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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.

1807-1813: The widely publicized case of Ann Moore,...

Building and people item

1807-1813

The widely publicized case of Ann Moore , the contentious Fasting Woman of Tutbury, raised the profile of self-starvation, or fasting girls and incited debate as to its causes.
Brumberg, Joan Jacobs. Fasting Girls. Harvard University Press, 1988.
54-9
Hollis, Karen. “Fasting Women: Bodily Claims and Narrative Crises in Eighteenth-Century Science”. Eighteenth-Century Studies, Vol.
34
, No. 4, 1 June 2001–2026, pp. 523-38.
532, 534

14 March 1878: A Bill to restrain the licence of the Indian...

Writer or writing item

14 March 1878

A Bill to restrain the licence of the Indian press was passed at Calcutta.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 825

November 1908: Bean na h-Eireann (whose title means Woman...

Writer or writing item

November 1908

Bean na h-Eireann (whose title means Woman of Ireland) began publishing in Dublin as the organ of the nationalist group Inighnidhe na h-Eireann , Daughters of Ireland.
Haverty, Anne. Constance Markievicz: An Independent Life. Pandora, 1988.
61-2, 72-3, 77, 79

1937: In India the Congress Party, which favoured...

National or international item

1937

In India the Congress Party , which favoured independence from Britain and was largely backed by Hindus, swept to power in elections, even in some Muslim-majority areas.
Ali, Tariq. “Bitter Chill of Winter”. London Review of Books, 19 Apr. 2001, pp. 18-27.
21

5 February 1909: In Belgium a chemist named Leo Baekeland...

Building and people item

5 February 1909

In Belgium a chemist named Leo Baekeland announced his invention of Bakelite, the first synthetic plastic. Its commercial production began soon afterwards.

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.

February 1879: The Committee for Securing a Complete Medical...

Building and people item

February 1879

The Committee for Securing a Complete Medical Education for Women became the National Association for Promoting the Medical Education of Women.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
191

24 October 1860: The Treaty of Peking put an end to the war...

National or international item

24 October 1860

The Treaty of Peking put an end to the war between Britain and China which had begun on 8 October 1856; it also settled the border between Russia and China.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
341
Palmer, Alan, and Veronica Palmer. The Chronology of British History. Century, 1992.
281
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 782-3
Cook, Chris, and John, 1946 - Stevenson. The Longman Handbook of Modern British History 1714-1987. 2nd ed., Longman, 1988.
233

Marcel Proust

French novelist, whose novel sequence A la recherche du temps perdu, published between 1913 and 1927, blends memory, invention, and psychological study of the human response to time passing. It has been almost immeasurably influential.
Marcel Proust Black and white photograph of Marcel Proust from the chest up. He is looking straight at the viewer, and is posing with his left hand touching the side of his face.

1921: Dorothy Howell won the Cobbett Prize at the...

Building and people item

1921

Dorothy Howell won the Cobbett Prize at the Royal Academy of Music in London for her violin and piano composition Phantasy.
Sadie, Julie Anne, and Rhian Samuel, editors. The New Grove Dictionary of Women Composers. Macmillan, 1994.
231

1924: British electrical engineer Caroline Haslett...

Building and people item

1924

British electrical engineer Caroline Haslett (1895-1957), who had already been first secretary of the Women's Engineering Society (from 1919) and was later to be its president, founded the Electrical Association for Women .
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
Electricity Council. Electricity Supply in Great Britain: A Chronology. Electricity Council, 1973.
17
Hardyment, Christina. From Mangle to Microwave: The Mechanization of Household Work. Polity Press, 1988.
30

1833-1843: In 653 murder trials, approximately 10% of...

Building and people item

1833-1843

In 653 murder trials, approximately 10% of defendents were found unfit to stand trial by reason of insanity or physial incapability.
Smith, Roger. “The Boundary Between Insanity and Criminal Responsibility in Nineteenth-Century England”. Madhouses, Mad-Doctors, and Madmen: The Social History of Psychiatry in the Victorian Era, edited by Andrew Scull, University of Pennsylvania Press, 1981, pp. 363-84.
88

1972: Look Now, a monthly fashion magazine directed...

Building and people item

1972

Look Now, a monthly fashion magazine directed at women aged 15 to 29, began publication from Stamford Street, London.
Winship, Janice. Inside Women’s Magazines. Pandora, 1987.
166
Braithwaite, Brian, and Joan Barrell. The Business of Women’s Magazines. Associated Business Press, 1979.
151
Ferguson, Marjorie. Forever Feminine: Women’s Magazines and the Cult of Femininity. Heinemann, 1983.
34

1907: Edith Cavell established a nursing school...

Building and people item

1907

Edith Cavell established a nursing school in Belgium.
Greenspan, Karen. The Timetables of Women’s History. Simon and Shuster, 1994.
300

1559: The Roman Catholic Church set up the Index...

Writer or writing item

1559

The Roman Catholic Church set up the Index Librorum Prohibitorum or list of prohibited books, to protect its flock from dangerous and heretical ideas.
Encyclopædia Britannica Online. http://www.britannica.com/.

1857: Dean Howson advocated the establishment of...

Building and people item

1857

Dean Howson advocated the establishment of an Order of Deaconesses within the Anglican Church ; such an Order was recognized by the Lambeth Conference of Anglican bishops only in 1897.
Stott, Mary. “Ordination of Women: Flickering flame passed to new generation”. Times, 24 Sept. 1981, p. 12.
12

By June 1753: Thomas Gray's Poems were published by Dodsley,...

Writer or writing item

By June 1753

Thomas Gray 's Poems were published by Dodsley , with designs by Richard Bentley the younger.
Griffiths, Ralph, 1720 - 1803, and George Edward Griffiths, editors. Monthly Review. R. Griffiths.
8: 477

Marie-Catherine de Villedieu

MCV was one of the very few women to earn her living by her pen in France as early as the seventeenth century. She was productive in many genres, held a significant place in the...
Marie-Catherine de Villedieu Head-and-shoulders oval engraving of Marie-Catherine de Villedieu by Charles Devrits, published in "Poètes normands" by Louis Henri Baratte, 1845. She is wearing a dark dress , jewelled brooch, and string of huge pearls. Her hair is smooth on top, in ringlets below.

19 April 1967: One year after Roberta Gibb's illicit run,...

Building and people item

19 April 1967

One year after Roberta Gibb 's illicit run, another American, Kathrine Switzer , became the first woman to run officially (though still illegally) in the Boston Marathon and complete the course.
“Boston Marathon History”. Boston Athletic Association.

1835: For the first time in two hundred years the...

Building and people item

1835

For the first time in two hundred years the Papal Index or Index Librorum Prohibitorum did not list Galileo 's Dialogue on the Two Chief World Systems: Ptolemaic and Copernican.
Sobel, Dava. Galileo’s Daughter. Viking, 1999.
280-1

4 July 1985: At the age of thirteen, maths prodigy Ruth...

Building and people item

4 July 1985

At the age of thirteen, maths prodigy Ruth Lawrence became the youngest Briton to earn a starred first-class degree when she graduated from St Hugh's College , Oxford.
“Teenage Genius Gets a First”. BBC News: On This Day, 4 July 1985.
“Einstein Institute of Mathematics”. The Hebrew University of Jerusalem.

March 1870: Edinburgh University student Mary Edith Pechey...

Building and people item

March 1870

Edinburgh University student Mary Edith Pechey received the highest grades in her class for the Chemistry examination, but was denied the right to receive the Hope Scholarship.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
114-5
Feminist historian Catriona Blake notes an alternative...

November 1952: The United States exploded a prototype H-bomb...

National or international item

November 1952

The United States exploded a prototype H-bomb (about 700 times as powerful as the Hiroshima atom bomb) on the island of Elugelab in the Pacific, which it obliterated.
Broad, William J. “Who built the H-bomb?”. Edmonton Journal, 29 Apr. 2001, p. E11.
E11

1886: Eleanor Marx, as Eleanor Marx Aveling, published...

Writer or writing item

1886

Eleanor Marx , as Eleanor Marx Aveling, published her English translation of Gustave Flaubert 's Madame Bovary from the original French.
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.

From later 1815: The largest-yet wave of British emigration...

Building and people item

From later 1815

The largest-yet wave of British emigration to the USA began gathering numbers, partly because of soldiers discharged from the army at the peace.
Chandler, James. England in 1819: The Politics of Literary Culture and the Case of Romantic Historicism. University of Chicago Press, 1998.
460-2