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1950: The Times Literary Supplement averaged a...

Writer or writing item

1950

The Times Literary Supplement averaged a sale of nearly 50,000 copies: its highest circulation ever.
Wood, James. “Phut-Phut”. London Review of Books, 27 June 2002, pp. 11-12.
12

11-13 September 1782: In the last battle of the American Revolution,...

National or international item

11-13 September 1782

In the last battle of the American Revolution, Fort Henry, Virginia, withstood a three-day attack by 250 Indians and forty loyalists.
Coakley, Robert, and Stetson Conn. The War of the American Revolution. Center of Military History, 1975.
133

1934: The Women's Co-operative Guild (WCG) passed...

National or international item

1934

The Women's Co-operative Guild (WCG) passed a resolution calling for the legalisation of abortion, becoming the first woman's organisation to pass such a resolution.
Gaffin, Jean et al. “Women and Cooperation”. Women in the Labour Movement: The British Experience, edited by Lucy Middleton, Croom Helm, 1977, pp. 113-42.
137
Graves, Pamela M. Labour Women: Women in British Working-Class Politics, 1918-1939. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
198

1483: William Caxton printed his own English translation...

Writer or writing item

1483

William Caxton printed his own English translation of The Golden Legend (an internationally popular collection of stories of the saints and martyrs dating from about 1260).
Newman, Barbara. “My Feet Are Cut Off”. London Review of Books, Vol.
31
, No. 23, 3 Dec. 2009, pp. 38-9.
38-9

By August 1846: There was widespread consternation over potato...

National or international item

By August 1846

There was widespread consternation over potato blight in the Western Highlands of Scotland, which earlier in the year had been free of disease and exporting seed potatoes.
Devine, Thomas Martin. The Great Highland Famine. J. Donald, 1988.
34, 22-3

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

22 September 1955: BBC television acquired its first commercially...

Building and people item

22 September 1955

BBC television acquired its first commercially sponsored competitor when ITV (Independent Television) began broadcasting alternative programmes.
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
410
Weldon, Fay. Auto da Fay. Flamingo, 2002.
273

26 May 1897: Bram (Abraham) Stoker, who at the time was...

Writer or writing item

26 May 1897

Bram (Abraham) Stoker , who at the time was acting manager of the Royal Lyceum Theatre in London, published his vampire novel Dracula.
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.
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
26 May 2010

10 August 1872: The second Public Health Act passed....

National or international item

10 August 1872

The second Public Health Act passed.
Woods, Robert, and John Woodward. “Mortality, Poverty and the Environment”. Urban Disease and Mortality in Nineteenth-Century England, edited by Robert Woods and John Woodward, St Martin’s Press, 1984, pp. 19-36.
78
Smith, Francis Barrymore. The People’s Health, 1830-1910. Croom Helm, 1979.
199
The Statutes of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland. Printed by J. Bentham, 1762–2026.

By June 1817: Thomas Moore published his hugely successful...

Writer or writing item

By June 1817

Thomas Moore published his hugely successful poem Lalla Rookh, An Oriental Romance.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
5th ser. 5 (1817): 562-81
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
96

1882: Robert Barnes composed a sweeping definition...

Building and people item

1882

Robert Barnes composed a sweeping definition of Gynaecology for Quain's Dictionary of Medicine.
Moscucci, Ornella. The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
30-1
Moscucci, Ornella. The Science of Woman: Gynaecology and Gender in England, 1800-1929. Cambridge University Press, 1990.
30-1

8 August 1864: The first Geneva Convention met to debate...

National or international item

8 August 1864

The first Geneva Convention met to debate whether relief societies should be formed to aid the wounded in times of war; it ran until 22 August.
Haydn, Joseph. Haydn’s Dictionary of Dates and Universal Information. Editor Vincent, Benjamin, 21st ed., Ward, Lock and Bowden, 1895.
456

1802: Numbers of women workers in spinning in the...

Building and people item

1802

Numbers of women workers in spinning in the West Country dropped to only eighteen percent of their number in 1780.
Simonton, Deborah. A History of European Women’s Work, 1700 to the Present. Routledge, 1998.
75

1947: A performance of Ponchielli's La Giocanda...

Building and people item

1947

A performance of Ponchielli 's La Giocanda introduced the singer Maria Callas to the world.
“Women’s History Timeline”. BBC: Radio 4: Woman’s Hour.

13 September 1819: Henry Hunt (organiser of the meeting at Manchester...

Building and people item

13 September 1819

Henry Hunt (organiser of the meeting at Manchester which became the Peterloo Massacre) was welcomed by huge crowds on his arrival in London to stand trial.
Chandler, James. England in 1819: The Politics of Literary Culture and the Case of Romantic Historicism. University of Chicago Press, 1998.
427-8

December 1985: Science writer John Langone argued in Discoverer...

Building and people item

December 1985

Science writer John Langone argued in Discoverer that women were not normally at risk from AIDS, since the vagina is rugged although the anus is fragile.
Koelsch, Patrice Clark. “Mortal Combats”. Women’s Review of Books, Vol.
xvii
, No. 6, Mar. 2000, pp. 18-20.
18-19

Hannah Mary Rathbone

HMR was an early Victorian anthologist, poet, novelist, memoirist, and religious writer, who also contributed to periodicals.

1906: A Viennese paediatrician, Clemens von Pirquet,...

Building and people item

1906

A Viennese paediatrician, Clemens von Pirquet , coined the word allergy, for use with very much the modern sense.
Pennington, Hugh. “Then came the Hoover”. London Review of Books, 22 June 2006, pp. 15-16.
15

1758-63: Christopher Smart worked on his unfinished,...

Writer or writing item

1758-63

Christopher Smart worked on his unfinished, unpublished prose-poem or liturgy poem Jubilate Agno.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. Sixth edition, Oxford University Press, 2000.

1887: Lenin's older brother Alexander Ulyanov was...

National or international item

1887

Lenin 's older brother Alexander Ulyanov was hanged after a failed attempt to assassinate Tsar Alexander III .
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
333

1938: Routledge and Sons decided not to publish...

Writer or writing item

1938

Routledge and Sons decided not to publish former prostitute Sheila Cousin 's autobiography To Beg I am Ashamed after the publisher received much bad press and threats of prosecution from the police.
Craig, Alec. The Banned Books of England and Other Countries. George Allen and Unwin, 1962.
97
Thomas, Donald. A Long Time Burning: The History of Literary Censorship in England. Frederick A. Praeger, 1969.
305

Edith Sitwell

ES was an important member of the modernist movement in England. She was primarily a poet and secondarily a literary critic, though her personal polemics, biographies, anthologies, letters, and autobiography all reflect her unique personality...
Edith Sitwell Black and white, head-and-shoulders photograph of Edith Sitwell by Cecil Beaton, 1962. She wears her black ostrich-feather turban with taffeta standing up on top, a black long-sleeved blouse, and over it an elaborately folded white arrangement like wings. She rests her head between her hands, which are adorned with large, heavy rings.

30 June-1 October 1926: Alan Cobham made the first flight from England...

National or international item

30 June-1 October 1926

Alan Cobham made the first flight from England to Australia and back.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
206-7

1882: The Municipal Workwomen's Society was fo...

National or international item

1882

The Municipal Workwomen's Society was founded.
Levine, Philippa. Victorian Feminism 1850-1900. Hutchinson, 1987.
127

1836: Chromolithography was invented by Gottfried...

Building and people item

1836

Chromolithography was invented by Gottfried Engelmann .
Nevett, Terry R. Advertising in Britain: A History. Heinemann, 1982.
87