Explore Orlando

Here, you’ll find randomized material from across the textbase’s author profiles and timelines. To jump to the content of your choice, click on its image card.

8 April 1867: Russell Gurney presented Parliament with...

National or international item

8 April 1867

Russell Gurney presented Parliament with a women householders' petition for suffrage.
Herstein, Sheila R. A Mid-Victorian Feminist: Barbara Leigh Smith Bodichon. Yale University Press, 1985.
163

1864: The X-Club, a small group of influential...

Building and people item

1864

The X-Club , a small group of influential London scientists, was formed.
Brock, William H. Science for All: Studies in the History of Victorian Science and Education. Variorum, 1996.
I: 198
Morrell, J. B. “The Patronage of Mid-Victorian Science in the University of Edinburgh”. The Patronage of Science in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Gerard L’Estrange Turner, Noordhoff International, 1976, pp. 53-93.
57
Knight, David. The Age of Science: The Scientific World-View in the Nineteenth Century. Basil Blackwell, 1986.
190

1868: The first traffic light (invented by John...

Building and people item

1868

The first traffic light (invented by John Peake Knight ) was installed outside the Houses of Parliament in London.
O’Hagan, Andrew. “At Tottenham Court Road”. London Review of Books, Vol.
37
, No. 18, 24 Sept. 2015, p. 24.

Marie Belloc Lowndes

During a career that spanned nearly fifty years from 1889, MBL published journalism, biography, a guidebook, history for children, novels (mostly romances or thrillers), a book about actual crimes, and four late volumes of autobiography...
Marie Belloc Lowndes Photograph of the cover of "The Chink in the Armour" by Marie Belloc Lowndes, 1912. It is orange with black lettering ("Mrs. Belloc Lowndes"), and a large background circle of little red balls or beads.

1912: A second teachers' registration was established...

Building and people item

1912

A second teachers' registration was established to create and maintain teaching standards among its members and to influence government policy regarding employment standards and conditions for teachers.
Holcombe, Lee. Victorian Ladies At Work: Middle-Class Working Women in England and Wales, 1850-1914. Archon Books, 1973.
67

2 December 1851: A coup d'état by Louis Napoleon abolished...

National or international item

2 December 1851

A coup d'état by Louis Napoleon abolished the Republic of France.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
149
Merriman, John M. “Contested Freedoms in the French Revolutions, 1830-1871”. Revolution and the Meanings of Freedom in the Nineteenth Century, edited by Isser Woloch, Stanford University Press, 1996, pp. 173-11.
200-01

1936: Artist Laura Knight painted Spring in Cornwall...

Building and people item

1936

Artist Laura Knight painted Spring in Cornwall and Ballet.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
381
Windsor, Alan, editor. Handbook of Modern British Painting 1900-1980. Scolar Press, 1992.
168

Anna Seward

AS , living at a distance from London, was nevertheless a woman of letters, of the later eighteenth century and just beyond. She staked her claim to fame firstly on her poetry (though she was...
Anna Seward Photograph of a painting of Anna Seward by Tilly Kettle, 1762. Seward is seated at a desk with a little book of Milton's poetry in front of her. She is wearing a white gauzy bodice with wide sleeves, a deep pink mantle edged with brown fur, and a black ribbon and a string of pearls as a choker around her neck. Her dark hair is pinned on top of her head with a pearl ornament. National Portrait Gallery.

1879: The Anglican Community of St Denys was founded...

Building and people item

1879

The Anglican Community of St Denys was founded in Warminster, Wiltshire.
Anson, Peter F. The Call of the Cloister: Religious Communities and Kindred Bodies in the Anglican Communion. Editor Campbell, A. W., Society for Promoting Christian Knowledge, 1964.
453

1860: A puerperal fever epidemic erupted in London;...

Building and people item

1860

A puerperal fever epidemic erupted in London; it recurred in 1861.
Towler, Jean. Midwives in History and Society. Croom Helm, 1986.
154

1969: Slimming, a highly popular magazine about...

Building and people item

1969

Slimming, a highly popular magazine about health and nutrition, began its bi-monthly publication from London by SM Publications .
Winship, Janice. Inside Women’s Magazines. Pandora, 1987.
166
Ferguson, Marjorie. Forever Feminine: Women’s Magazines and the Cult of Femininity. Heinemann, 1983.
24

1891: The Women's Protective and Provident League...

Building and people item

1891

The Women's Protective and Provident League (founded 1874) changed its name to the Women's Trade Union League , after a two-year period as the Women's Trades Union Provident League .
Goldman, Harold. Emma Paterson: She Led Woman into a Man’s World. Lawrence and Wishart, 1974.
110
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
811

1935: Isabel Grant established the Highland Folk...

Building and people item

1935

Isabel Grant established the Highland Folk Life collection to preserve and record disappearing traditional Scottish culture.
Greenspan, Karen. The Timetables of Women’s History. Simon and Shuster, 1994.
334

February 1907: A case of sedition was brought to trial in...

National or international item

February 1907

A case of sedition was brought to trial in the Punjab, in which the proprietor and editor of the Punjabi were convicted of inciting hatred against the government and the European community.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 834

Hrotsvit of Gandersheim

Hrotsvit of Gandersheim , living in Germany in the tenth century and writing in Latin, produced six (or seven, depending on the method of counting) short plays as well as poems (legendary saints' lives, historical...
Hrotsvit of Gandersheim Black and white later oval illustration of Hrotsvit of Gandersheim, shown from the waist up, wearing a nun's habit, wimple, etc. A coat of arms is depicted behind her.

F. Henrietta Müller

Henrietta Müller was a prominent activist for women's rights in the late-nineteenth century, who used her talents in the service of public reform. Best known for her radical opposition to taxation without representation, she became...

1847: American astronomer Maria Mitchell was awarded...

National or international item

1847

American astronomer Maria Mitchell was awarded a gold medal by the King of Denmark for discovering a new comet.
Franck, Irene, and David Brownstone. Women’s World: A Timeline of Women in History. HarperCollins; HarperPerennial, 1995.
127, 129

Kate Chopin

Considered a St Louis writer of local colour for much of her career, KC attracted such notoriety following the publication of her novel The Awakening and its subsequent canonization by feminist critics that this work...
Kate Chopin Sepia head-and-shoulders photo of Kate Chopin, taken from behind but showing her face in profile. Her hair is in ringlets, some pinned to her head, some at her back. She is wearing a necklace and earrings of dark stones, and a dress with lace collar.

1849: Henry David Thoreau published the first edition...

Writer or writing item

1849

Henry David Thoreau published the first edition of his study Civil Disobedience as Resistance to Civil Government in Aesthetic Papers.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.

14 May 1925: The National Book Council was formed by members...

Writer or writing item

14 May 1925

The National Book Council was formed by members of the Publishers' Circle and the Society of Bookmen to promote reading and book-distribution.
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
177
Mumby, Frank Arthur, and Ian Norrie. Mumby’s Publishing and Bookselling in the Twentieth Century. 6th ed., Bell and Hyman, 1982.
21
Myers, Robin. The British Book Trade, from Caxton to the Present Day. Andre Deutsch in association with the National Book League, 1973.
167

6 December 1830: Lucia Vestris became the first long-term...

Building and people item

6 December 1830

Lucia Vestris became the first long-term female theatre manager of the century, when she reopened the Olympic Theatre .
Appleton, William Worthen. Madame Vestris and the London Stage. Columbia University Press, 1974.
51
Booth, Michael R. et al. Three Tragic Actresses: Siddons, Rachel, Ristori. Cambridge University Press, 1996.
44-5

22 January 1944: Allied troops landed at Anzio in Italy....

National or international item

22 January 1944

Allied troops landed at Anzio in Italy.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
163
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
661

1774: The Madhouses Act, passed this year, did...

Building and people item

1774

The Madhouses Act, passed this year, did little to improve neglect and ill-treatment: madhouses were to be licensed, but applications could not be refused.
Scull, Andrew. The Most Solitary of Afflictions: Madness and Society in Britain, 1700-1900. Yale University Press, 1993.
24
O’Brien, Patricia. Out of Mind, Out of Sight: A History of the Waterford Hospital. Breakwater, 1989.
17

1892: The British Medical Association rescinded...

Building and people item

1892

The British Medical Association rescinded its resolution (passed in 1878) excluding women from its membership.
Witz, Anne. Professions and Patriarchy. Routledge, 1992.
99

Enid Bagnold

EB experienced both dazzling successes and spectacular flops in the course of her writing career, which spanned much of the twentieth century. Her best-known works are National Velvet (1935), popularized as a novel for children...
Enid Bagnold Black and white photograph of Enid Bagnold in profile from the shoulders up. In one upraised hand she holds a cigarette. She wears a dark-coloured shirt with white around the collar and cuffs.