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1874: The Society for the Suppression of the Opium...

Building and people item

1874

The Society for the Suppression of the Opium Trade was founded by Quakers in Britain.
Parssinen, Terry M. Secret Passions, Secret Remedies: Narcotic Drugs in British Society 1820-1930. Institute for the Study of Human Issues, 1983.
89

John Buchan

JB began writing and publishing before the end of the nineteenth century and continued through the first forty years of the twentieth. His output was large (especially for a man with a busy professional, non-literary...

12 July 1799: The Combination Act prohibited all combinations...

National or international item

12 July 1799

The Combination Act prohibited all combinations (of employers as well as of workers); those accused under it were deprived of the right to trial by jury.
Goodwin, Albert. The Friends of Liberty: The English Democratic Movement in the Age of the French Revolution. Hutchinson, 1979.
455, 464

Early 1919: The National Union of Societies for Equal...

National or international item

Early 1919

The National Union of Societies for Equal Citizenship formed from the National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies to continue the campaign for equal suffrage.
Hannam, June. “Women and Politics”. Women’s History: Britain, 1850-1945, edited by June Purvis, University College London Press, 1995, pp. 217-45.
235

Early 1835: James Burns began operating in London as...

Writer or writing item

Early 1835

James Burns began operating in London as a bookseller and stationer at 1 Duke Street, Manchester Square.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 68

By November 1651: Anna Weamys, aged about twenty, published...

Women writers item

By November 1651

Anna Weamys , aged about twenty, published as a young gentle-woman, Mrs. A.W., A Continuation of Sir Philip Sydney 's Arcadia.
English Short Title Catalogue. http://estc.bl.uk/.
“Early English Books Online”. ProQuest Databases.

Amelia Bristow

AB wrote during the early nineteenth century for her inadequate living, turning out novels, more than one conduct book, and work for magazines. Most notable is her series of novels about the Jewish-Polish background from...
Amelia Bristow Title page of Amelia Bristow's "Emma de Lissau; A Narrative of Striking Vicissitudes and Peculiar Trials; With Notes Illustrative of the Manners and Customs of the Jews" (2nd ed., 1829), vol 1. Published by T. Gardiner and Son.

15 July 1099: The First Crusade ended with the fall of...

National or international item

15 July 1099

The First Crusade ended with the fall of Jerusalem to the Franci or Christians. The epic slaughter on this occasion was long remembered.
Nelson, J. L. “Eastern Promises”. London Review of Books, 29 Nov. 2008, pp. 30-2.
30

25 January 1909: Hugo von Hoffmansthal's first opera, Elektra,...

Writer or writing item

25 January 1909

Hugo von Hoffmansthal 's first opera, Elektra, with music by Richard Strauss , opened in Dresden.
Brockway, Wallace, and Herbert Weinstock. The World of Opera. Methuen, 1963.

2 February 1785: The recently imposed window-tax (not the...

Building and people item

2 February 1785

The recently imposed window-tax (not the first, but the most notorious tax of this kind) provoked the publication of an ironic mock sermon about it.
Critical Review. W. Simpkin and R. Marshall, 5 series.
59 (1785): 154

By 20 September 1953: Saul Bellow published The Adventures of Augie...

Writer or writing item

By 20 September 1953

Saul Bellow published The Adventures of Augie March. Martin Amis , in later hailing this as the first American novel to show an immigrant as a rightful Discoverer, or a pioneer,
Borne Back Daily. 2001, http://borneback.com/ .
21 October 2008

1947: The Economic Survey, sponsored by the British...

Building and people item

1947

The Economic Survey , sponsored by the British government, initiated a campaign to recruit women into gender-specific fields of labour, to meet temporary reconstructionist demands.
Wilson, Elizabeth. Only Halfway to Paradise: Women in Postwar Britain, 1945-1968. Tavistock, 1980.
43-4

1838: The first temperance hall was built in Bradford,...

Building and people item

1838

The first temperance hall was built in Bradford, where the first temperance organization had arisen earlier in the decade.
Shiman, Lilian Lewis. Crusade against Drink in Victorian England. Macmillan, 1988.
159-61

Alison Fell

AF is a Scottish feminist of working-class origins, resident in London, whose literary career began with 1970s women's street theatre. She has published as a journalist, poet, short-story writer, novelist, and children's writer.

Helen Maria Williams

HMW wrote, during the Romantic or revolutionary period, as a woman with a mission, eager to see change for the better in the political, international world. She was a radical and egalitarian in gender relations...
Helen Maria Williams Stippple engraving of Helen Maria Williams by Dean and Munday, published in 1816, from unknown portrait, Her hair is part in loose curls and part gathered to the top of her head. She is wearing a white, low-necked gown, a black mantle, and a double pearl necklace on which hangs a Maltese cross The portrait is oval, and has her name written underneath.

April 1866: Prussia signed a treaty with the fairly new...

National or international item

April 1866

Prussia signed a treaty with the fairly new unified state of Italy, which agreed to join with any attack by Prussia, within three months of its signing, on Austria (which still held wide territories on...

February 1899: The Women's Local Government Society fought...

National or international item

February 1899

The Women's Local Government Society fought unsuccessfully for women's right to sit as councillors on the new London borough councils; although women had served as vestry women in London, the House of Lords voted to...

2 March 1848: A revolution began in south-west Germany,...

National or international item

2 March 1848

A revolution began in south-west Germany, where the Grand Duchy of Baden's population demonstrated against the Metternich System and the Carlsbad Decrees.
Hobsbawm, Eric John. The Age of Capital 1848-1875. Abacus, 1975.
22
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
170

1837: Legislation against abortionists was amended;...

National or international item

1837

Legislation against abortionists was amended; pregnancy terminations performed before quickening were no longer exempt from prosecution.
Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England 1750-1900. 2nd ed., Longman, 1996.
157

6 July 1885: Louis Pasteur first used injections to prevent...

Building and people item

6 July 1885

Louis Pasteur first used injections to prevent people bitten by mad dogs from contracting rabies.
“The History of the Pasteur Institute”. Institut Pasteur: History.

April 1860: Mazzini's supporters instigated revolt among...

National or international item

April 1860

Mazzini 's supporters instigated revolt among nationalists in Sicily.
Cowie, Leonard W., and Leonard Woolfson. Years of Nationalism: European History 1815-1890. Edward Arnold, 1985.
267

May 1748: Only a few months before his death, James...

Writer or writing item

May 1748

Only a few months before his death, James Thomson published The Castle of Indolence, an allegorical poem in Spenserian stanzas, which had been about fifteen years in the making.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.

12 January 2016: Louise Richardson, an Irish scholar specializing...

Building and people item

12 January 2016

Louise Richardson , an Irish scholar specializing in security studies and terrorism, was inaugurated as the first female Vice-Chancellor of Oxford University .
Richardson, Louise. “Adapt to survive”. The Ship, No. 105, 2015, pp. 22-7.
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6 November 1884: The UK proclaimed a protectorate over south...

National or international item

6 November 1884

The UK proclaimed a protectorate over south east New Guinea.
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
I: 953

1873: An entire block in Regent Circus, Piccadilly...

Building and people item

1873

An entire block in Regent Circus, Piccadilly (now Piccadilly Circus), was purchased for £100,000 and used to build the underground Criterion Theatre .
Mander, Raymond, and Joe Mitchenson. The Theatres of London. Rupert Hart-Davis, 1963.
60-1