Yale University Press; Batsford, 1990.
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.

29 May 1911: Lloyd George announced that the Government...

National or international item

29 May 1911

Lloyd George announced that the Government would not give full facilities to the Conciliation Bill (on suffrage) during the current session, but would do so in the next session.
Hume, Leslie Parker. The National Union of Women’s Suffrage Societies, 1897-1914. Garland, 1982.
107

About 10 April 1700: Legislation passed Parliament disqualifying...

Building and people item

About 10 April 1700

Legislation passed Parliament disqualifying Catholics as heirs to property: if the owner remained Catholic after the age of eighteen, the estate would pass to the nearest Protestant heir.
Evelyn, John. The Diary of John Evelyn. Editor De Beer, Esmond Samuel, Oxford University Press, 1959.
1053-4

1559: After a suppressed edition of 1555, there...

Writer or writing item

1559

After a suppressed edition of 1555, there was published the anonymous A Myrroure for Magistrates: a collection of verse laments by famous men and women about how fortune brought them down in the end.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.

February 1925: In the examinations for entry to the British...

Building and people item

February 1925

In the examinations for entry to the BritishCivil Service , Administrative grade (the first year that this competition had been open to female candidates), three of the twenty-one hired were women.
Ferguson, Neal A. “Women’s Work: Employment Opportunities and Economic Roles, 1918-1939”. Albion, Vol.
7
, No. 1, 1975, pp. 55-68.
63
Evans, Dorothy. Women and the Civil Service. Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1934.
44

October 1651: A Navigation Act passed by the English parliament...

National or international item

October 1651

A Navigation Act passed by the English parliament challenged Dutch shipping trade, and helped cause a war (the First Dutch War) which lasted from early 1652 until April 1654.
Pincus, Steven. Protestantism and Patriotism: Ideologies and the Making of an English Foreign Policy 1650-1668. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
12-14, 44, 86, 181-2
Worden, Blair. “Conviction on the High Seas”. London Review of Books, 6 Feb. 1997, pp. 12-13.
12-13

1700: A doctor was appointed to Bridewell Pris...

Building and people item

1700

A doctor was appointed to Bridewell Prison .
Weinreb, Ben, and Christopher Hibbert, editors. The London Encyclopaedia. Papermac, 1987, http://4-22.

2 July 1961: The sixty-one-year-old US novelist Ernest...

Writer or writing item

2 July 1961

The sixty-one-year-old US novelist Ernest Hemingway killed himself.
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
2 July 2009

March 1827: Alfred and Charles Tennyson published Poems,...

Writer or writing item

March 1827

Alfred and Charles Tennyson published Poems, by Two Brothers.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.
Wise, Thomas J. A Bibliography of the Writings of Alfred Lord Tennyson. Dawsons of Pall Mall, 1967, 2 Vols.
4