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.

1823: The Catholic Association was founded in Ireland;...

National or international item

1823

The Catholic Association was founded in Ireland; its leader was Daniel O'Connell .
MacDonagh, Oliver. Ireland: the Union and its Aftermath. George Allen and Unwin, 1977.
21, 53-4

12 November 1880: Lew Wallace published the novel Ben-Hur....

Writer or writing item

12 November 1880

Lew Wallace published the novel Ben-Hur.
McKee, Irving. "Ben-Hur" Wallace: The Life of General Wallace. University of California Press, 1947.
169-74

Amelia B. Edwards

ABE sustained a moderately successful authorial career, beginning in the mid-nineteenth century when she made the choice of writing as a profession—something she needed in order to earn a living. She was a periodical contributor...
Amelia B. Edwards Black and white portrait photograph of Amelia B. Edwards, signed "Yours very sincerely, Amelia B. Edwards", 1890. She sits facing the viewer, turned slightly to her right. She wears a coat lined with fur, and a scarf over a textured blouse. Her hair is pulled away from her face, and she smiles slightly.

Hester Mulso Chapone

As a young woman Hester Mulso (later HMC ) was a forceful arguer against social injustice meted out to women, but her enduring reputation as a writer and Bluestocking is as a staid, conservative moralist...
Hester Mulso Chapone Stipple engraving of Hester Mulso Chapone y R. Page, published late 1812. She wears a hat with a flat top and large brim over a white cap, a dark bodice with white linen under it, and apparently a coat which is either sleeveless or darker in the body than sleeves. Her name is below: "Mrs Chapone".

25 July 1775: News reached London of the battle of Bunker...

National or international item

25 July 1775

News reached London of the battle of Bunker Hill.
Thomas, Peter David Garner. Tea Party to Independence: The Third Phase of the American Revolution, 1773-1776. Clarendon, 1991.
254

1899: Ida and Una Ashworth Taylor jointly published...

Women writers item

1899

Ida and Una Ashworth Taylor jointly published A Social Heretic, a novel.
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
The Feminist Companion mistakenly dates this publication 1899.

4 April 1687: James II's Abolition of the Test Act (a change...

Building and people item

4 April 1687

James II 's Abolition of the Test Act (a change which was also called the Declaration of Indulgence) extended freedom of worship without penalty to Catholics and Dissenting sects; but it remained in force only...

30 December 1880: Rejecting British rule, three Boer leaders...

National or international item

30 December 1880

Rejecting British rule, three Boer leaders proclaimed the independence of the Transvaal (South Africa).
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. Houghton Mifflin, 1952.
853

1860: Alexander Strahan launched the popular Evangelical...

Building and people item

1860

Alexander Strahan launched the popular Evangelical monthly Good Words; its motto was Good Words are Worth Much and Cost Little.
Sutherland, John, b. 1938. The Stanford Companion to Victorian Fiction. Stanford University Press, 1989.
252-3

January 1881: The Personal Rights Journal began monthly...

Building and people item

January 1881

The Personal Rights Journal began monthly publication in England.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
9-10

Eliza Ogilvy

EO is mainly recognized as a poet who wrote sometimes innovative lyrics on a wide range of topics from experiences of motherhood to contemporary politics. Beginning in the 1840s, she published five volumes of poetry...
Eliza Ogilvy Reproduction of painted portrait of Eliza Ogilvy by George Frederick Watts, 1886. Her face is in profile and the background is a murky mixture of yellow, blue, and grey tones. She is wearing a brown coat and has her caramel coloured hair secured with a thin brown headband.

1976: A step was taken towards medical use of Magnetic...

Building and people item

1976

A step was taken towards medical use of Magnetic Resonance Imaging when Peter Mansfield of Nottingham University for the first time published the results of a MRI scan: of a human finger.
Smith, Alexandra. “Life-changing knowledge highlights from a half-century of university research”. Guardian Weekly, 14–20 July 2006, p. 29.
29

September 1730: Four young men beat and kicked a young woman...

Building and people item

September 1730

Four young men beat and kicked a young woman who ran a punch house in College Green, Dublin, killing the child with which she was pregnant and bringing her near death.
The Grub-Street Journal. James Roberts.
(17 September 1730): 3

1932: The philosopher Dorothy Emmet began her career...

Women writers item

1932

The philosopher Dorothy Emmet began her career with a study of metaphysics and Alfred North Whitehead in her work Whitehead's Philosophy of Organism which is particularly useful for its elucidation of terminology.
Kersey, Ethel M. Women Philosophers: A Bio-Critical Source Book. Greenwood, 1989.
98

1788-1867: During this period, more than 150,000 convicts...

National or international item

1788-1867

During this period, more than 150,000 convicts were transported from Britain, mostly destined for Australia; at the practice's peak in the early 1830s, 5,000 convicts were transported every year.
Briggs, John et al. Crime and Punishment in England: An Introductory History. St Martin’s, 1996.
162, 166
Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England 1750-1900. 2nd ed., Longman, 1996.
271

1867: The Liverpool Ladies' Educational Society...

Building and people item

1867

The Liverpool Ladies' Educational Society expanded to become the North of England Council for Promoting the Higher Education of Women .
Stephen, Barbara. Emily Davies and Girton College. Constable, 1927.
188
Levine, Philippa. Victorian Feminism 1850-1900. Hutchinson, 1987.
44
Borer, Mary Cathcart. Willingly to School: A History of Women’s Education. Lutterworth Press, 1976.
285

1916: Francis Meynell, with the help of Victoria...

Writer or writing item

1916

Francis Meynell , with the help of Victoria House Publishing , founded the Pelican Press .
Clair, Colin. A Chronology of Printing. Cassell, 1969.
173
Cave, Roderick. The Private Press. Faber and Faber, 1971.
187

Probably late 1634: Francis Quarles published his Emblemes (bearing...

Writer or writing item

Probably late 1634

Francis Quarles published his Emblemes (bearing the next year's date), which remains the best-known of the English emblem books.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

1970: The first female insurance underwriters were...

Building and people item

1970

The first female insurance underwriters were taken on by Lloyd's of London .
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

1844: By this date, South London wells were predominately...

Building and people item

1844

By this date, South London wells were predominately polluted from nearby cesspools, and only the very poor still collected water by this means.
Hardy, Anne. “Parish Pump to Private Pipes: London’s Water Supply in the Nineteenth Century”. Living and Dying in London, edited by William F. Bynum and Roy Porter, Wellcome Insititute for the History of Medicine, 1991, pp. 76-93.
82
Wohl, Anthony S. Endangered Lives: Public Health in Victorian Britain. Harvard University Press, 1983.
89

17 March 1894: The British Civil Service added the class...

Building and people item

17 March 1894

The BritishCivil Service added the class Female Typewriters, whose job was to copy handwritten material.
Evans, Dorothy. Women and the Civil Service. Sir Isaac Pitman and Sons, 1934.
8-9
Martindale, Hilda. Women Servants of the State, 1870-1938: A History of Women in the Civil Service. G. Allen and Unwin , 1938.
68

Catherine Carswell

CC is best known for her 1920 novel, Open the Door!, and her insightful critical biography of her close friend D. H. Lawrence . Her literary corpus consists of two novels, three biographies, and...

13 November 1942: British troops (having landed, with other...

National or international item

13 November 1942

British troops (having landed, with other Allies in French North Africa, and and after the German invasion of so far unoccupied France had ended existing armistice arrangements) regained control of Tobruk.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
118, 119, 121-2

1889: Harrods (already a leading retail outlet)...

Building and people item

1889

Harrods (already a leading retail outlet) passed from family ownership to become a Limited Liability Company, thus beginning a trend which swept up most of the great department stores.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
234, 240-1

22 March 1857: The death by arsenic poisoning of her lover,...

Building and people item

22 March 1857

The death by arsenic poisoning of her lover, shipping clerk Emile L'Angelier , led to the prominent trial for murder of Madeleine Smith , daughter of an affluent Glasgow architect.
Hartman, Mary S. Victorian Murderesses. Schocken Books, 1977.
52-4, 82-3