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October 1852: Mrs Maria Hayden brought the American practice...

Building and people item

October 1852

Mrs Maria Hayden brought the American practice of spiritualism across the ocean to England, where she advertised as a medium.
Owen, Alex. The Darkened Room: Women, Power, and Spiritualism in Late Nineteenth-Century England. Virago, 1989.
19
Porter, Katherine H. Through a Glass Darkly: Spiritualism in the Browning Circle. Octagon, 1972.
1-2

Caroline Norton

Publishing over forty years of the nineteenth century, professional woman of letters CN produced poetry and songs, four novels, stories, and a few unsuccessful plays. She edited annuals and periodicals, where she also published work...
Caroline Norton Photograph of a painting of Caroline Norton by Sir George Hayter, 1832. She is seated at a desk with her chin resting pensively on her left hand while she pauses in writing with a quill pen in a large open book. Behind her is red drapery, a large column, and a nighttime scene. Her bare shoulders emerge from a white gauzy bodice with puffed, bound sleeves, gold trim at the neckline, and a gold mantle over it. She has gold bracelets on both her wrists; her black hair, parted in the middle, is coiled over her

19 April 1960: The column of anti-nuclear Easter marchers...

National or international item

19 April 1960

The column of anti-nuclear Easter marchers arriving in Trafalgar Square from Aldermaston in Berkshire numbered about 40,000 people and stretched for about six miles.
“1960: Thousands protest against H-bomb”. BBC News, 18 Apr. 2010.

May 1876: Maria Constance Smith was appointed the first...

National or international item

May 1876

Maria Constance Smith was appointed the first Lady Superintendent of the recently created women's clerical branch of the Post Office .
Holcombe, Lee. Victorian Ladies At Work: Middle-Class Working Women in England and Wales, 1850-1914. Archon Books, 1973.
166
Levine, Philippa. Victorian Feminism 1850-1900. Hutchinson, 1987.
103

April 1862: The Senate of the University of London voted...

Building and people item

April 1862

The Senate of the University of London voted against allowing women into their medical degree programme.
Blake, Catriona, and Wendy Savage. The Charge of the Parasols: Women’s Entry to the Medical Profession. Women’s Press, 1990.
62

30 June 1965: Wolfson College at Cambridge University was...

Building and people item

30 June 1965

Wolfson College at Cambridge University was founded, under its original name of University College , as a college for graduate students.
Little, Bryan. The Colleges of Cambridge, 1286-1973. Adams and Dart, 1973.
168-70
Whitaker’s Almanack. 119th ed., J. Whitaker, 1987.
505

1779: The Penitentiary Act outlined regulations...

National or international item

1779

The Penitentiary Act outlined regulations appertaining to the building of two prisons, designed for the reform of criminals; the law was never implemented, and the prisons were never constructed.
Briggs, John et al. Crime and Punishment in England: An Introductory History. St Martin’s, 1996.
167
Emsley, Clive. Crime and Society in England 1750-1900. 2nd ed., Longman, 1996.
254

1676: Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale handed...

Building and people item

1676

Lord Chief Justice Sir Matthew Hale handed down a judgement which made Christianity part of the law itself,
Kermode, Frank. “Zounds”. London Review of Books, 24 Jan. 2002, pp. 19-20.
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and blasphemy an offence in common law.
Kermode, Frank. “Zounds”. London Review of Books, 24 Jan. 2002, pp. 19-20.
19

1885: Vizetelly published George Moore's Literature...

Writer or writing item

1885

Vizetelly published George Moore 's Literature at Nurse; or Circulating Morals, followed up Moore's earlier attack on the censorship exercised by circulating libraries.
Thomas, Donald. A Long Time Burning: The History of Literary Censorship in England. Frederick A. Praeger, 1969.
267
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.

1863: Ernest Renan published La Vie de Jésus, an...

Writer or writing item

1863

Ernest Renan published La Vie de Jésus, an influential Life of Jesus written from a demythologizing, historical perspective.
Lagassé, Paul, editor. The Columbia Encyclopedia. 6th ed., Columbia University Press, 2000.

1883: Emily Jones, the first woman inspector in...

Building and people item

1883

Emily Jones , the first woman inspector in the BritishDepartment of Education , was appointed Directress of Needlework.
Martindale, Hilda. Women Servants of the State, 1870-1938: A History of Women in the Civil Service. G. Allen and Unwin , 1938.
36-7

23 March 1861: American George F. Train introduced the horse-drawn...

Building and people item

23 March 1861

American George F. Train introduced the horse-drawn tramcar into England, establishing a trial line from Marble Arch to Porchester Terrace.
Bruno, Leonard. On the Move: A Chronology of Advances in Transportation. Gale Research, 1993.
107
Day, John R. The Story of the London Bus: London and Its Buses from the Horse Bus to the Present Day. London Transport Executive, 1973.
29
Among historians, John R. Day gives the dates followed here; Leonard Bruno gives...

30 November 1835: Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorn Clemens...

Writer or writing item

30 November 1835

Mark Twain was born Samuel Langhorn Clemens in Florida, USA.
Camfield, Gregg, editor. The Oxford Companion to Mark Twain. Oxford University Press, 2003.
723

Nancy Mitford

NM is best-known for her novels, witty comedies of twentieth-century manners which draw on her own privileged background. Her accounts of love and disappointment among the upper classes frequently include political references (fascism, communism) or...
Nancy Mitford Head-and-shoulders drawing of Nancy Mitford by William Acton, 1937. Her dark, wavy hair is parted in the centre; her bare shoulders rise smoothly from the background.

February 1842: A grand bazaar organised by women raised...

National or international item

February 1842

A grand bazaar organised by women raised £10,000 for the Anti-Corn Law League .
Uglow, Jennifer S. Elizabeth Gaskell: A Habit of Stories. Faber and Faber, 1993.
145

1831: Henry George Bohn established his own bookshop...

Writer or writing item

1831

Henry George Bohn established his own bookshop at 4 York Street, Covent Garden, London.
Rose, Jonathan, and Patricia J. Anderson, editors. Dictionary of Literary Biography 106. Gale Research, 1991.
106: 59

1818: Baroness Oldenburg, visiting London, introduced...

Building and people item

1818

Baroness Oldenburg , visiting London, introduced the prim (and vision-obscuring) coal-scuttle bonnet that replaced feathered, flowered hats.
Adburgham, Alison. Shops and Shopping 1800-1914: Where, and in What Manner the Well-Dressed Englishwoman Bought Her Clothes. Allen and Unwin, 1964.
54

August 1870: The National Association for the Repeal of...

National or international item

August 1870

The National Association for the Repeal of the Contagious Diseases Acts moved its headquarters to London.
Walkowitz, Judith R. Prostitution and Victorian Society: Women, Class, and the State. Cambridge University Press, 1980.
92

1889: Jane Addams, social feminist, co-founded...

Building and people item

1889

Jane Addams, social feminist, co-founded Hull House in Chicago, the first American settlement house formed after the model of Toynbee Hall.
Westbrook, Robert. “Common humanity with a noble style”. Guardian Weekly, 21–27 Mar. 2002, p. 30.
30

September 1895: The first phase of Cuba's War of Independence...

National or international item

September 1895

The first phase of Cuba's War of Independence against Spain (called by Benedict Anderson the last nationalist insurrection in the New World)
Clark, T. J. “In a Pomegranate Chandelier”. London Review of Books, 21 Sept. 2006, pp. 6-8.
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ended with the proclamation of the Republic of Cuba.
“The Times Digital Archive 1785-2007”. Thompson Gale: The Times Digital Archive.
(7 October 1895): 4

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

1401: The statute De Heretico Comburendo began...

National or international item

1401

The statute De Heretico Comburendo began a period of persecution of Lollards in England that was to last until 1413.
Bozman, Ernest Franklin, editor. Everyman’s Encyclopaedia. 4th Edition, J. M. Dent, 1958, 12 vols.
8: 70-1
Steinberg, Sigfrid Henry. Historical Tables: 58 BC-AD 1985. 11th ed., Garland Publishing, 1986.
89

1881: The Women Guardians Society was founded....

National or international item

1881

The Women Guardians Society was founded.
Hollis, Patricia. Ladies Elect: Women in English Local Government, 1865-1914. Clarendon, 1987.
231, 234

By 21 June 1845: Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu published his first...

Writer or writing item

By 21 June 1845

Joseph Sheridan Le Fanu published his first novel, The Cock and Anchor.
Athenæum. J. Lection.
921 (1845): 609
Drabble, Margaret, editor. The Oxford Companion to English Literature. 5th ed., Oxford University Press, 1985.

After 1816: A court ruled against a widowed father (a...

Building and people item

After 1816

A court ruled against a widowed father (a Unitarian minister) in his suit to get his daughters back from his wife's family, who had brought them up as Baptists.
Quarterly Review. J. Murray.
39 (1829): 193-4