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1330: Margaret Wake, Countess of Kent, was accused...

Building and people item

1330

Margaret Wake, Countess of Kent , was accused of writing a treasonable letter—in her own hand.
Orme, Nicholas. From Childhood to Chivalry: The Education of the English Kings and Aristocracy, 1066-1530. Methuen, 1984.
158-9

10 December 1936: The Abdication Crisis ended when King Edward...

National or international item

10 December 1936

The Abdication Crisis ended when King Edward VIII finally relinquished the throne; his brother David succeeded him as George VI .
Beloff, Max. Wars and Welfare: Britain 1914-1945. Edward Arnold, 1984.
226
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry. Historical Tables: 58 BC-AD 1985. 11th ed., Garland Publishing, 1986.
244

Early October 2012: The prize for women's fiction hitherto known...

Writer or writing item

Early October 2012

The prize for women's fiction hitherto known as the Orange Prize was saved by a group of private supporters after the mobile-phone company Orange withdrew its support.
Armitstead, Claire. “Orange prize saved by private donors after organisers fail to find sponsor”. The Guardian, 8 Oct. 2012.

9 February 1743: Leading trade publisher Thomas Cooper died,...

Writer or writing item

9 February 1743

Leading trade publisherThomas Cooper died, after which his business was taken over by his widow, Mary Cooper .
Treadwell, Michael. “London Trade Publishers 1675-1750”. The Library, Vol.
6th ser. 4
, 1982, pp. 99-134.
111, 115, 123

February 1834: Foundations were laid for the new National...

Building and people item

February 1834

Foundations were laid for the new National Gallery building near Charing Cross (on the north side of Trafalgar Square, which was still in process of being laid out).
Boase, Thomas Sherrer Ross, editor. English Art, 1800-1870. Clarendon, 1959.
204

About 1606: Anna Walker beautifully transcribed a copy...

Women writers item

About 1606

Anna Walker beautifully transcribed a copy of her devotional work A Sweete Savor for Woman, designed for presentation to its dedicatee, James I's queen, Anne of Denmark .
Trill, Suzanne. “A Feminist Critic in the Archives: Reading Anna Walker’s ’A Sweete Savor for Woman’ c. 1606”. Women’s Writing, Vol.
9
, No. 2, 2002, pp. 199-14.
201, 203, 204, 206, 207, 210-11

Anna Margaretta Larpent

AML wrote a diary from the age of fifteen, which extended to span fifty years of the late eighteenth and early nineteenth centuries. She became a commentator on every kind of social and cultural activity...
Anna Margaretta Larpent Photograph of a painting of Anna Margaretta Larpent by Sir Martin Archer Shee. Larpent is seated in a red upholstered chair, with stacked books in the background. She is wearing a gauzy white dress with a blue sash around the waist. She has a wide halo of curly hair with a blue band tied around it.

28 October 1998: Ted Hughes, Poet Laureate and widower of...

Writer or writing item

28 October 1998

Ted Hughes , Poet Laureate and widower of Sylvia Plath , died.
The Ted Hughes Homepage. 26 May 2011, http://web.archive.org/web/20091028202301/http://www.zeta.org.au/~annskea/THHome.htm.

8 March 1707: The last of George Farquhar's six comedies,...

Writer or writing item

8 March 1707

The last of George Farquhar 's six comedies, The Beaux' Stratagem, opened at the Haymarket .
Watson, George, and Ian Roy Wilson, editors. The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Cambridge University Press, 1969, 5 vols., http://U of A, HSS Ruth N Flr 1 Ref.

6 April 1757: The Battle of Prague was fought; it featured...

National or international item

6 April 1757

The Battle of Prague was fought; it featured in European minds for a generation as the bloodiest conflict imaginable.
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
Greene, Donald. “Johnson: The Jacobite Legend Exhumed: A Rejoinder to Howard Erskine-Hill and J. C. D. Clark”. The Age of Johnson, edited by Paul J. Korshin, Vol.
7
, 1996, pp. 57-135.
100

January 1930: International Women's News began publica...

Building and people item

January 1930

International Women's News began publication.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
51
OCLC WorldCat. 1992–1998, http://www.oclc.org/firstsearch/content/worldcat/. Accessed 1999.
OCLC

Probably September 1680: Nathaniel Lee's tragedy The Princess of Cleve...

Writer or writing item

Probably September 1680

Nathaniel Lee 's tragedy The Princess of Cleve was first performed.
Watson, George, and Ian Roy Wilson, editors. The New Cambridge Bibliography of English Literature. Cambridge University Press, 1969, 5 vols., http://U of A, HSS Ruth N Flr 1 Ref.

1614: Barber-surgeons in Salisbury complained of...

Building and people item

1614

Barber-surgeons in Salisbury complained of divers women and others in this citie altogether unskilfull in the Arte of chirurgenes, who take cures on them to the greet danger of the patient.
Walker, Kim. “’Divine Chymistry’ and Dramatic Character: The Lives of Lady Anne Halkett”. Women Writing 1550-1750, edited by Jo Wallwork and Paul Salzman, English Program, School of Communication, Arts and Critical Enquiry, La Trobe University, 2001, pp. 133-49.
144n23

1829-31: Abby Jane Morrell accompanied her husband,...

Building and people item

1829-31

Abby Jane Morrell accompanied her husband, Benjamin Morrell , on a voyage of exploration in the US schooner Antarctic, about which she then published a book.
Druett, Joan. Hen Frigates: Wives of Merchant Captains Under Sail. Simon and Schuster, 1998.
63-4, 246-7

Amber Reeves

AR , who began publishing shortly before the First World War, produced three clear-eyed and unsentimental novels about the predicament of the modern woman (including the difficulty of reconciling her sexuality with the social world)...

Olivia Manning

OM began publishing shortly before the Second World War. She produced thirteen novels, as well as short stories and non-fiction including historical and topographical writing. Her best known works are her two highly praised trilogies...

January 1939: The Living Art in England exhibition was...

Building and people item

January 1939

The Living Art in England exhibition was held at the London Gallery. Painter Ithell Colquhoun was among the surrealists whose work was shown.
Windsor, Alan, editor. Handbook of Modern British Painting 1900-1980. Scolar Press, 1992.
65, 182

1767: At auctions of copyright, Richardson's Clarissa...

Writer or writing item

1767

At auctions of copyright, Richardson 's Clarissa was valued at £600, but Addison and Steele 's Spectator at £1,300, Shakespeare at £1,800, and Pope at £4,400.
Brewer, John. The Pleasures of the Imagination: English Culture in the Eighteenth Century. Farrar Straus Giroux, 1997.
135

: Shortly before the outbreak of the Second...

National or international item

Summer 1939

Shortly before the outbreak of the Second World War, writer and film-director Muriel Box came upon and filed away an instance of British anti-semitism: a card or flier denouncing Jewish involvement in the army.
Box, Muriel. Odd Woman Out. Leslie Frewin, 1974.
156

Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette

MML , writing in France in the late seventeenth century, originated there the new form of the novel: shorter, less diffuse, more vigorous in its emotional effect than the long, many-storied, courtly romances. She was...
Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette Black and white, head-and-shoulders image of a lost painting of Marie-Madeleine de Lafayette by Louis Ferdinand Elle l'Aîné. She sits with her head resting on one hand, wearing a gown with a V neck and puffed sleeves, without jewellery. Her dark hair is pulled back into a pearl-wrapped bun, with a ringlet lying on her shoulder.

1897: Artisan Phoebe Traquair completed her lavishly...

Building and people item

1897

Artisan Phoebe Traquair completed her lavishly illustrated manuscript of Elizabeth Barrett Browning 's Sonnets from the Portuguese.
The National Library of Scotland, where the manuscript is housed, notes that the transcriptions are from Traquair's...

January 1979: The Shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi,...

National or international item

January 1979

The Shah of Iran, Muhammad Reza Pahlavi , was ousted from his country by Ayatollah Khomeini , who returned from exile to set up an Islamic republic.
Ajami, Fouad. “Islam’s First Challenge to American Interests”. Guardian Weekly, 17–23 Dec. 2004, p. 25.
25

1922: Mary Frances Harriet Dowdall published her...

Women writers item

1922

Mary Frances Harriet Dowdall published her final novel, which was titled The Tactless Man.
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.

Doreen Wallace

DW published fifty-four books spanning 1918 to the 1970s, of which forty-five were novels,
Leonardi, Susan J. Dangerous by Degrees: Women at Oxford and the Somerville College Novelists. Rutgers University Press, 1989, 254 p.
8
nearly all set in East Anglia and so sometimes ranked as regional. They contain enough romance to make them in...

1760: A subscription got up for British soldiers...

Building and people item

1760

A subscription got up for British soldiers had 120 known female subscribers: three times its tally of clergymen and twelve times its tally of peers.
Colley, Linda. Britons: Forging the Nation, 1707-1837. Yale University Press, 1992.
94