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6 October 2010: A previously unknown poem by Ted Hughes,...

Writer or writing item

6 October 2010

A previously unknown poem by Ted Hughes , Last Letter, became available to the public when it was read on the BBC 's Channel 4 News by Jonathan Pryce .
Kennedy, Maev. “Unknown poem reveals Ted Hughes’ torment over death of Sylvia Plath”. The Guardian, 6 Oct. 2010.

After July 1553: An unknown person presented to Queen Mary...

Writer or writing item

After July 1553

An unknown person presented to Queen Mary Tudor the finely illuminated manuscript now known as the Queen Mary Psalter (Royal 2 B vii in the British Library ).
Medieval and Early Modern Women: Part 1, Manuscripts from the British Library, London. Adam Matthew, 2000, 14 microfilm reels.

August 1868: A week after the death of US Jewish writer...

Writer or writing item

August 1868

A week after the death of US Jewish writer Adah Isaacs Menken (famous in London as a near-naked daredevil rider on stage in Mazeppa; or, the Wild Horse of Tartary), her poetry volume Infelicia...

10 October 1851: A month prior to the opening of the Calais-Dover...

Building and people item

10 October 1851

A month prior to the opening of the Calais-Dover telegraph cable, John Julius Reuter established an office in London to provide stock information between London and Paris via telegraph; this service formed the basis of...

George Eliot

GE , one of the major novelists of the nineteenth century and a leading practitioner of fictional realism, was a professional woman of letters who also worked as an editor and journalist, and left a...

September 1864: Susanna Meredith edited the first issue of...

Writer or writing item

September 1864

Susanna Meredith edited the first issue of The Alexandra Magazine and English Woman's Journal, a feminist monthly published in London.
Doughan, David, and Denise Sanchez. Feminist Periodicals, 1855-1984. Harvester Press, 1987.
2
Mitchell, Sally, editor. Victorian Britain: An Encyclopedia. Garland Press, 1988.
434

Harriet Downing

HD is remarkable both as a late Romantic poet (whose first publication makes a strong claim for women's capacity for friendship, equal to that of men) and as an early Victorian writer of short magazine...

1904: Anton Pavlovich Chekhov's final play, Vishnevyi...

Writer or writing item

1904

Anton Pavlovich Chekhov 's final play, Vishnevyi Sad (The Cherry Orchard), both appeared in print in a journal and was produced at the Moscow Art Theatre .
“Dictionary of Literary Biography online”. Gale Databases: Literature Resource Center-LRC.
227

23 November 1837: A rebellion began of French patriote forces...

National or international item

23 November 1837

A rebellion began of French patriote forces in St Denis, Lower Canada. Colonial authorities initially failed to subdue it, but succeeded within days.
Burroughs, Peter. The Canadian Crisis and British Colonial Policy, 1828-1841. Macmillan of Canada, 1972.
92, 108
Keller, Helen, editor. The Dictionary of Dates. Macmillan, 1934, 2 vols.
II: 460-1
Langer, William L., editor. An Encyclopedia of World History: Ancient, Medieval, and Modern, Chronologically Arranged. 4th ed., Houghton Mifflin, 1968.
833
Marsh, James H., editor. The Canadian Encyclopedia. Hurtig Publishers, 1985, 3 vols.
Papineau, Rebellions of 1837

19 March 1944: Germany invaded Hungary, its former ally...

National or international item

19 March 1944

Germany invaded Hungary, its former ally.
Messenger, Charles. World War Two Chronological Atlas: When, Where, How and Why. Bloomsbury, 1989.
178
Weinberg, Gerhard L. A World At Arms: A Global History of World War II. Cambridge University Press, 1994.
672

January 1846: An Anglican newspaper titled The Guardian...

Writer or writing item

January 1846

An Anglican newspaper titled The Guardian began publication in London, supporting the Tractarian movement in the Church of England.
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.

July 1921: The Musicians' Union was founded in London...

Building and people item

July 1921

The Musicians' Union was founded in London after the Amalgamated Musicians' Union and the London Orchestral Union of Professional Musicians consolidated.
“History: 1921”. The Musician’s Union.

1692: Nahum Tate published A Present for the Ladies:...

Writer or writing item

1692

Nahum Tate published A Present for the Ladies: Being a Historical Vindication of the Female Sex.
Buchanan, Dave. Augustan Women’s Verse Satire. University of Alberta, 1998.
101n38
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.

1878: Byron A. Brooks of the US patented the shift-key...

Building and people item

1878

Byron A. Brooks of the US patented the shift-key typewriter, which introduced lower-case letters.
Adler, Michael H. The Writing Machine. Allen and Unwin, 1973.
187-8

15 November 1942: Church bells (which quite recently had stood...

National or international item

15 November 1942

Church bells (which quite recently had stood ready to signal invasion) were rung all over Britain, in the wake of the battle of El Alamein, to celebrate the defeat of Rommel .
Martin, Richard, 1934 -. Ink in Her Blood: The Life and Crime Fiction of Margery Allingham. UMI Research Press, 1988.
139

1846: Alexander Bain's method of sending telegraph...

National or international item

1846

Alexander Bain 's method of sending telegraph messages using punched paper tape greatly increased the speed of transmission.
Hellemans, Alexander, and Bryan Bunch. The Timetables of Science: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in the History of Science. Simon and Shuster, 1988.
315

August 1863: The Times argued for the regulation for ...

Building and people item

August 1863

The Times argued for the regulation for prostitutes.
Walkowitz, Judith R. ’We Are Not Beasts of the Field’: Prostitution and the Campaign Against the Contagious Diseases Acts, 1869-1886. University of Rochester, 1974.
111

1670: Henry Care translated von Nettesheim's De...

Writer or writing item

1670

Henry Care translated von Nettesheim 's De Nobilitate et praecellentia foeminei sexus, 1529, as Female Pre-eminence; or, The Dignity and Excellency of that Sex, above the Male; this was the third English translation.
The Origins of Modern Feminism, 1567-1876. Quaritch, 1998.
Catalogue No. 2

10 January 1777: Following a defeat at Princeton on 3 January,...

National or international item

10 January 1777

Following a defeat at Princeton on 3 January, the British withdrew all their forces from New Jersey except for two posts.
Coakley, Robert, and Stetson Conn. The War of the American Revolution. Center of Military History, 1975.
104

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

1833: William Whewell coined the term scientist...

Building and people item

1833

William Whewell coined the term scientist at a meeting of the British Association for the Advancement of Science .
Hellemans, Alexander, and Bryan Bunch. The Timetables of Science: A Chronology of the Most Important People and Events in the History of Science. Simon and Shuster, 1988.
298
Yeo, Richard. Defining Science: William Whewell, Natural Knowledge, and Public Debate in Early Victorian Britain. Cambridge University Press, 1993.
5

15 November 1979: Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revealed...

National or international item

15 November 1979

Prime Minister Margaret Thatcher revealed that Sir Anthony Blunt , distinguished art historian and Master of the Queen's Pictures, had spied for Soviet Russia.
Matthew, Henry Colin Gray et al., editors. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. http://www.oxforddnb.com/.
under Blunt

1839: Charles Darwin published Journal of Researches...

Writer or writing item

1839

Charles Darwin published Journal of Researches into the Geology and Natural History of the Various Countries visited by H.M.S. Beagle, 1832-1836.
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

Elizabeth Goudge

EG , a popular writer of the mid-twentieth century, published about forty titles: fifteen novels (many of them historical) and some stories for children, as well as early plays, religious non-fiction, anthologies. and an autobiography.

Hope Mirrlees

Much of the sparse information currently available on HM focuses on her lasting personal relationship with eminent scholar Jane Harrison rather than her own body of writing, which includes poetry, novels, and biographies (published and...